Vacation Summary: Wednesday - Flew out to California and got checked in. As colleagues began to arrive at the hotel, we all ended up out in the courtyard having drinks and introducing ourselves to each other. I met a professor from Sydney who area of expertise is in Pre-Classical Greece and Rome. He does archeological field work in Bulgaria where he uses a Linux server out in the field with open source GIS software to map archaeologic dig sites. He doesnt know a whole lot about Linux Systems Administration, though. After I told him what I do for a living, his eyes got really wide and we agreed that if Id come over to Bulgaria and run some servers in the field, hed teach me how to do archeology field work. I think I know what Im doing for my first vacation in 2015. Thursday - Attended the opening Keynote for the 2nd conference for the International Big History Association. It was great seeing Lowell Gustafson, Esther Quaedackers, Marcel Koonen and all my Big History people. Esther and Marcel seemed impressed that Im learning to speak Dutch and they say my pronunciations are very good. Met a bunch of new people that Im looking forward to working with on Big History research. My $200 JoS A Bank dress pants ripped in the back during the opening keynote. I walked around for 20 minutes before someone pointed it out. I couldnt figure out why beautiful women kept throwing themselves at me at a history conference, then I discovered that my Hello Kitty boxers were hanging out of my dress slacks. I had to run back to the hotel and change. Later that night I bit into a cracker at a cocktail party and broke one of my teeth off. Ill be visiting the dentist. (And I should probably start flossing more often.) Friday - Stayed up late having drinks with a History Professor from California State in Fullerton and discussing the History of the Roman Empire - great conversation. Saturday - Met a lady from the Colorado School of Mines that is writing a book on the History of Technology. She seems interested in my Linux/Paleontology skill set and asked to keep in touch. Cant wait to read her book. Sunday - Spent the day hanging out with Crystal Thomas. I love the number of friends in my life that Ive known for years. (And she was my date to junior prom. I love that most of the relationships Ive been in ended in a civil fashion that allows us to remain great friends over a decade later.) Monday - My flight back home got delayed so they flew me to LAX instead of Dallas. I got stuck in LAX for a couple of hours and they upgraded me to First Class for the trouble. On the flight home, the lady in front of me told me she was flying back to OK from visiting her best friend from childhood. Her best friend is Stephanie Cummings, wife of Jim Cummings - the voice of Winnie the Pooh. We spent the flight back to Oklahoma talking about Disney. The next conference is in Amsterdam in 2016. I have two years to finish learning the Dutch language. Tot ziens!
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:53:49 +0000