I have networked, and it was good.

The opening reception is finally trailing off, after we were all shooed out of the ballroom (the hotel staff were rather pointed about the fact that it was time to go), and I've just met a whole bunch of neat people. One of the reasons I wanted to come to AAAI is to get a feel for the community of researchers who identify as AI people, and try to figure out how we relate to one another. A big problem I've had as a graduate student is getting a feel for what the rest of the field is doing --- my own research cuts across a lot of different areas, and I've found it virtually impossible to know what's going on in all of them. Well, if there's anywhere where all of AI is represented, it ought to be here, and I certainly met enough folks doing all sorts of different things tonight. Lots of good feeling in that room and people easy to talk to and happy to open up. I think I may have just spent the evening officially networking, and it was good.