So, Tamar and I just got back from this year's Society for Applied Anthropology conference in Vancouver. I meant to write some posts while we were there, but I realized that I'd much rather spend my time actually going to the conference and hanging out with old (and new) friends than blogging.

Before we ever got to the conference, my first time to Canada started with a bang owing to the Dufferin Hotel. Two stars my ass. And a word to the wise: if the hotel doesn't put any pictures of itself online, be worried. Very worried. Boy was I mad when I called Priceline. Smelly, dark, dirty, old, mostly broken, under construction, no deadbolt on the door. We lasted 20 minutes. Thankfully we got our money back, but because Vancouver was so full of anthropologists (or whatever) most of the hotels were full. So we ended up in the only slightly more upscale Boseman's Motor Lodge. But at least it was clean and safe. Actually, over the course of the week we learned to appreciate the old Boseman.

But, to the conference. In a nutshell: this year's SfAA was, as usual, a wonderful gathering of diverse people. The two best things about SfAA are that you can never guess which talks will turn out to be interesting and relevant, and the feeling of the meeting is so casual and collaborative. Even though many of the talks themselves can be tedious, usually owing not to the idea content but the presentation style, the discussions are always great.

And, of course, Vancouver is a beautiful city with lots of good food and drink. The weather was actually quite nice – better than expected.

Anyway, I have a few more comments on specific sessions and stuff, and I'll make them in order – just a few days delayed from real time.