Okay, okay

I've been a bad blogger. Really bad. But I have a good excuse for the last few days (I'll ignore the rest of this month) because I went to St. Louis this weekend! And then I found five dollars.
Not only did I go to St. Louis this weekend, I went to crash a physics conference. No, ladies and gentlemen, it does not get any nerdier than that. But a bunch of my friends were going, including some from far away that I never get to see.
Also, not that I am bitter, but approximately 8 years ago, my high school choir took a trip to St. Louis. We sang at the Six Flags there (why, I've not yet figured out, but it was a free trip, so I wasn't complaining). Now, I do not ride roller coasters, so Six Flags holds little thrill for me. The arch, being a catenary and all, on the other hand, is very exciting, and I have a compulsion to climb to the top of monuments. Did we get to go to the arch? Nope. No one thought something culturally and mathematically relevant would be a good thing to take the students to. I got to watch people ride coasters. Making it to the top of the arch has been on my mental to do list for 8 entirely non-bitter years. Well, I finally did it, and it was a crazy experience.
I also got to spend the entire weekend hanging out and bar hopping with friends, and even sitting in on a few relevant physics talks. I now have few regrets about St. Louis. I would have liked to ride a paddle wheel river boat, but the Mississippi was too flooded. I would have liked to tour the Budweiser brewery, but it's really crappy beer anyway. No, picking up and driving the 4 hours to St. Louis on a whim ranks among one of my better decisions lately. At least until the credit card bill comes.