Chloe's Visit

Barbara went to Atlanta to help Gwyneth with her Ralph party. Chloe flew back with her on Monday and is keeping her grandparents busy. The first event was purchasing a new car seat. Since Barbara worked all day Tuesday, Grandpa did homeschooling with her. Chloe went to school with Barbara in the evening to view student projects in Alice. After Phil finished choir, we all went to Susannah's to see the new foster kitty.

See flickr slideshow! Wednesday was a busy day. Barbara and Chloe went to story time at the library and picked out videos and CD books for the trip back to Georgia. Then water aerobics.
We picked up Phil for lunch at IKEA. Chloe wanted to play in Smaland, so Barb and Phil shopped a while. Chloe wanted shoulder length hair.
Chloe spotted a fox in the backyard!

Early caroling

Today the church choir sang carols at our local HEB store. A couple of us insisted on Thanksgiving songs!

From 2008-11-06_08

Irvine, CA

Barb went to Irvine, California to a NCWIT meeting. Prior to the meeting, I went Geocaching (without a GPS) with my friend Andrea and we were able to find the cache just using google maps!

The UC Irvine campus was gorgeous and the talks on Pair Programming made me feel like a religious convert!

From 2008-11-06_08

Pittsburgh is Beautiful

Barb went to the Oral History Association meeting in Pittsburgh and stayed with her friend Wanda. Before the meeting on Saturday Barb found the TwoBagels' 100th geocache. Actually Wanda spotted it!

Link to see more pictures

On Sunday Barb walked to the Phipps Botanical Garden through Schenley Park. Gorgeous. But the piece de resistance was the chocolate/flamingo exhibit!

Hopper and SIGCSE Board at Keystone

Barb went to the Grace Hopper Conference and chaired the SIGCSE Board meeting at Keystone Resort in Colorado October 1-5.

View from Barb's Hotel Room

Camille's Birthday

Camille celebrated her 10th birthday in Texas.


Gwyneth brought the girls to go to the Austin Kiddie limits music festival and so we got to share Camille's birthday with her.



The girls made Playdough breaksfast for Phil and me!

Chicago for SGB

Quick trip to Chicago to attend a meeting as SIGCSE chair. Spent Friday evening with my cousin.

We had a great meal Friday night with Sue, Rich and Uncle Willie. Rich is a superb chef.
I managed to find a geocache near her home on Saturday morning.

Pictures of the trip are posted.

Sydney Australia

I walked to Central station to look for another cache, but didn’t find it. I went back to the conference. Since it was a nice day, I skipped out on three papers and went with Dale Parsons from Otago on a monorail ride and a Sydney Harbour tour. We returned just in time for lunch!





See more photos.

Australia 2008 Pt 4

I walked on the cliff path in front of Joy and Barrie’s – even saw two alpacas. I caught up on my mail and diary in the morning. About noon Joy and I took off to do a couple of errands and sightsee and geocache.


After being thwarted by two caches, Joy spotted her first a cache at Indented Head. Then I got fish and chips (sounded good, hit my stomach like lead) and Joy and I ate watching flock after flock of gulls .


We headed west to Torquay to give back the parking card Val gave us and then on to Anglesea Golf Course to look for kangaroos. On the way we traveled on the Great Ocean Road and looked for a geocache which Joy spotted immediately. I left a container of dental floss and took a little koala.


We were definitely not disappointed by the kangaroos on the golf course. There were tons!



Then we went to look for koalas without success. But it was a beautiful drive.

Australia 2008 Pt 3

I was up early and walked around the neighborhood and down along the beach. After breakfast Joy packed the car to go to Torkay where she gave her first Thermomix demo to her friends – Val Clarke who was the hostess, Cath and Loreen. Joy did a good job and the views from Val’s were spectacular. I walked over to the beach to get a good look at the Southern Ocean. See Thermomix photos



We went directly from Val’s to Melbourne to Federation Square where we tried to find the venue for the ACS / Women in IT dinner at Bok Choy Tang. No one seemed to know where either the building or the restaurant was. However, after 20 minutes of wandering we found it. Carla Romero from CRA was the speaker. I had good conversation with Annemeike, Catherine Lang and two young women. The Chinese food was quite good. Joy gave a ride home to Annemeike and Jo Caldwell. We got home about 11. I went to bed straightaway. Photos of evening

Australia Pt 3

Joy, Barrie and I were out early to go to Monash Caufield to visit with Judy Sheard and Barbara Ainsworth about their computer museum and oral history collection. I got a lot of pointers for the project and Joy and Barrie reminisced about professors and computers with Judy.

