There and back again

It's been a while since my last posting, but as the sign on the door says, I've been out. My adventures over the last two weeks were nothing like Frodo's, but they were enough for me. I've been to the west coast twice and the east coast in between, but I'm now home (*sigh of relief*)

The first leg of the trip was to Portland, where I attended the SIGCSE Symposium on Computer Science Education. The highlights were seeing many friends, having a good conversation with my Prentice-Hall editor, and getting a couple of good ideas for future projects. Judy came out for a couple of days and we enjoyed good food, Powell's Books, and some nice walks along the Willamette River.

I next went to Arlington VA for some NSF work. This is always enjoyable and I always learn a lot from talking with old and new friends.

Finally I went to California to help Rick, our son on Steve's side, move to Iowa. The photo above shows us by the rental truck and his car that we were towing. It was a typical move, with hard work loading, lots and lots of driving, and more hard work unloading. There were a few highlights of the drive, however ...
* a nice visit with our son Rob on Steve's side in Sacramento, where the photo was taken,
* heavy snow on the Sierra Nevada summit that Rick drove at night,
* dust devils in the Nevada desert,
* more snow showers in southern Wyoming, and
* thousands of sandhill cranes flying and in the fields along the Platte river in Nebraska.
And, of course, it snowed here on the afternoon we were unloading the truck. Not a lot, but enough to tell Rick that winter's still hanging on in Iowa, even if all the almond trees in California have already finished blossoming.

Rick's now moved in and is doing a job interview today. It's good to have him near us and we're looking forward to his getting settled and getting into the rhythm of his new life in Iowa.