This was an exception to the "all skirts, all the time" theme because I attended a conference for work and didn't want to deal with potentially cold air-conditioning at the university where the conference was being held. (Not my grad school university here in Snow City -- a crappy little private university in Coldville about 2 miles from where Robert works, which meant that he dropped me off and picked me up, saving me from a lot of anxiety and no little inconvenience given the parking situation on site.) I went with pants with some stretch in them and a ponte knit jacket for comfort. The flats are pretty cushy, they're very workable in damp conditions (like walking across dewy grass on a college campus in the morning), and I have demonstrated I can walk in them (moderate distances) with ease.
Of course, given the industry I work in and what I've said before about the way people often dress, you will not be surprised to hear that there were attendees in shorts, cargo capri pants, flip flops, sundresses, and so on. One woman I was about 95% sure was wearing a swim suit cover up. There was a lot of variety, but the super casual end of the spectrum was well-represented. A good sized contingent was prepared for that tricky to dress for yet so commonly experienced work-conference-immediately-followed-by-summer-lake-party transition. Because my own situation was the work-conference-immediately-followed-by-Oh-my-god-can-we-stop-at-Outback-because-I'm-starving transition (for reasons elaborated on below), a simple shirt/pants/blazer/flats combo was spot on.
It turns out that I chose wisely with this outfit -- I had the jacket on and off during the course of the day, depending on just how chilly the A/C in a given place was. I also had the pleasure of eating lunch outside in the warm but not hot sun, where the jacket was definitely off. I had the added pleasure of eating with an interesting woman who joined me and provided the conversation I needed to distract me from the disappointment of my gluten-free macaroni with olive oil, green beans, and tiny green salad (that I didn't quite trust because I wasn't sure of the salad dressing). I give the conference organizers/caterers props for being ready for people with special food needs, but they were not prepared for someone who does not eat wheat, dairy, or citrus. (And man, that nut-crusted chicken thigh looked so freaking good, too -- why oh why must everything be marinated with lemon juice??) Actually, the gluten-free pasta was less repulsive than it often is. It helped that the chef cooked it while I waited, so it was both freshly done and not overcooked. Of course, I did not bother to ask if the gluten-free pasta had corn in it (which the better tasting ones often do, I've found) because I was just too desperate at that point. (If it did have corn in it, it was OK in that form and quantity -- I didn't have any negative reactions to the meal, thankfully.)
As for the content of the conference, it was mostly fine. One of the sessions had a seriously thrown together at the last minute and oh shit, we have only used half the allotted time and we're totally through our material problem. I did have the opportunity to listen to a woman (a math professor at the university) give one of the speakers (who has a position in the same kind of research department as I do, only in Snow City) grief for over 5 minutes (not an exaggeration) after his talk about how wrong he was to present a box plot with the mean rather than the median. His basic situation was, Yeah, I get it, but my peeps like to see the mean in these graphs. But she went on and on and fucking on. It was hard to understand what she wanted out of this thing. At one point, she said, If one of my students did that, I'd blah blah blah, and I fully support her in that decision, but um, this isn't your classroom...? I give the guy credit for not saying, Fortunately I already have a PhD and am not an undergrad at your crappy school, so your views are of zero interest or relevance to me. I overheard this conversation because I was waiting to ask him about something regarding some data visualizations. So yeah, I was standing there waiting, and eventually made a comment myself hoping she'd get the message it was time for her to STFU, but she kept at it. I was definitely thinking at one point, Holy fuck, please gods do not allow Tam to turn into this woman 15 years from now, teaching at a shitty little school and correcting speakers ad nauseum at conferences that have no immediate connection to her own position/field because there is not enough of a research presence at the college for her to have a normal outlet for grandstanding at talks. It's funny, she had actually sat next to me during the session, and while we were talking before it began, she seemed pretty smart and normal -- I did not have any inkling that she would get all "I need to correct this person at great length" after the talk. (I mean, I guess I should at least acknowledge that she did this after the session was over, not during the Q/A period immediately following the talk. She was doing her thing mostly privately, so it does not qualify as true academic grandstanding. Still, it was awkward and weird.)
Comfy Conference Day -- Thursday, 8/7/14
Purple plaid shirt (thrifted)
Grey 5 pocket pants from Rafaella
Grey bead necklace by RB
Black ponte blazer from Target
Black LifeStrider flats
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