A Trip to the Midwest

Recently, I opened my closet and pulled out something called a "winter coat".  Ten years ago, my wife bought me a fancy coat and I wear this thing 3 or 4 days a year when I travel to a cold place.  I put on this heavy coat and flew to Chicago.   Arriving in the late afternoon in Hyde Park, I had the opportunity to walk the neighborhood with a good friend of mine. The following day, I met with a number of my friends at the University of Chicago and gave a seminar about public buses.  Professor Becker and his colleagues offered dozens of constructive points and our paper will be much better because of this.  That night I went to a Bulls game thanks to another good friend of mine.   The next morning I flew to Madison Wisconsin and had great fun with more of my friends at the Economics Department.  My bus seminar in Madison was extremely useful as the empiricists offered several really useful suggestions for how to make the paper more convincing.  The next day I hung out at the Harris School at the University of Chicago.   I met with my old friends on the faculty and had the chance to meet some of their new junior faculty.   I am back in warm Los Angeles a wiser man because I went to the Midwest.  My coat is back in the closet.  Whether it will stay in the closet, is an open question.