First Day and thoughts from Chicago

Ok – I made it to Chicago – took off at 6am got in 7am chicago time (crossing them time zones always messes with me) – I actually slept a lot on the plane tho – nice two hour nap (which was needed because of all the non-sleeping I have been doing)

Manage to get this airport express shuttle (it is rainy and kinda blech) and they drop me at the wrong hyatt – I figure that out and luckily they help me get to the right one and I get to check in early – yay

Then going to the room - I find out half the elevators go to one set of floors and the other the othr set, so after riding up and down – lol – I get to my room – yay

I hit the Field Museum (the other teachers coming in later) – that museum is awesome – it is mainly Natural History and culture and wow and man my feet and brain are tired – lol

I was going all over the place – I got the ticket for the shrink to 1/100 size and walk through soil even tho' they said recommended for kids age 6 – hey that's me and seeing an animated pincher bug – which was sneaky and set to come alive only if you touched the rail which the sign said do not touch – so it looks like a display statue and you lean in and it bangs loud and raises up and pinches its pinchers – no I did not scream – too loud – luckily no one was around at the time

The crayfish and ants moved too and the display was cool.

Plus I got to see Sue which for a geologist is a neat thing (and the evolving Earth was a good display) especially considering the comments I heard about evolution and such as I wandered. I was good and did not interject or but in to any conversation…..

And damn the cool thing is I got to make these mold-a-rama wax dinosaur figures in this machine – I was like a little kid doing the different ones and watching – then about halfway through the museum it occurs to me I gotta get these things home and hope I do not end up with a bunch of pieces or melted wax ball :-P

The cultural exhibits were cools too – I liked the different large structures they had of different cultures as well as a photo album exhibit - The Auschwitz Album: The Story of a Transport– that was the last thing I saw and the photos – makes you think about people and ideas and concepts and how people make decisions and carry out certain actions and the like

Then got my registration stuff and now chilling in hotel waiting for others and to see what to explore next. I took some pictures and should have those up soon.

SO much to explore – so little time – and tomorrow the brain really gets a work out at the conference!