Back from Atlanta

Just returned from my yearly geekfest.  This year's excursion was different because I was part of the organizing team.  I shared duties with Prof.  John Shen of University of Central Florida.  As it turned out we were a perfect pairing, he is a nervous type A and I was a calm type A.  John would worry and I would sleep on it.  We were able to get 1262 digests reviewed and formed into a coherent program of 662 papers.  I didn't quite believe we were able to pull it off, but we did, and the conference, Energy Conversion Conference and Exposition 2010  went quite smoothly. 

This conference has a history of long drunken evenings and early technical sessions.  This one was no different.  I would be up by 6 AM so that I can get to the author's breakfast by 7, do my schtick and then be in the sessions by 8.  Since the conference was in Atlanta, we had to go to some of my old haunts or else the trip would have been anticlimatic. 

I have always enjoyed this conference.  It all started when I was a mere gradual student, and I attended as a rite of passage, to worship at the feet of my elders and to pay homage to what they had wrought in my chosen profession.  Then I came as a technologist seeking ideas for development and confirmation.  Now that I am more involved with the IEEE, the conferences have become a blur, whereas I once went to soak up the knowledge and attend sessions, my days are filled with organizational meetings and preparation work.  More stressful but also more rewarding.  I can see why people would want to get into this line of work, it is very addicting.  I am now retired for the enxt two years, but I am to return in 2013.  Lookout people, here I come.

What I did during my Summer, so far.

Holy smokes, its been a while. Since the volleyball season ended a few weeks ago I have been sitting back and enjoying the heat. Well, not so much. Although Ohio doesn't see so bad after Orlando. It wasn't a dry heat.

The volleyball season ended pretty well, we finished tied for 15 out of 44 teams in the Open division at the AAUs. Considering how we started the season, I am pretty happy with the finish. Kind of a strange team for me, I usually get the runts and win by playing D and ball control. This team had height and firepower but was lacking in ball control. We did well enough to win. Nice kids though, not a bad kid in the bunch. More importantly, not a bad parent in the bunch.

A life transforming experience. Someone I went to high school with died a horrible and painful death from leukemia. We were classmates throughout junior high and high school but were never close. Didn't keep up with her throughout the intervening years. Got back in touch with her on Facebook of all things while the class was working on the class reunion. Never got to see or talk to her in person, just through Facebook and emails. But the finality of her passing really hit home hard. it brings home the fact of our own mortality. The fragility life is something that we all keep in the back of our minds yet the day to day and the mundane crowds our minds so much that the idea of dying seldom enters into our minds until something catastrophic happens, such as my friends passing. Not sure if this will make me more religious - not likely- or more reflective.

It always happens this way. The volleyball, which is a stalwart part of my being and a huge part of my happiness intrudes every November through June. I therefore neglect everything else, including my effort to become a polymath. Once again I have neglected my plan for becoming the biggest egghead in the world. Back in the saddle again.

I have many books started: The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Wings of the Sphyinx by Andrea Camilleri in the Inspector Montalbano series, Einstein's God by Krista Tippett, The Shallows by Michael Carr, The Big Short by Michael Lewis. And about fifty more stacked up on my To Be Read stack. Way too ambitious yes.

In addition, there is the role of the mathematical dilettante, the fun stuff like Go and origami, as well as getting my lard butt in shape. So much to do, so little time.

As always, there are philosophical and metaphysical questions right and left, as well as many things to be understood. So, I am off to do that. But, Ill be back.