This has been a rough month or so, with a climax last week. For people who didn't see me as much as expected, or for whom I owe something, here's what's been going on.
- Week 1: Computer and Robot Vision (conference). Not my baby, but I was involved as the president of the sponsoring organization.
- Week 2: We ran the national field trials week here in Montreal for the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network, which I direct.
- Week 3: California; among other things, gave a talk at the University of California, work.
- Weeks 4: Hong Kong; Int'l Conference on Robotics and Automation/
- Week 5: Got one night at home between Asia and Europe. Went to Europe for work.
- Week 6 (last week):
- Monday: Yogi defended his PhD thesis. This was the culmination of many years work and a momentous event. The defense went well.
- Tuesday - Thursday: I am co-chair of the i-SAIRIS conference on Space Robotics. Although already a co-organizer, I also helped move it to McGill on an emergency basis due to a flood elsewhere, which implied weeks of crazed lead-up and coordination for everybody involved. I also need to finalize and submit the School's long term hiring strategy and deal with accumulated department business.
- Late in the week (days are blurry): Police inquire about a friend of mine (John Kozlowski, who I have known since I was 4 years old), who's colleagues reported his anomalous absence from work.
I got to his apartment and discovered that he had been dead for 2 weeks. No relatives were immediately available so I was compelled do a few things, notably to identify the body, which was even more disturbing than I expected.
- Next day (Saturday?): My stepmother was found to have fallen and broken 4 bones. She's now recovering in hospital.
- Monday: Yogi defended his PhD thesis. This was the culmination of many years work and a momentous event. The defense went well.
Please let this be a quiet, simple week!