Lunch was a protracted affair and a student eatery mainly because my main disk, Thai curry was very slow in coming. After lunch we headed out to the hospital so Joy and Barrie could visit with her father. We were back around 6:30 and Joy made a lovely red pepper dip and served hummus and Barrie poured a wine. I ate so much I couldn’t eat the risotto and rolls.

Australia 2008 Pt 2

I woke late for me. Barrie made breakfast. We first went down to the jetty where a car had gone over the cliff during the night. Seems the whole town was out looking. We then parked at the local gold club and walked down to the beach where we looked for a geocache. The beach was the site of the original mineral spa of Clifton Spring. We saw lots of remnants including beach glass. The hills were covered with oxalis. We scrambled up a hill because stupid me didn’t notice that the cache was a terrain 3.

We went to the winery for a wine tasting and lunch while Joy worked on the winery’s printer. She joined us for the main course. I had scallops wrapped in prosciutto and a fillet with beets.

Later we went to Port Arlington to take fabric to Pinkaboo where Joy picked out a bag to be covered to take to her son’s wedding. We looked for another cache, but didn’t find it. We had themomix treats for supper.

Australia 2008

August 30, 2008

My friend Joy and I went geocaching on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne. We found it!


I put a bunch of pictures up on Flickr and will label them later.

Phil's Birthday

We began on Friday with a canoe trip on Lake Blue Ridge. Saturday included a geocache adventure and a "reventure" into the forest -- fording streams with the car and getting lost.
All ended with as usual cake and champagne.

40th Anniversary

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by geocaching and eating!

July 12 to 14 Auckland

July 12

Lesley and Sam took me to the airport. Early flight to Auckland was uneventful except that Air New Zealand told me I had two reservations for the same flight. I fixed that when I got to Auckland.

Alison picked me up and we went grocery shopping. Her friend Gail and Colin brought their two-year olds to spend the night. Alison's daughter Donelle brought her kids for supper as well. I went with Tony to take Don Gotterbarn to the airport, and then Alison put on a very big 4 course meal.

July 13

Alison took me to Unitec where I gave a lecture to a group of PhD students in Donald Joyce's class.

She picked me up later and we went with the twins to an 86th birthday party for her father in Pukekohe.

View of valley around Pukekohe

Twins with Alison's Dad's mobility scooters
We then went to her father's where we picked up his car for Alison. We took the twins back to Alison's and fed them dinner as well.

After wine and leftovers I went to bed.

July 14

I worked on my expense account and packed. Tony and I went for a walk.






Alison came and we had lunch. She left me off at the airport and I found my plane was very late.

I changed thanks to Skype and will fly Air New Zealand.

July 10 and 11 Dunedin South Island, New Zealand

July 10 Tony took me to the airport at 6am for my flight to Dunedin. Although it was a gorgeous morning a bit of fog was on the Dunedin runway and after 3 unsuccessful attempts to land, we went to Invercargill where buses took us on the 3-hour trip to Dunedin.

A cab took me to Otago Polytechnic where I met with Sam and Lesley and then met the School CEO. We went to a talk on the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Then supper at the Speight's Ale House restaurant.

The room I stayed in overlooking rugby stadium
July 11 We spent the rather grey morning working on the SIGCSE website.

The day cleared and we found a geocache very near Lesley and Sam's house on a little track.

We went to the Otago Museum for lunch and a quick look round.

Then we headed to the Otago Peninsula for spectacular scenery.

Back home we heard the grand preparations for the All-Black Spring Boks rugby match that was to be held across the motorway.

See the photos

July 7-9 Auckland, NZ

July 7. Days spent at NAACQ Conference. Alison had broken her toe at the conference banquet!

Alison's Boot

I gave the keynote at the end of the conference talking about the Oral History Project. We checked out of the hotel and went to Alison and Tony's. Alison cooked a big delicious dinner.

