LSA 2009

I'll be attending the LSA 2009 meeting in San Francisco next weekend, and as in previous years, I think we should get together for drinks or food or something.  Now, if you read those posts about our previous gatherings, you'll find the following, which I still believe to be true this year:

1. Some of us may not have arrived on Thursday
2. Friday evening is the grad student mixer, which some of us will want to attend
3. Saturday Friday evening is the ADS Word of the Year event

Given this, the last couple of years we haven't tried to organize a single event, but instead have designated a corner of the hotel lounge as the spot to hang out, if you're so inclined, after the day's activities wind down.  I plan to reconnoiter the hotel to find a good spot and announce it here Thursday evening—and unlike previous years, I'm just going to update this post rather than adding additional posts, so watch this space.  I see the Hilton has a place called the Urban Tavern, but it apparently closes at 10:30 every night, which is...disappointing.  I'll let you know what I find out.

Did you notice the antecedentless "we" in the first sentence of this post?  Who, you may ask, are "we"?  "We" are a loosely-defined set of linguistics bloggers, language bloggers, and blog readers, along with our colleagues, friends, and others (signifcant and otherwise).  Basically, if you're reading this, you're invited.  There's no minimum unique-visits-per-week or posts-per-month requirements.  (Whew!) 

Thanks to Claire and Russell for reminding me about this, and my apologies for taking so long to get around to it.  I've been busy, I swear!

[UPDATE:  Fritinancy points out that the ADS Word of the Year event is actually on Friday this year.  That makes Saturday evening more open than in previous years—maybe we should consider going to dinner after all?]

[UPDATE:  Well, I explored a bit.  The Urban Tavern is nice, but the tables do seem to be under hostess control, so we can't just wander in and stake one out.  The only other alternative I can see is the "lounge" area near the registration desk.  It gets of lot of traffic and is kind of noisy, but at least it has wireless.  What do you think?  Tavern or lounge?

Friday evening is going to be busy: in addition to the ADS WOTY vote, they're apparently giving an award to Language Log at the LSA business meeting.  Afterward, I'm planning to attend the computational linguistics session, possibly followed by the grad student mixer (because I'm frankly feeling a little old for grad student mixers).  I suggest we focus on a plan for Saturday.  Is there any good Chinese food within walking distance?

Oh, and did I see Semantic Compositions wandering around earlier?]

Comments

[Fritinancy]

I'll be crossing the bay to attend (mostly for the American Name Society sessions), and would enjoy meeting you and other cyber-acquaintances. According to the schedule I just consulted, the American Dialect Society's WOTY event is Friday, not Saturday; it's followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant.

[The Tensor]

Ah, you're right, it looks like the WOTY is Friday, 5:30-6:30.

[Neal Whitman]

Can't make it this year, but hi to all the other bloggers. Sorry to miss meeting you, Nancy!

[zmjezhd (formerly uncle jazzbeau)]

I'd be up for meeting on Sat evening.

[Trochee]

I'll be at the conference (I have a Saturday poster on MT, somehow misplaced in the 'semantics' session).

do you have my cell phone? (and would you email me yours?)

[Russell]

I'm up for a dinner on Saturday.

[ben zimmer]

Count me in for a Saturday dinner.

[The Tensor]

Several of us (me, Russell, Claire, and Semantic Compositions) are meeting Saturday for lunch at the crack of noon in the lobby, but I'm up for dinner, too. There's a break between 4:30 and 5:30, but that's a little short for dinner, so I suggest we meet in the lobby at 8:30, after the plenary and reception.