Sunday, November 22, 2009

SBL days 1 & 2

Boy, these last two days have been a bit of a blur. The first day started out a bit slow until people found us. We are in a side room this year, off the main hall. The signage could be better, but people have found us—and bought books.

We have a lot of new books this year, and are almost sold out of A Manual of Ugaritic; there aren't a lot of A Syriac Lexicon left, either. We're totally out of The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought. It seems I never bring enough of some titles, and too many of others. If only I could read the minds of our customers and bring all the right books!

Saturday night I made it to a few receptions: the SPS/WTS, Augsburg/Fortress, and de Gruyter. Tonight (Sunday), I managed to find a bit of floor space to hear N.T. Wright speak. After the question and answer section, two of us stood around and talked theology for about an hour before I headed off to the Brill reception. Now, I'm ready for sleep...tomorrow comes early.

Speaking of which, the number of people in the workout room the last two days is zero. Yes, a goose egg; nada; zilch. I noticed that at a conference earlier this year; the attendance to a workout routine seems to have been one of the victims of the economic downturn. Never mind that it doesn't cost anything; the right way to assist in the economy is to stop exercising. I know, it doesn't make any sense, but that's what I have seen this year in my travels.

1 comment:

Steve Wiggins said...

I'm glad Ugaritic is selling out! I'm missing being at SBL too, my first absence in about a decade. Have fun!