A storm has blown threw Chicago. Stifling heat has been converted to cool air while thick drops of water hit with a satisfying thump against the lifeless pavement of urban city streets. The rain brings a collective relief to the streets and her inhabitant though everyone knows this treat is short lived. The heat so characteristic of Chicago summers is only bound to visit us soon again.

I have been back for over just two days and I am only now clearing the thick piles of everything (clothes, books, bills, receits, emails. odds and ends, to-do items) that were waiting for me upon my return. Since I was so busy right up till the moment I left, I have not really taken care much of anything outside of pure necessity for weeks and thus moving and flattening the pile has not been easy nor all that entertaining.

In another day or two I hope the can finish with this process of purging and maybe then these enteries might pick up pace into something more interesting than this!

I am back from Brazil and really too exhausted to blog, talk, eat, write, and think especially since my head feels MUCH larger than it should be (like the little bird in the picture) thanks to the “Debian Virus” we were all infected with in Brazil.

But despite the feeling of large and over stuffed headedness, I had a thumbs up time, which apparently is one of the more common gestures of affirmation in Brazil (or at least Porto Alegre).

I have a lot more to say than I feel like a big-headed Biella and I had a Thumbs Up Time but it will have to wait until my head deflates to write anything of more substance….

I have made it to Porto Alegre for the Debconf4 where I gave a talk on ethics and Debian.

Unlike pretty much every academic conference that I have been to, I enjoyed this. First, I was given time to talk. In academic conferences we are given 20 minutes at the most. What can one possibly say in 20 minutes except that one cannot possibly say anything of worth in 20 minutes especially when the people on the panel and in the room don’ necessarily work in your area of expertise.

I was prety stressed over the talk. As an anthropologist, giving a talk to the people you study is something like your biggest fear in the world. I mean there you are telling folks something about them (and often about things they still know a lot more about). The question always is something along the lines of “Are my ideas total fabrications?” and “Will I be able to pull it off?”

Anway, it all worked well, the Q and A period was fascinating and I got a room full of Debian geeks to laugh. Mission accomplished…. And now time for a real vacation!