my name in lights

ok, not really lights, but it's still pretty cool. here's what's going on with me this week.

so, yesterday I flew to salt lake city, utah for the summer meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). it was a fairly uneventful flight and trip to the hotel we are stayng at, near the university of utah (where the conference is). I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and had to wake up super early this morning (6am, which was really 5am for me). today was the first unofficial day of the conference, and we went to two four-hour workshops. it was slightly painful, especially around 2:30pm when the caffeine started to wear off and I got a bit punchy. anyway, it could've been worse I suppose. at least they are paying for me to be here (and for my food and everything which is totally sweet).

there were a few redeeming highlights today. first, when we checked in the registration area this morning, we got a t-shirt with our packet. on the back of the t-shirt, there is a list of all the people who are presenting a poster or talk at the conference. and my name is there! it was exciting. then there was boring boring boring. after the last workshop, Brian went with me to go find Fred, my old boss from SDSU. it was so good to see him and see how the project was going and everything and how everyone in the office was doing.
after dinner, Brian and Jen and I headed back to the conference area because we heard there was some free food (this is the only way to get graduate students to go anywhere). there were lots of booths set up with various vendors trying to get you to buy their books or calculators or physics demonstrations. it was pretty ridiculous. but they had chocolate cake, so it was ok. Brian decided to make it more interesting, we would search out all the free stuff and try to get as many stickers and pins attached to him as possible, making him the physics whore. it was quite funny; (one of our favorite stickers said, "the physics front" on it. we stuck it to his back). while we were walking around, I ran into one of the professor I knew from UCSD who I haven't talked to in a while, so that was really great as well. but the best part was seeing the finished project of the textbook/curriculum I had been working on at SDSU. it had finally gotten published and the publisher was there and had the full-color, hardcover version (I had only ever seen a black and white softbound). it was really amazing to see this thing that I had helped work on for sale and potentially being used by students all around the country. however, the best part, is that my name is listed as one of the contributors to the book (as it should be). it was so cool to see my name in print like that, in a real book and everything. It was a great feeling.

Brian and I ended the evening at the bar with a few drinks and then the hot tub at the hotel. it was a good end to a long and tiring day.

tomorrow morning I get to present my poster on the research I was doing this summer. hopefully it won't be too boring. I have to stand in front of it for an hour while people come by and ask me quesions about me. we'll see how it goes.