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Last Week's Catch-up
Sep. 20th, 2009 08:48 pmI should be unshoveling my desk at home, e.g. doing things like opening the rest of a week's worth of mail, balancing the checkbook, paying bills and so on. But why do things I should when I can procrastinate by posting here?
I spent pretty much the entire week in California. Space 2009 was in Pasadena. I'm not really a fan of big conferences but they still provide a good way of making sure I get in my annual continuing education. And there were some topics of interest, including sessions on standardization (one of my long-running soapboxes), commercial space, fractionation, and space traffic control. There were also some disappointing sessions, e.g. a panel on industrial base issues which had no panelists from industry. There were also some good opportunities to catch up with people who I see all too infrequently. The plenary sessions were a bit mixed, but I could study the ornate decorations of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium when I started to drift off.
The opportunities for catching up with people extended beyond the conference. San Gabriel Valley Storytellers was, conveniently, meeting on Tuesday night and it was great to be able to go. There was a nice mix of stories of various types (personal, literary, folk tale, and historical) and general good conversation. I was also able to get together with a couple of former colleagues for dinner on Thursday night and relive the numerous dinners we had on business trips to Boulder over the years.
The one real mistake I made was listening to my secretary who told me that everyone from our group who was going was staying at the Hilton. The hotel was fine, but they had only wireless internet access (and neither of my work computers has a wireless card) at a high daily fee. I did use the conference cyber cafe, but it was pretty marginal. (For example, one morning only 2 of the 10 computers could actually connect to the internet.) I'd have been better off at a less upscale place down the road where parking, breakfast, and internet would be included.
Tomorrow will, inevitably, be no fun at all, as I wrestle with catching up on a week's worth of email, trying to coordinate a meeting for next week (which may mean another business trip), and filing expense reports and check requests before the end of the fiscal year. I should also start on the overexamined life (i.e. monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports, as well as the annual performance review) but that can wait a day or two.
I spent pretty much the entire week in California. Space 2009 was in Pasadena. I'm not really a fan of big conferences but they still provide a good way of making sure I get in my annual continuing education. And there were some topics of interest, including sessions on standardization (one of my long-running soapboxes), commercial space, fractionation, and space traffic control. There were also some disappointing sessions, e.g. a panel on industrial base issues which had no panelists from industry. There were also some good opportunities to catch up with people who I see all too infrequently. The plenary sessions were a bit mixed, but I could study the ornate decorations of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium when I started to drift off.
The opportunities for catching up with people extended beyond the conference. San Gabriel Valley Storytellers was, conveniently, meeting on Tuesday night and it was great to be able to go. There was a nice mix of stories of various types (personal, literary, folk tale, and historical) and general good conversation. I was also able to get together with a couple of former colleagues for dinner on Thursday night and relive the numerous dinners we had on business trips to Boulder over the years.
The one real mistake I made was listening to my secretary who told me that everyone from our group who was going was staying at the Hilton. The hotel was fine, but they had only wireless internet access (and neither of my work computers has a wireless card) at a high daily fee. I did use the conference cyber cafe, but it was pretty marginal. (For example, one morning only 2 of the 10 computers could actually connect to the internet.) I'd have been better off at a less upscale place down the road where parking, breakfast, and internet would be included.
Tomorrow will, inevitably, be no fun at all, as I wrestle with catching up on a week's worth of email, trying to coordinate a meeting for next week (which may mean another business trip), and filing expense reports and check requests before the end of the fiscal year. I should also start on the overexamined life (i.e. monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports, as well as the annual performance review) but that can wait a day or two.
