We did a lot of stuff today: poster session in the morning, then we headed for the Rocky Mountains where we spent with Erdem, Katsouleas and his former officemate Jose a great day (the pictures are coming up soon!). The best part though was on the dinner. We ended up going in this upscale chinese restaurant (by upscale I mean that nothing in the menu had a single digit cost, apart from the water for $7). Katsouleas saw how me and erdem were a little bit worried about the prices, so as we were seating down he says:
Let me tell you something about the tradition we have for per diem (per diem is the constant amount of money we get paid per day when we go to conferences, $35). We travel, we go to our conferences, we make our presentations, we discuss science and we have a good time doing that. But we don't save our per diem. When we go out we spend every single dollar because here we are, now, in this place, and we want to have a great time.
I had the most perfect piece of meat in the US so far in that place (Mao, Cherry Creek). It was so tender I could eat it with a plastic fork only, plus I kept these great water bottles (straight from Norway). I'm not going to save my per diem anymore.
Discussing physics with Tom, next to a waterfall at the Rockies while enjoying a great view:
