Had a good day, got some good information from my sessions. Lots to review and research. Which I should probably be doing right now, but I am busy enjoying a complimentary second diet rum and coke. I hate diet soda but magically when it mixes with rum it tastes just like regular soda. 
Anyway, off to a vendor reception and then off to the hot tub.
Must. Quit. Smoking.
I am not fully awake unless I’ve had my first, and maybe second, cigarette. I’m not used to getting dressed and ready without having it first. But it seems like such a chore to walk all the way downstairs just to smoke, only to have to come back up to get dressed. I’m freaking lazy. So, I got ready first and then had my smoke, along with some coffee.
Registered for the conference and had a banana and some tea, hot, earl grey. Now I’m back to coffee and the first keynote is beginning in a few minutes. Have chatted with a few people whose names I can’t recall. I’m horrible at networking. I’m not sure what to do with someone once I’ve networked them anyway. Will they help me get some awesome job? I suppose.
Anyway, off to the keynote. Back later.
One more thing before I nod off. I am actually getting a workout here due to smoking. My hotel room is located so far from the elevators… add to that the walk out to the outside… and back… that everytime I want to go out for a smoke, I get a little workout. It just proves how out of shape I am because by the time I get back up to my room, I’m out of breath enough that I want another cigarette.
Anyway, back to my king size luxury bed…
A limo picked me up this morning (aren’t I spoiled!) and took me to the airport, where I waited and waited for my flight to Orlando. The flight was fine. I actually didn’t sleep through it for once, and spent my time flipping through SkyMall and playing on the laptop.
Took a taxi to the hotel and checked in. Went down to the restaurant and had a nice iced tea and a completely adequate Caesar salad. Came back up, switched into swim suit, and headed down for a nice leisurely dip in the hot tub and pool (switching back and forth as I adjusted to the temperature). Finished off with a rum and coke at the bar and now I’m back up here, wishing my room was smoking and contemplating paying the $300 fine for smoking instead of going back downstairs for another. Contemplating I said… I’m not really going to do that.
Meanwhile, this Amy Winehouse person was mentioned to me and I looked her up…
She seems like just the sort of bad girl I would have really dug when I was, oh, 14. And although I am all grown up and have abandoned my black leather jacket long ago, I actually do dig her, despite the fact that she’s apparently a crackhead. And her music ain’t so bad either. I may have to download some.
Anyway… off for a smoke now. May have more inspiration later.
I took a bunch of pictures at the InHome homeschooling conference this weekend but my blackberry glitched out so very few survived. Above is Boy #1 preparing to dine on pizza at the hotel restaurant. The boys had a good time.
Friday began with a storytelling / musical performance (Unicorns and Dragons: Irish Ballads and Stories and English Songs with Renaissance Lute, featuring Chicago’s very own Bard Dan Marcotte and Master Storyteller Judith Heineman), which was entertaining. The remainder of the day, the boys wandered between an art class, a hands-on science class, and a building class (Legos, K’nex, etc.), and spent some time in the carnival area. Afterwards, we spent a relaxing bit of time in our hotel’s pool and hot tub. It wasn’t as grand as the conference hotel’s pools (in fact it was quite tiny), but nobody was there so it was peaceful. Later we headed back to the conference for the “bonfire” to roast some smores… however it was freezing and the bonfire turned out to be a small gas fireplace on a terrace. The boys roasted their marshmallows while narrowly avoiding being burned by the rapidly shifting flames. The boys and I fell asleep watching TV in the hotel and later my love joined us after work.
Saturday began with a bang, literally:
Cryogenics Show - Jerry Zimmerman
What happens when you immerse balloons or flowers in liquid nitrogen? Get answers to these questions and more at this exciting presentation. Jerry Zimmerman, scientist from Fermilab, will demonstrate amazing changes in the properties of materials when they are exposed to very cold temperatures. Families are welcome and children under 7 must be chaperoned.
This was hands-down the best part of the conference! We <3 liquid nitrogen!
Next in line was a Letterboxing class, where the boys made their own stamps and went on their first letterboxing treasure hunt. We plan to search out local letterboxes soon. Also, we liked the idea so much that we may incorporate it into our honeymoon road trip plans.
Afterwards, we set up the boys’ Katamari Damancy display, including a katamari ball (pictures to come eventually!) they made out of various junk, at the “Imaginarium Fair.” They also showed off their lapbooks and Boy #2 showed off a photo of his magnificent ice painting (again, pictures to come!).
We were also scheduled for a tie-dye class but we’d had enough by then, and opted for lunch instead, followed by a trip to the American Science and Surplus store, where the boys picked up a bouncy ball and a weather balloon, and I picked up a soldering gun and some LED’s.
A drive home and our adventure was over, followed by me hurriedly packing for the conference I am now at, in Orlando….
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