Day 874: Winter in the City
Feb. 12th, 2010 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nagi_schwarzSo, as of today, I am a grand twenty-four years old (despite Jake putting a "Happy Birthday! Big 21") on my facebook wall.
But let us backtrack.
So...Thursday. Woke up and cleaned, finished the last of my packing, and then went downstairs. Kent's wife Beth picked me up, and I sat in the back between the car seats, which was all right until the baby started to cry. It's like the Reid effect, me and very small children. Angela and I made it to the airport in good time, though. Didn't check any luggage, and our flights didn't get delayed, so that's what counts. I finished The Sword in the Stone and made it through the second book - about Morgause, mostly - and then started in on The Ill-Made Knight, and then I slept the rest of the flight.
My sister picked us up from the airport, and I was super happy that she helped us out. Also, she brought Audi the chihuahua, and that totally made me smile. Angela and I checked into the hotel, and then we walked to Little America for lunch. We went to the courthouse so she could talk to some of her old coworkers, which was pretty cool, and also we got to see the courthouse. Then we came back to the hotel to take a nap, and then went out to dinner at the Market Street Diner (?)
Angela's sister and brother-in-law and nephew were all there. I had Alaskan King Crab for the first time. We talked and laughed and made sure the little toddler boy didn't make too much of a mess. Angela's family had gift cards from Christmas, so we didn't break their bank, and for dessert Angela and I shared some super tasty chocolate cake.
Afterwards they dropped us off at Temple Square so we could watch some of the MoTab rehearsals, which was amazing. A younger man ran the choir through a couple of numbers, and he'd make them sing a song, then go through and pick out parts where they were messing up (not badly, of course). I couldn't hear what he heard going wrong, but he had an absolutely beautiful voice, so there you go. We swung by the visitor's center to see if we could find my friend Halley, but she wasn't there, so we went to look at the reflective pool and the waterfall. While we were there, a girl stopped us and asked us to take her picture, so I did, and as we went to head toward the waterfalls, I saw her - Halley! Totally out of the blue. I gave her a hug and we had a picture and...wow. It was so awesome to see her.
Eventually Angela and I wandered back to the hotel - while I entertained Angela with the depths of my hyperactive imagination - and went to bed.
This morning we were up at six and out the door by seven. We grabbed muffins from the hotel buffet and ate on the way to the Trax station. Everything for the conference was at the U of U Institute, and I'm lucky Angela's with me, because she knows this city like the back of her hand. We made it in time to snag some breakfast and also to go to the Women in the Law panel, which was good times. Then we had the main meeting, split up for some group meetings.
The first meeting was about the Joseph Smith papers project, specifically the legal side of it all, which was pretty intense. Heard some theories about why the extermination order was issued (hello greed) and it reminded me of that one theory about why Caesar took on the Gaels - for gold. Being a paid assassin is one thing, to me, but killing out of sheer greed is something else for me, so crazily repulsive.
The second meeting I went to was on the First Amendment, essentially, and I felt good about it, since I'm taking Free Speech and Church & State. We talked about a case I studied in my first year of law school, and we got to hear about it from one of the attorneys actually running all the appeals on it, which is always cool.
Lunch was super tasty - Café Rio. We ate with some of the girl law students we'd met, and also Officer Despain, because he came this year - three for three, he said. There was a speech over lunch, and then we broke into practice groups, and then had the law student meeting (which frightened me, because it was about networking, and I hate networking).
After the law student meeting we rode the Trax back to temple square for the fireside at the Tabernacle. Stephen Covey spoke, which was pretty inspiring, and then had a super awesome buffet dinner at Conference Center. They had buffet tables laid out with food from all the different countries - I had Greek food. Angela and I ended up seated at a table with some attorneys, one of whom is church counsel in Hong Kong. One is also in the MoTab and was actually out in Omaha this summer while I was there. We also met a student from Seattle and his pretty Taiwanese wife, so Angela and I giggled over her wedding pictures, which was fun.
Now Angela and I are back at the hotel watching the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies. Best parts of it - seeing awesome representation of the First Nations and also...slam poetry.
Awesome.
Highlights of my birthday - lots of good food, free travel on The TRAX, and also all the really heartwarming birthday wishes. My sister gave me a gift card to the bookstore, which will always make me happy. Also, I often put birthday wishes on people's pages on facebook and feel a bit bad if we're not very close, but the birthday wishes this year made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Jenny called me last night to make sure it really was my birthday today, because apparently some people put fake birthdays on facebook. Apparently she also thought Dan's engagement last year was real.
