Montreal

Between being sad about the post below and being stressed about a journal article deadline, I didn't have the time or motivation to provide an update on Montreal. However, the city is worth blogging about. Montreal is just as fabulous as people said it would be. I only got to see Old Montreal and I loved it. The architecture and vibe of that part of town are very European. There's also a great night life and good restaurants. Drink prices were a bit stiff, but after three nights we finally found a place with reasonably priced Long Islands that were actually quite good.

I only got to check out one of the basilicas (Notre Dame) and it was quite impressive; although I have to admit that I'm wasn't excited about the idea of showing laser light shows at the basilica. I didn't actually attend a show, but the idea of it just seemed wrong. Isn't the architecture beautiful enough without the lasers? Does everything need a tech upgrade? I know I sound very old-fashioned but I can't imagine such a thing happening in a basilica in Europe.

The ASA meetings were pretty good this year. I went to a few interesting sessions, met some important people, and avoided many of the pretentious sociologists who tend to drive me crazy. The meetings got off to a rocky start when I was insulted within the first 20 minutes of my arrival. It is probably unwise of me to put an exact quote in the blog, but the gist of the insult was a "compliment" that I had finally achieved a socially acceptable place within sociology now that I was a professor. While middle fingers were popping up left and right inside my head, I managed to politely extricate myself from that conversation and I avoided any more insults the rest of the trip. Luckily I was able to hang out with friends from Michigan in the evenings, which made the trip completely worthwhile.

The drive from Albany to Montreal was amazing -- straight through the Adirondacks. I just love being in the mountains and I hope that someday we'll be able to afford a cabin there. (Of course, Eddie thinks we should just move north and I could commute to Albany for work. Not happening.) The drive was 3.5 hours of peace and quiet and I used it to take stock of my summer and make plans for fall semester. On the way home I stopped at Schroon Lake, bought a sandwich at a mom-and-pop general store and had a picnic. This was the part of the trip that I needed the most.