AAR day 1

OK, the wireless didn't work in the conference hall (they said it would), so I am using another machine to post this. All that means is that I can't post any pictures.

The AAR people are telling us that they have about 5,000 people registered; there were 3500 preregistrations. But, you wouldn't know it in the exhibit halls. I am not sure if it is because it is in the basement and the elevators aren't immediately obvious, or if it is because the meetings are scattered between 2-3 other places, but you could do gymnastics in the aisles and not hit anybody.

<idle musing>
I am musing here, but I think SBL members tend to buy more books. And, I think the reason is because SBL revolves around a book—the Bible. Even if it is to say how wrong it is, or obsolete, or whatever, their work is constrained by a text, which tends to make them more book-centered. AAR, on the other hand, is open to any "religion" which is about as nebulous as you can get. No need for books...just an
</idle musing>

This is a new one on me, maybe not to others, but it is to me: There are televisions in the elevators here! Yep, you can't get away from them, they are set on CNN and are in the wall of the elevator just above the buttons. The sound is piped in from the ceiling. As much as I hated Muzak™, this is even worse. Are we that addicted to news and television?

I went swimming last night. The pool is 20 yards and has 4 lanes; the water isn't too warm for lap swimming, although it is a bit warmer than regular pools. It was refreshing after a day in the exhibit halls. After that I went to the Liturgical Press reception; they always have nice reception. Last year they sponsored a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls in San Diego. This year it was in the back of an Italian restaurant; very well done. Thanks to Joe, Brian and Hans for putting it on—so now go buy a volume of Sacra Pagina, Berit Olam, Aramaic Bible, or St. John's Bible to help them pay for it :)

Yesterday at lunch I was on a panel discussion with 2 others sponsored by the ATLA and AAR. The discussion was non-teaching options for graduate students in theology and religion. For some reason they thought I might know something about that :) It was an interesting time and I enjoyed it. I hope they went away from it having learned something. I reassured them that even though I wouldn't have chosen the path I ended up taking, God was there at every turn and He took care of us.

This is getting long, so I had better end it...more later.