INFORMS.2

Today at the conference wasn't as exciting as yesterday, since the stream of greatest interest was on the edge of what we're doing. However, I had an earlier start, since I wanted to attend a couple of talks in the 08:00-09:15 slot. One was better than I'd expected, and the other was by a "mate" who did his PhD in our group ten years ago. For lunch we were joined by the older German academic who performs independent solver benchmarks in our area. It was interesting to chat to him for a while, not least because he's lived in Phoenix for 40 years!

In the afternoon, we took a break between talks to meet up with a major mathematical software company that is adopting one of our solvers, and also hung out with folk from a cool start-up company that is making great use of our software. 

After two busy days, it was good to stop, and И came over to the apartment that I'm renting, and we relaxed in/around the open-air pool on the top floor of the building (see extra). Once the sun had gone down, we went to the "Arizona Wilderness" brewery's bar a couple of blocks away for burgers and a couple of excellent beers. Although it was only 21:00, we were both tired - and the beers had been strong - so we went our separate ways.

Self-driving taxis - bristling with rotating sensors - are a common sight in downtown Phoenix and, on the way back to my apartment, I took a photo of one (see extra). Sorry Ingleman, but they are electric Jaguars! И (of course!) has signed up for the app required to use them so, maybe we'll take one tomorrow, the last day of the conference and my last day in Phoenix.