Sure sounds like sour grapes to me! The best annual international water conference in a place like Stockholm and my excuse is that my office needs cleaning? Yeah, right!
I sure can't use the 'I need to see my hair stylist' excuse.
Actually, it's the truth; last week I spent three days moving from one office into another one. Not my choice, but that is besides the point. So I'm out of one office but the new one needs to be put together. Here are some photos of my new office showing its dire condition:
Notice the banner (upper left) from the 6th World Water Forum.
One benefit: I have rediscovered a number of neat books I'd forgotten I had.
Seriously, I'd much rather be in Stockholm for WWW, which starts on 1 September. I've been getting emails galore for the past few weeks from various groups, urging me (and a zillion others) to attend their sessions, publication launches, displays, receptions, excursions, etc. I have received some links to publications that look fascinating, but some appear to be SOS or mere promotional items. I plan to feature a few that look promising.
In the meantime, I'll work on my office and look forward to attending the 5 September workshop in Albuquerue, Transformational Solutions for Water in the West. You can see an updated program on pages 4 and 5 of this publication. The workshop is sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories, the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, and the Atlantic Council.
The Atlantic Council? Why not? From its 'About' page:
The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic Community in meeting global challenges.
Founded in 1961, the Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic shifts in economic and political influence that are shaping the twenty-first century by educating and galvanizing its uniquely influential, nonpartisan network of international political, business, and intellectual leaders. Through the papers we write, the ideas we promote, and the communities we build, the Council's ten regional centers and functional programs shape today's policy choices and foster transatlantic strategies to advance international security and global economic prosperity.
Maybe they think New Mexico is a foreign country. Won't be the first time, or the last.
And if that isn't enough, I'll be in Salem on 6 September for a meeting of the state's Groundwater Advisory Committee (GWAC) - provided I don't have to cut my nails.
"Every calculation, based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico." - Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace, in a letter to his wife, 1878
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