It's been a while since I posted, lots of things have happened and you'll get the usual way of me telling stories. They kind of, sort of make sense, if you happen to accept the fact that I do live in my own little world.
Katey's wedding was fun. On the left is the happy couple with their witnesses and on the right is me, Katey, Sarah and Charlie. Thanks for the great day Mrs K. I know you still get a kick out of it.
After the wedding, I got to go to Houston. But first let me tell you a story about British Airways. Ah, the greatness of BA. They sold me a direct ticket from Heathrow to Houston, Texas. They just neglected to tell me that I would be stopping over in Chicago, clearing customs and immigration, picking up my baggage, checking it back in and then back on the same plane to Houston. I'm not liking this idea of direct flights of BA. Maybe they need to define a new industry standard for it.
Conference was fun. Houston is a loud loud oil city. It is also the home of the
Houston Space Center, origin of "Houston, we have a problem".
Me in front of the remnants of one Apollo(?) satellites. If anyone can tell me what I took a picture of myself in front of, I'd like to know actually.
Oh, I am easily amused....This is the ceiling of one of the exhibitions there.
Me touching a piece of the moon! Yay, I am officially sad.
The real mission control room where they monitored the moon landings and all the space shuttle missions. It's retired now with a new one hidden away. But they've kept the original, just for kicks. Oh yeah, it's also a piece of history.
The reason why there is a picture of this is that I find it highly amusing that everything that can be sponsored is sponsored in America. Is there anything that isn't for sale? Altruism at its best but surely it must go too far? That's for another post maybe.
Look, a scientist! Me at work in the conference, standing by my poster. For those who are confused by this idea, there's too many people who want to present stuff at a conference of this size (think lots and lots of people) so they put people in a big hall next to their posters and present their work to anyone who's interested. It's kinda fun actually.
Goodbye skyscrapers. Downtown Houston.
At the end of the conference, moved on to Bloomington, Indiana. Now for those who know, this wasn't really done just for the hell of it. Went to visit one of my friends, Kath, currently committing hara-kiri by attempting to do a PhD programme at Indiana University. For the other people who live in the States that I didn't manage to visit, I apologise, I will get to you next time. Or when you have your first child... (hint to Fern).
Spent a couple of days chilling out with Kath, going shopping at outlet malls, I love spending British pounds, other people's money always seem better value. It's even better value when I'm home but that's another story. On Thursday, we hit Chicago.
First night, went out with Wendy to party. I highly recommend
The Redhead Piano Bar. Good atmosphere, people just chilling out singing along to the piano-man and the tuneful chick that's his sidekick.
The next day, we went to have a lovely luscious morning, pedicures at
The Nail Bar, then haircuts at Mark Anthony. Kath had to study in the afternoon so I went on an
Architectural Tour of Chicago. It's the best thing ever. Chicago is known for all the pretty buildings so I learnt a lot about it in an afternoon.
The
Art Institute of Chicago and a fresco in a building whose name escapes me right now. (It is 4 am in the morning while I'm doing this, amnesia due to insomnia.)
What a beautiful city..
The sculpture is called CloudGate but is affectionately known as "
The Bean" in Millenium Park in Chicago.
mmm....Hershey shop in Chicago..
On Saturday, I was given the opportunity to attend opening weekend of the
Cubs game in
Wrigley Field with Kath, Wendy and Chris. It was COLD. We froze bravely until the sixth inning and then went to a bar to watch John Cusack sing at the seventh inning stretch. It was fun to be in the atmosphere at the end of the ball game. Thousands of people in Wrigleyville, which is the neighbourhood where the ball park is at, getting into bars and enjoying the fact the the Cubs won the game.
Kath is slightly photo-allergic but I thought she should have some shots since she took all the time out to show me around the place. So Kath driving around showing me the sights, literally. Thank you dahling. Mwah Mwah.
Goodbye Chicago.
Hoosiers are people who live in Indiana. Isn't that amusing?
On Monday, Kath had classes all day so I spent the day with Michael, one of her friends. He took me out to Monroe Lake and it was a gorgeous sunny day and we spent it talking about philosophy. The shadow pic is us.
That's all folks.
Oh, and for those that know my church-going abilities quite well, I made a slight error this evening by going to Holy Thursday mass in full Latin. It was painful, I'm going to try another place tomorrow.
Happy Easter everyone. It's all good. Christ is risen again.
