Would you like to dance around the world with me?

A real SLC Update and I'm 23!

ISo I'm finally back and recovered from SLC and my birthday, so I thought I should post.

I went to Salt Lake late on Friday the 11th and got in around midnight. I stayed close to the airport then toured around Salt Lake City the next morning. I went to Temple Square, which has a whole bunch of Mormon sites. The grounds were gorgeous, but I was a little freaked out by the people, honestly. All the couples there were mid 20s with 2 kids and another on the way. It was just a little too freaky for me. I learned a little more about the Mormon faith, and they are much more different than Christians.

That afternoon I went to Park City, which is where the Olympics were in 2002. I went horseback riding, and the views were gorgeous. My pictures just won't do it credit, and for some reason Firefox won't let me upload them right now. While riding, we went through the ski slopes of the resort, and it really made me want to go skiing. I want it to stay warm longer, but I also can't wait till I get to go skiing again. I need to stop writing so much or this will take forever and a day.

That night I stayed in Logan at Utah State University, where the conference was located. The next day I gave my talk on Risk Management of Student-run, Small Satellite Programs at the CubeSat Workshop. It was somewhat laid back, so I had a few jokes and funny pictures, and I enjoyed getting a few (intentional) laughs from the audience. That afternoon I drove up to Bear Lake, which has gorgeous blue water (like the color of the Caribbean water). I laid on the beach for a while, then I took a jaunt over to Wyoming and Idaho, neither of which I'd been to before. So now I've been to 40 states!

The conference was Monday - Thursday, and with 800 attendees and a packed schedule, it was a little intimidating, but I got the hang of it. Some of the technical talks were too much, but they also had exhibit booths right outside so we could talk to companies as well. I met up with some guys from the Naval Postgraduate School so I had some people to talk with since I didn't know anyone there. They also kept us busy in the afternoon, and Monday USU's Space Dynamics Lab had a party with an open bar. :-) And Tuesday, 4 of the companies hosted parties, all with an open bar. :-) The only problem was you couldn't drink too much because you still had to be on good behavior! The third night, we went to an amusement park-like place, with lots of cool rides, and it was all free and open, so that was pretty sweet too. My favorite was the "flying" ride where they hoist you up to a point then let you swing on ropes from a center structure. They have them at most amusement parks, but we got to ride it for free. yay!

The next day was the last day of the conference, and I finally got a change to talk with the Cal Poly people that put on the CubeSat workshop, so that was nice. That afternoon I went hiking up to Wind Cave, but I can't find any pics online and mine still won't load. But the area used to be under water, and these caves were formed when water eroded away limestone underneat the ground. Then the lake bed dried up and Logan River formed a canyon and ended up exposing these caves. It was a pretty hard hike, but the views were once again gorgeous, and it was pretty nice to be alone for a while after the long conference.

I also tried going to a geneaology library to find some information for my grandparents, but I was no good at finding people because I just didn't know enough about where people were born and whatnot.

Then to SLC (in a hurry) and the redeye, which sucked. I wasn't feeling well on the second leg of the plane ride, so I splurged and took a taxi home - go me! Then I did a little work then napped and finally went to work in the afternoon.

Now to the birthday...

That night I went salsa dancing at Havana with my salsa friends, and that was good, although some of my favorite people weren't there, which was sad. I got to be the center of a birthday circle (the girl is in the center, and the guys form a circle around you and take turns dancing with you, and everyone watches), though, so that was cool. I ended up staying till the end, which is rare for me, especially on 4 hours of sleep!

On my actual birthday, I had a chill day of finishing organizing my room, cleaning a little, shopping a little, etc. That night people came over to drink, then we went dancing at the Big Easy, which always seems to be a good time. I was sufficiently drunk, but not too wasted, and I stopped early, so I wasn't even hungover! Yay! I definitely had a good time and appreciated everyone being there that could. :-)

And Mars Gravity pulled one on me today! They said that we had a meeting at 11 with the management for fundraising, and these meetings often run 2 hours, so I was prepared to be there for a while, and even brought my lunch. But instead, Rosie, Thaddeus, and Erika (and Dan wishes he could have been there) took me out to a really nice lunch at the Top of the Hub. It was really, really sweet and generous of them, so thank you!!

In other news, V is at home in Greece, so I hope he's having fun, but I look forward to him returning. And Silverio is 21 today! (on the 21st! yay!)

I have written way too much, so I'll stop here and maybe update more this weekend. :-)

posted by Biff @ 9:25 PM