July 8. Tony, Don and I went to AUT where I gave a workshop on Alice programming. The person who was to have the accounts set up hadn't done it so we had a slow start. Two high school teachers--Gerard and Malcolm,from AUT Graham, Gordon, Tony, plus Don, and from Otago -- Dale, Lesley and Sam attended. We switched to looking at lots of languages in the afternoon. Then home for another Alison meal.
July 9
We had a lot of trouble getting out of the house. We tried to get a printer hooked up to print the geocache info, never did getr it on my machine. Then we went to the boat to pick up the geocache. I thought that meant walking on a dock and getting it but it meant getting through the yacht club gate for which Tony had the wrong code; getting the dinghy; getting into the dinghy which we nearly swamped (both Don and I had wet rears from the unbalanced load); rowing a long ways to the boat; me doing a very ungraceful entry.

Yacht club

Getting the dinghy

We had coffee and then took the ferry to Waiheke. It was a gorgeous day. Took the bus to Little Oneroa and walked along a track to find the geocache.

Little Oneroa

We found the cache and walked into Oneroa where we bought wine. The winery Alison had gone to in 2006 has gone out of business so I bought Peninsular Vineyard wine. We then took a cab to Mudbrick Winery for lunch.

Found the Cache!

Lunch wine

View from winery

See all the photos

July 6 Auckland

I did not have a July 5 as I was in transit to NZ. I flew business class which was nice. QANTAS gave out pj's.

The plane was a little late and immigration took over an hour. It was raining when I got a cab to the hotel and they let me check in early. Immediately went to breakfast with Alison and Tony and then the conference. Interesting stuff on SFIA and certification.

I took a nap in the afternoon after a huge luncheon. Then I went out to look for something for a sea theme costume. I wasn't successful but when I got back to the room I realized that my red pillow case would work!

The banquet was wild, and I won a prize for the best dancing!!! Me????

July 4 LA --

I slept in for the first time since leaving home. After breakfast of granola and yogurt, I took a trolley to the beach and sat under the pier for shade!




Then I went shopping at a small mall and back to hotel. Had bad pizza before leaving for the airport. At airport security I managed to leave behind my sweater and quart bag of liquids. By the time I went back, they had been logged and I had to sign for them. I hung out in the Qantas lounge; the flight was delayed an hour.

On board the plane the business class passengers got neat grey pajamas. Due to something about loading, each passenger in business got two seats. I managed to be comfortable on the long ride.

July 3 Madrid to LA

Up for breakfast and a long walk to the metro. Thank goodness John Dooley helped me with my big bag. Turns out my plane was very late and I had to rebook everything. Entry into the US in Miami was easy. I had a long chat on the flight with a woman active in WITI.

The rescheduled flight from Miami was late as well. I had spent quite a bit of time in the Ambassadors lounge and when the plane border, a little boy threw up right behind me. Yuk. That delayed the flight even longer. American put me up in the LAX Hilton and gave me food vouchers. It was after one when I got to the hotel -- one wheel is broken on my big bag and it is impossible to pull.

July 2 Madrid

Last day of conference. Phil Boyle gave keynote somewhat on computer history. We finished up what we could of our working group, had paella for lunch at the university and had a rather intense wrap up meeting.

The conference committee had a big wrap up meeting at a lovely bistro across from the library where Daniel Castro did his research.

July 1 Madrid

Phil Long gave the keynote. I did a lot of SIGCSE business. The banquet was held at a venue atop a fancy shipping center.

Amardeep took a video of the CS students singing group Tuna serenading me.

Monday June 30 Madrid

First actual day of the conference. Wendy Hall's keynote was fantastic. I did lots of SIGCSE stuff and worked some on the project. Videoed John Impagliazzo and helped Liz with the audio to prepare to do an interview.

Madrid Civic reception at the Julio Rodriguez Garden involved walking forever in the Park that Daniel Castro had taken Phil and me to two years ago, though I didn't realize it was the same park since I didn't see the pond nor the crystal palace this time. It was a real lesson in culture -- one doesn't get any drink or food until the dignitary comes and everyone should be there when he comes. So our time for the reception was a half hour before the reception started! I had to give a thank you to the city official and I tried to do part in Spanish. Needless to say, it was a hoot!

