Well, I'm sitting in the San Francisco airport, at my gate, actually, availing myself of the T-Mobile wi-fi hotspot. My plane doesn't leave for another hour and a half; the people I rode to the airport with had much earlier flights. But hey. Not like there would have been much I could have done in Palo Alto anyway, given that I had to leave tonight . . . and since the other two people could 'expense' the gas to the airport, the trip was free. Well worth sitting in the airport a little bit! (Plus, I'm now all the way through security, which is good; I hate that part, especially when I'm rushed.)

I am completely exhausted. Today's conference sessions were stunningly wonderful, especially Todd Taylor's featured multimedia presentation, at the end of which we gave him a standing O. (Okay, I started it. But it was a performance, not a talk - and I'm really not influenced by Ann Arbor's Excessive Ovation Proclivity . . . ) Hard to explain what he did, but it was the academic equivalent of The Elephant Vanishes, if you remember me gushing about that.

I went to a couple of sessions about hypertext arguments, which just seemed like an oxymoron to me before I went to the sessions. I mean, the presenters were wondering why their attempts to teach students to write hypertext arguments failed, and the answer seems obvious: Hypertext argument is not a genre. It never really caught on because it makes no sense. Todd's presentation today really helped me to clarify why . . . he had a few video clips with students who talked about how text is dead, but multimedia is alive with emotion - and I thought, gee, that's not my experience . . . It started to seem that for many students, it might be necessary to use the production of multimedia - genres with which they connect on a visceral level - to get them to appreciate the virtues of text.

Lots to think about. It was interesting to be there with Dan, because I think the issues interested him as much as they did me, and I'm hoping that maybe we can create some interesting synergy back at the ranch . . . we'll see. I kept returning to the fact that Stanford now has a required course in multimedia critique and production that's housed in the writing program. It might be a bit difficult to make the rhetorical leap from what they do at Stanford to what we do at LCC - people are very resistant to such moves, for lots of good and obvious reasons. But I'm starting to think of how to frame a course proposal in terms that will resonate with the locals . . .

I had a wonderful dinner with several women friends (and one brave guy). I've been really inspired by the fact that two of them are people who really came into their own as scholars once their kids had grown up - one woman started her PhD at that time, after having been part of the computers and writing community for a long time. The other received an award for her professional contributions at this conference - she started her B.A. at the same time her youngest child went off to college. I began to think that maybe I could have my own renaissance if I want . . . much better than feeling washed up!!

My bike excited much comment all weekend - I was really identifying with Madame Arcady in Blithe Spirit . . . I rode back to the hotel (where my luggage was stashed) after dinner, and saw several C&Wers en route, so I waved, and they waved back. And then when I was waiting outside for my ride to arrive, several other people came by and commented on the bike suitcase. I felt kind of odd about it all (I'd rather be remembered for my intellect, not my bike), but oh, well. I brought the darned thing . . . and I was sure glad to have it!

Okay, my battery is dying and the flight is about to board, so I better pack it in . . . it was a fabulous trip but I'll be glad to get home. Even if I do have to turn around and leave again on Monday . . . (What was I thinking????)