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Jul. 2nd, 2010 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drscottMea culpa, I have had hardly any time to post here; moving, housebuying, juggling. But there are lots of topics inappropriate for the public insecurity and ADD of Facebook, and I read here regularly.
We've been in Chicago for three days now; first two days touring, the highlight being a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is probably the best sci-tech museum in the world. When last I visited I was about 8, and demanded my mohter buy me a radiometer, one of those blown-glass bulbs with black and white-painted vanes that spins in the sunlight. I still have it 45 years later, though it seems to be not quite as speedy, probably because some air has slowly leaked into the bulb. The museum had changed a lot: a vast new basement has been added for a parking garage and entrance, and most of the exhibits updated. The model plane in a wind tunnel I flew when I was eight is in the same place, replaced by a newer version made of plastic materials that doesn't work nearly as well (but is probably easier to maintain.) Ran into Rover and Cal and friend on our way to the Smart House exhibit, a 2500-sq ft Michelle Kaufmann-designed prefab with automation and eco-features. Nothing I didn't know, though the home automation console software was new to me and that's something we're shortly going to need, though I may stick with the open source stuff that's out there.
The weather has been perfect, cool and low (for Chicago) humidity. The hotel is the Hilton and Towers, which when it was built had 3,000 rooms and was the largest hotel in the world. It's next to Grant Park and we can see a sliver of the park and Lake Michigan out our windows.
Unfortunately I have come down with a cold, and today (first day of Convention) I was out of it. Slept some, hid some, danced not at all. Feeling a little better now, but Paul is downstairs having a great time dancing while I scribble here to avoid the crowds and noise. If the cold progresses as usual, I'll feel better somatically by tomorrow, but have days of fun sniffles and congestion to look forward to. Bad timing, but Convention for me is more about getting back in touch with certain people, so I'm not too put out about it.
The crowd gets older and more tired every year. Love'em all, but convention romances of past years have aged and I don't have much interest in anyone, so there's none of that old maybe-I'll-meet-someone feeling, just comfy old friends and family.
We've been in Chicago for three days now; first two days touring, the highlight being a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is probably the best sci-tech museum in the world. When last I visited I was about 8, and demanded my mohter buy me a radiometer, one of those blown-glass bulbs with black and white-painted vanes that spins in the sunlight. I still have it 45 years later, though it seems to be not quite as speedy, probably because some air has slowly leaked into the bulb. The museum had changed a lot: a vast new basement has been added for a parking garage and entrance, and most of the exhibits updated. The model plane in a wind tunnel I flew when I was eight is in the same place, replaced by a newer version made of plastic materials that doesn't work nearly as well (but is probably easier to maintain.) Ran into Rover and Cal and friend on our way to the Smart House exhibit, a 2500-sq ft Michelle Kaufmann-designed prefab with automation and eco-features. Nothing I didn't know, though the home automation console software was new to me and that's something we're shortly going to need, though I may stick with the open source stuff that's out there.
The weather has been perfect, cool and low (for Chicago) humidity. The hotel is the Hilton and Towers, which when it was built had 3,000 rooms and was the largest hotel in the world. It's next to Grant Park and we can see a sliver of the park and Lake Michigan out our windows.
Unfortunately I have come down with a cold, and today (first day of Convention) I was out of it. Slept some, hid some, danced not at all. Feeling a little better now, but Paul is downstairs having a great time dancing while I scribble here to avoid the crowds and noise. If the cold progresses as usual, I'll feel better somatically by tomorrow, but have days of fun sniffles and congestion to look forward to. Bad timing, but Convention for me is more about getting back in touch with certain people, so I'm not too put out about it.
The crowd gets older and more tired every year. Love'em all, but convention romances of past years have aged and I don't have much interest in anyone, so there's none of that old maybe-I'll-meet-someone feeling, just comfy old friends and family.
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Date: 2010-07-03 05:18 am (UTC)I know Cal from my time in Denver; he's such a sweetie. Please give him a hug for me if you have the opportunity.
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Date: 2010-07-03 12:19 pm (UTC)I find comfort in the old friends that feel like family.
My first memory of Chicago was performing at the Museum of Science and Industry in the AG exhibit as a member of the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M. I was 19 years old. We stayed at a private club (where a man made a pass at me in the sauna). I also remember going to the Playboy Club and having a German "bunny" make a pass at me (which gave me creds with my fellow cadets:)
This has been a tough couple of weeks. I would really have liked to have been in Chicago ... be one of those people to have the chance to see Paul, you and other friends.
Big HUGS!
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Date: 2010-07-05 03:46 pm (UTC)Like many cities, we have something called an Exlora! museum, which provides an excellent child-oriented tactile science introduction - the Chicago space felt more like that. I was somewhat saddened by the sight of rampant children being taught nothing by the experience, because parents/guardians were not taking time to explain the exhibits.