home.jpgGreetings from the Vienna International Centre, currently infested with more nerds than I have ever seen in one location. I am yet to see one person without a laptop, PDA or smartphone glued to their person, madly tapping away at tiny keyboards, looking very busy and important. Most likely they are actually updating their blogs, just like I am now.

The conference is moderately interesting, not really worth the time and expense of getting here however. In the future I really need to be a bit more selective on the meetings I agree to attend, particularly when I am not giving a presentation myself. I just walked out of the last session as the asian man in the seat next to me decided it was socially acceptable to scratch dandruff off his skull and flick the product in between our seats. Disgusting.

Thankfully I am staying in a brand-new very modern hotel, just across from the venue. There is no internet in the rooms however, which pretty much negates whatever other good features the hotel may have. So I am forced to sit in the lobby of the conference venue, laptop perched on my knees, and tap away, doing my best to look uninterested in anyone’s work, as to avoid repeat of last night where I stood too close to someone’s poster and was forced to listen to their 20 minute explanation of their research. Eventually I managed to escape, using the excuse of an empty glass and offering the promise of returning to hear more about their fascinating area.

So far the highlight of the trip has been the new Starbucks at Schiphol airport. Yet again, America is here to save Europe - this time from the ravages of terrible coffee and bland snack food. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. Now if we could just have a few more stores, located within walking distance of both my apartment and office, I will be SO happy you wont even recognise me.

Tonight I have a ticket for the conference winery tour, which I am 50/50 about whether to actually show up for. On the one hand, there will be wine, but on the other, somewhat larger hand, I will have to sit on a bus with people who get excited about mutagenic intron insertions and hypogeometric data angles.

I haven’t really seen anything that interesting yet, but I’ll put a slideshow here now and maybe there will be some more photos tonight at the winery. Nerds letting their (foul, long, greasy) hair down - YES!!!