I have arrived at the AAAS meeting - which is in Chicago this year. Brace yourselves for 5 days of very enthusiastic science posts!
In the meantime, I have begun my conquering of Chicago.
I have been out on a ramble and discovered that the body of water they call a lake is /still/ way too big to share the name with Claytor lake back home.
Cold weather is awesome, as is snow. I've gone far too long without a sharp biting wind in my face and snow in my hair. (I may have accidently snow angel-d.)
Millineum Park still exists and is still awesome. I'm glad I didn't bring my camera on this ramble --though I do have several shots in mind for later.
I found a nice organic/local corner market and have picked up supplies for breakfasts and snacks.
Continuing in the recent trend of "the view out my hotel window" started by Cathy and Brooks... here I am in Chicago. Rather colder than Cathy's and much more urban than either.
I have a cold/sinus thing. I don't deal well with those. There is also heat. I don't deal well with that either. So I have been a cranky and unhappy Suzi for the past few days.
It turns out that the following help tremendously: * Take an Advil * Drink a glass of Ice water * Take a cool shower * lay naked in front of a fan * Take a nap * Stop thinking that prep-heavy hot soup makes an acceptable dinner.
I'm at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver (The American Association for the Advancement of Science) and I'm happily drowning in the science. Today I went to the following lectures:
New Frontiers in the Radio Universe: Protoplanetary Disks to the Far Universe (Astronomy) Life in the Pressure Cooker: Evolution at the Bottom of the Ocean (Marine Science) The Emotional Brain (Neuroscience) Things that Go Bump: The Latest Discoveries in Particle Physics (Physics) Delivering on the Promise of the Human Genome Project (Genetics and Human Genomics) The Power of Ideas - Plenary lecture by Mike Lazaridis who apparently invented smart phones.
Lecture I most regret missing: Archaeoacoustics: Did Ancient Civilizations Use Acoustic Design to Create Powerful Ritual Spaces? -------------------
I believe I would like to move to Vancouver. On my walk to the convention center at 7 this morning it was 35 degrees and gently raining. Many people were wearing light jackets, but a good percentage were in comfortable short sleeves and I only saw a few umbrellas. These may be my people. There is water and lovely mountains and people sitting outside in the cold looking at them. And everyone speaks science.
I just got a message from my mother that started with "I'm okay and the house is still standing." (metaphoricaly if not literally) There were tornado touchdowns in my hometown back in Virginia that have caused a lot of damage. Apparently everyone is okay, but we don't get many of them and people are a little shaken up.
I find myself feeling guilty and rather concerned about my mother's cats.
As I went out the door this evening, Beatrice slipped by me and ran happily onto the grass.
Beatrice: MRRowwwR! Suzanne: The grass is wet because it's been raining the past week.
Beatrice: *Startles* growls and hunches down, glares upwards. Suzanne: It's called rain dear. It's when water falls from the sky.
Beatrice: glares, sneezes, yowls, and paws at her nose. Suzanne: And if you look upward a raindrop may hit your nose.
Beatrice: Yowl! Yowl! Mrrroorw! (I know there's a dry spot out here! Beatrice: Runs frantically around grass. Suzanne: Dearheart, it's raining, come inside.
Beatrice: Mrorrw! Mrowr! (Ack, stop being wet, and drippy!) Beatrice: *shakes then runs behind the house to the neighbors* Suzanne: It's raining there too dear. *follows*
Beatrice: Mrowr! (You're dry!) *runs to me and Crawls up my jeans into my arms. Suzanne: Ouch.
Beatrice: *hunkers down* Mrowrrrrrr. (I don't understand) Suzanne carries her to the door.
Julie sits just inside the still open door. Smirking. Julie: *purrs* (I know what /that/ is and I'm staying right here.
-------------- When we adopted Beatrice we were told she was an indoor only cat. She's run outside before but has never gone too far. Given where we live this might have been her first experience with rain.
On the other hand, Julie was living outdoors for an unknown time before she was rescued and brought to the shelter. The one time I took her outside on her harness, she got loose and ran back to scratch at the door.
Brooks came up with this wonderful idea of spending the few minutes around midnight on New Year's Eve alone in the Virginia Tech Duckpond (where we spent a lot of time as students.) It was cold and filled with snow, water, ducks, and memories. Just beautiful.
As we were driving to his mother's house afterwards, we had the following conversation:
Suzanne: The drillfield looks beautiful in the snow and dark. Suzanne: (Wistfully) I would love to make a snow angel on the drillfield. Brooks: Really? Suzanne: Yep. *sighs* Brooks: Do you want to borrow my coat? Suzanne: Nope. Brooks, pulling the car over: Are you sure? Suzanne: Yep. Brooks: Grabs the camera.
The Mars Rover has detected snow falling on mars, though it wasn't able to tell if any hit the ground. (I found out here, though there are many other sources.)
If I may revert back to my preteen years for a second here.... Oh dear gods! This is the most awesome thing ever!
Three annoying things I want to point out though. 1. I can't go see it. 2. It appears that /everyone/ has more interesting weather than I do in California. 3. The fact that my newspapers alert me when Jen divorces Brad, but don't tell me that it's snowing on Mars is completely unacceptable.
worried
amused
happy
awake