It's been a happy birthday, gang.
Also, SLC is much warmer and more pleasant than Omaha in winter this year.
But let us backtrack.
So...Thursday. Woke up and cleaned, finished the last of my packing, and then went downstairs. Kent's wife Beth picked me up, and I sat in the back between the car seats, which was all right until the baby started to cry. It's like the Reid effect, me and very small children. Angela and I made it to the airport in good time, though. Didn't check any luggage, and our flights didn't get delayed, so that's what counts. I finished The Sword in the Stone and made it through the second book - about Morgause, mostly - and then started in on The Ill-Made Knight, and then I slept the rest of the flight.
My sister picked us up from the airport, and I was super happy that she helped us out. Also, she brought Audi the chihuahua, and that totally made me smile. Angela and I checked into the hotel, and then we walked to Little America for lunch. We went to the courthouse so she could talk to some of her old coworkers, which was pretty cool, and also we got to see the courthouse. Then we came back to the hotel to take a nap, and then went out to dinner at the Market Street Diner (?)
Angela's sister and brother-in-law and nephew were all there. I had Alaskan King Crab for the first time. We talked and laughed and made sure the little toddler boy didn't make too much of a mess. Angela's family had gift cards from Christmas, so we didn't break their bank, and for dessert Angela and I shared some super tasty chocolate cake.
Afterwards they dropped us off at Temple Square so we could watch some of the MoTab rehearsals, which was amazing. A younger man ran the choir through a couple of numbers, and he'd make them sing a song, then go through and pick out parts where they were messing up (not badly, of course). I couldn't hear what he heard going wrong, but he had an absolutely beautiful voice, so there you go. We swung by the visitor's center to see if we could find my friend Halley, but she wasn't there, so we went to look at the reflective pool and the waterfall. While we were there, a girl stopped us and asked us to take her picture, so I did, and as we went to head toward the waterfalls, I saw her - Halley! Totally out of the blue. I gave her a hug and we had a picture and...wow. It was so awesome to see her.
Eventually Angela and I wandered back to the hotel - while I entertained Angela with the depths of my hyperactive imagination - and went to bed.
This morning we were up at six and out the door by seven. We grabbed muffins from the hotel buffet and ate on the way to the Trax station. Everything for the conference was at the U of U Institute, and I'm lucky Angela's with me, because she knows this city like the back of her hand. We made it in time to snag some breakfast and also to go to the Women in the Law panel, which was good times. Then we had the main meeting, split up for some group meetings.
The first meeting was about the Joseph Smith papers project, specifically the legal side of it all, which was pretty intense. Heard some theories about why the extermination order was issued (hello greed) and it reminded me of that one theory about why Caesar took on the Gaels - for gold. Being a paid assassin is one thing, to me, but killing out of sheer greed is something else for me, so crazily repulsive.
The second meeting I went to was on the First Amendment, essentially, and I felt good about it, since I'm taking Free Speech and Church & State. We talked about a case I studied in my first year of law school, and we got to hear about it from one of the attorneys actually running all the appeals on it, which is always cool.
Lunch was super tasty - Café Rio. We ate with some of the girl law students we'd met, and also Officer Despain, because he came this year - three for three, he said. There was a speech over lunch, and then we broke into practice groups, and then had the law student meeting (which frightened me, because it was about networking, and I hate networking).
After the law student meeting we rode the Trax back to temple square for the fireside at the Tabernacle. Stephen Covey spoke, which was pretty inspiring, and then had a super awesome buffet dinner at Conference Center. They had buffet tables laid out with food from all the different countries - I had Greek food. Angela and I ended up seated at a table with some attorneys, one of whom is church counsel in Hong Kong. One is also in the MoTab and was actually out in Omaha this summer while I was there. We also met a student from Seattle and his pretty Taiwanese wife, so Angela and I giggled over her wedding pictures, which was fun.
Now Angela and I are back at the hotel watching the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies. Best parts of it - seeing awesome representation of the First Nations and also...slam poetry.
Awesome.
Highlights of my birthday - lots of good food, free travel on The TRAX, and also all the really heartwarming birthday wishes. My sister gave me a gift card to the bookstore, which will always make me happy. Also, I often put birthday wishes on people's pages on facebook and feel a bit bad if we're not very close, but the birthday wishes this year made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Jenny called me last night to make sure it really was my birthday today, because apparently some people put fake birthdays on facebook. Apparently she also thought Dan's engagement last year was real.
It's been a happy birthday, gang.
Also, SLC is much warmer and more pleasant than Omaha in winter this year.
