I won’t be posting much for the next several days because I am off to attend the annual meeting of my professional association, the American Sociological Association, held this year in Philadelphia. The most immediate reason I’ll be there is to present a paper on different forms of self-employment among Asian Americans.

But I’ll also be meeting up with a good buddy of mine from high school and his family, who I haven’t seen in several years, and later with a good friend from grad school. In other words, annual meetings like this can’t be all work and no play. After all, being a sociologist means practing what you preach -- socializing . . . or something.