Heading north

Soon, I'll be on a plane flying toward the Canadian border, and shortly after that, I'll be crossing said border with laptop in hand. The IEEE PCS conference IPCC is being held July 13-16 in Montreal. Despite my good intentions, I've learned only six words of French (caffe doesn't count). I have a PowerPoint slide presentation, a couple of printouts of the proceedings paper, and should soon have a set of slide handouts. I've got reservations for planes, trains, and automobiles.

I decided to take VIARail, Canada's Amtrak, to save money. I've never traveled by train, so I'm looking forward to it. I am taking Rick Johnson-Sheehan's Technical Communication Today textbook so that I can work on a distance ed syllabus for Mizzou... and possibly some other things like the new issue of TCQ.

A graduate student is coming in today to discuss a project she wants to complete for her thesis: a study of the interpretations of satellite images in the wake of the 2004 tsunami that hit a region near her home (Sri Lanka). Another student needs a form completed to formalize her interdisciplinary requirements. After that, my major challenge will be designing a cat-litter-box rotation system to make the job easier for our neighbors who have MOST graciously offered to care for the monsters while we're away.