Departing Davis

Friday I left Davis. I'll be back in June, or possibly December, or conceivably even August. Not sure exactly when, but definitely sometime fairly soon.

My visit went well and was productive and fun. I was pleased with the talk I gave on Wednesday. As is always the case, I thought of a lot of things I could have done differently or explained better. But the audience seemed to get the main point and there were good questions throughout the talk, so I think it went well. Five of my former professors from the physics department came to the seminar; it sounds corny, but I was quite touched that they came.

Spending time in Davis after having basically been away since I finished grad school in 1998 was quite interesting. The city has grown some, as has the university. But from what I can tell, the feel of the town is the same. It's still an extremely pleasant place, and there seem to be a few more restaurants around town, which is nice.

Overall, Davis has a bit of a fairytale feel to it. It's almost too pleasant and cute and precious at time. When I was living there, this sometimes annoyed me. But now I find it rather endearing.