Sunday June 29

A full day of Working Group activity. John Impagliazzo went on the organized tour to Toldeo and another group member missed it but didn't come to work.

Lunch was once again at the Residencia. The opening reception was in the hall. After the reception, I went to a dinner hosted for the keynote speakers in the Madrid Soccer Stadium. We were in an air conditioned venue with big screen TV and a view of the field. We watched the soccer match for the Europe Cup between Germany and Spain. We had of tapas followed by filet mignon. The keynotes were Wendy Hall and her husband Peter, Phil Long from MIT and Roger Boyle (who was one of those pickpocketed on the metro coming in frmo the airport.






(photos courtesy W. Hall)

June 28 Madrid

I had breakfast and then walked to the venue. We were locked out but after some frantic waving we were let in. I didn't have time to register before going to meet my group. Just before I got to the room, the power went out for the whole floor when someone plugged in a laptop. I gave my opening having the participants follow along on their own laptops. No AC. A couple of hours later, AC was restored. Whew!

Working group



Outside the venue

We went for tapas after the working group was done. I couldn't get money from the ATM.


Tapas at the bar of the Alboran

June 27 London - Madrid

Our plane got in a bit late to London. I got a wheelchair so I didn't have to walk. Phil got on the train to his flight and he was off.

My plane got into Madrid almost an hour early! I got my luggage with no problem and found the metro, When I got out at Nuevos Ministerios, it was very hot and my luggage was very heavy so I hailed a cab who didn't know where to let me off so again I had to lug my bags.



I ended up at the residencia and checked in. To get to my room, you go down a flight of stairs, through several turns in the hallways, down another half flight, more turns; up a flight and down a hallway. However to get back to the start, I walk a few steps down the hall out a door and am quickly at the entrance. Obviously, I can't return the way I can exit because of security.

I had dinner in the residencia with several colleagues.

June 26 Pretoria -- in air toward London

Up very early to walk to the University of Pretoria where Judith hosted a breakfast for faculty from 3 universities. I panicked when I saw the scope of this "informal" gathering and put together a quick Power Point. I think the presentation went well. I was stunned to learn that UNISA has 260,000 students!


Judith and Phil at University of Pretoria


Judith's Office Door

Then a colleague of Judith's, Katherine Malan, took us to the Voortrekker's Monument and past the union building.

Voortrekker's Monument

Later Judith had a young man, Ezra, from her department take us all to downtown Pretoria and see the old buildings there.

A smoky cab ride (because of the fires along the highway) to the airport and we were off. I got quite ill on the flight; I thought I was going to pass out. It was very hot and crowded in the plane and we had missed lunch. The flight attendants let us sit in the galley until I recovered. I slept most of the 11 hour flight to Heathrow.

June 25 Pretoria

Up early. Had breakfast at the Guest House and Judith came in a taxi to pick me up.

We got to the conference venue. My presentation was after the opening session, but was considered the keynote. There were over a hundred people there, all invited by the government. People came from academia and from industry.

The conference lasted all day and then we went to Judith's where she prepared a braai (South African barbecue) for us. We ate in her lovely garden, with the braai fire keeping us warm.

June 24 Madikwe to Pretoria

Our last game drive. We were on a quest to find leopards for one of the guests. All we did was run around and we didn't see much.

But the really fun time started as we left the lodge. First, the elephant came back and drank from the pool.


Elephant

Then on the ride out to the airport we saw tons of animals: a ton of wildebeest, zebra and impala crossed in a line in front of the jeep. Then we saw our first jackal.

But the real fun was at the "airport" itself. The plane was nearly an hour late, and I have posted a very jumpy video of that.

When we got in the plane, we had two aborted take offs because giraffe kept getting on the runway. Finally the pilot hopped out with the prop still rotating and the plane slowly moving forward. He ran into the bush to chase away the giraffes! He jumped back in, turned the plane around again and we did take off.




In coming plane video

On the Plane


Giraffe on runway

Landing in Johannesburg was also interesting to be so close to the ground for so long.

We checked into the Pebble Fountain guest house. To get to our room we went through the kitchen! Judith Bishop gave a dinner party for us in her lovely little home in Brooklyn, Pretoria. Guests included Hermi Boraine from NACI and her husband, and Cheryl de la Ray from SET4W. We had lamb with lavender and wonderful wines.