I’ve been getting email and tweets about the American Astronomical Society meeting going on right now in Long Beach California, so I thought I’d make a coupla quick comments:
1) I am not there. Long story, but it just didn’t work out this year. I love going to the meetings — and I’ll be honest here — because it’s my annual chance to get together with a lot of friends, both new and old. I can’t believe I’ll miss the clubbing night this year… but anyway, I’m not there, and I’m doing any writing about it from home. I’ll preface each post title with "AAS #XX" to let you know it’s from the meeting.
2) You can participate vicariously in the press conferences by going to the Astronomy Cast live stream. Whenever there is a press conference (three times a day, usually) or some other live event, you can watch it there. They have a live chat room on that page as well, so you can actually participate!
That’s it. I’ll post what I can about the meeting, as well as the usual nonsense. But expect to hear a lot of astronomy news this week! And remember, those yellow Digg buttons at the tops of my posts work pretty well. 
January 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Bah, we don’t go to AAS for the beer and clubbing, we go for the science! (well…)
January 5th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Any chance of you doing the Sunday afternoon live chats this year, Phil?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
AAS Meeting In Long Beach
The annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society has gotten under way in Long Beach, CA.
…
January 5th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
But one -DOES- go to URSI for the clubbing, of course.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I guess I can bare some clubbing.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
That’s cool,
Right here in Long Beach…
Now if only I had money, time and my car was running…
rod
January 5th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
kuhnigget inserts a joke about “bare clubbing” right about here….
January 5th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
The only cool place I know of is the polar bear club.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Nicole, speak for yourself!! I myself had three beers last night right here at the conference hotel… more than I’ve had in the last year… and it helps the astronomy, too! (well… you know what I mean).
Phil, your presence is missed; but hey — guess what, I got to meet the highly incredible George Hrab tonight!! woohoo!!!!
January 5th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
We’ll miss you! (or, at least, I’ll miss stalking you around the meeting…)
Haven’t seen any amazing swag yet, but I’ll keep my eyes open for things for you, if you like.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:58 am
[...] here, and here). Expect to see a lot of astronomy stories in the news this week. Phil Plait has some more information, including where to go online to watch press conferences from the meeting. Phil is prefacing his [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Good swag so far: dancing robots, HST-shaped cookie cutters, tiny stuffed koala bears. We miss you, Phil!