Anonymous academic guy takes charge!

So yesterday was MSR TechFest, an expo where different projects going on at Microsoft Research get showcased for other people in the company. I spent most of my time avoiding the big ooh! ahh! demos, although those that I saw were pretty cool, and focusing more on the linguistics and search technology stuff that's going on. It was nice to connect with some of the theoretical linguists in that part of the world, since a number of them are working on things I used to work on and no longer am. I came away from it with really interesting feelings. On the one hand, some of what I saw was really cool, and I came away having had a lot of great conversations that have good potential to lead to fun, fruitful collaborations, so that was positive. On the other hand, I realized more poignantly than before how totally and completely I'm not doing that particular type of work any longer. It left me feeling mostly good but a little nostalgic.

On another note: my sister arrives tomorrow for her visit this week, a visit that includes both my co-with-Brett-and-Ritchie birthday party and my actual birthday itself. To say nothing of an interesting summer internship interview for her. We're excited! Me, to see my sister, and Chris, to have someone to watch Elimidate with. We're hoping everything works out that she's back in Seattle for the summer again this year.

In other news, a good friend of mine reported today that he'd been offered one of his higher preference academic jobs, so I'll be sure to have several drinks in his honor this weekend. This is definitely Big News. Congratulations, anonymous academic guy!