SEDS Conference Mania

Went to the SEDS conferece, SpaceVision2005, at the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana to

1. exhibit for ZERO-G
2. get interns
3. tell the students how to get on our airplane
4. hang out with all* my cool space friends
   

(*note: some cool space people were not there, but enough that it was still a good time!)

I arrived in Chicago late Friday night and was picked up by Will Pomerantz. His friend "Chema" let us crash at his place in the city. Chema is now a cop in Chicago. He and Will met during school at Harvard.

Will and I got up early and made the 2 hour drive to the conference just in time to set up our displays (Will was representing ISU and the NASA Academy programs). I met a lot of enthusiastic and well-qualified intern applicants and handed out a lot of brochures. Unfortunately, this meant we missed the talks by our cool space friends and colleagues! [As a side note, it is extremely wierd to know half of the people presenting at a conference. It's also extremely neat to be included in such a group:-) ]. After checking into our hotel, we went to the closing banquet. Bob Richards was the keynote speaker and highlighted the 25 anniversary of SEDS and the enormous contributions of the late Todd Hawley. It was a phenomenal presentation that really made me proud to be part of the drive to push humanity out into the stars.

Then we went drinkin' at a local pub. Oh my, college town bars are cheap. You can buy a dozen shots for under $10. (Trust me.) We all had a good time together talking about the next steps after the conferece to bring to life the ideas from the SEDS workshops. Later we toured a lab office and had pizza [?] and then Will and I chased rabbits on our way back to the hotel. (Yes, we were surprised that there were rabbits too!)

The next morning we were treated to a presentation from Loretta about her appearance in James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep. I had no idea she was featured so prominently! She talks about it like she was on screen in the background when really she narrates parts of the film! I am amazed, but not surprised. Loretta is a champion of "what's possible in the world" and is always doing some new, impossible thing. Her fiance, George, was the keynote speaker at lunch. What a couple!

After several hours discussing the Space Generation, Will and I drove back to Chicago with Josh and John from X PRIZE. John just needed a ride to the airport, but Josh came back to Chema's with Will and I for the night. Getting up at 4am on Monday morning to make a 6am flight out was not fun and highlighted the damage that cold Illinois air (and cheap liquor) had done to my immune system. I'm sure I'll get over it in a few days. Or not. Either way, I can't stop now--too much to do!