Air + Road Trip

6/6/06 Tucson,
6/8/06 Los Angeles
6/10-12/06 Back to Blacksburg

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Day 2: Meetings and Maddog.

Lordy, 8:30am is not bad when you are dealing with the jet lag. But getting into the hotel at midnight local time did not help. I jumped on my computer and was happy to see that the network was working. Good thing too. I didn't print out a map to the meeting location since I expected to be able to get it by reading my email. The meetings were ok. Rather typical to other work that is done through federal organizations. All in all. Very little was accomplished though there was an increased awareness as to what was possible and what the hindrances might be.
	After my meeting I called Maddog and watched the storms coming in. Apparently they are quite common later in the summer. Big fat rain drops pelting everything, lightning lighting up the sky, and generally unsafe driving conditions. Even the palm trees are scared.
	It was nice to see Maddog (old VTuba) in his new home town. He's been in the area for a long time. Went to school here and then started working for some form of 'the man' right around the corner. He directed me around town and took me to a really cool Mexican place. They had a trio that comes around and plays music at the table, a girl that comes to your table with a cart that makes fresh salsa to your desired level of hotness, and tasty food. We abducted the table for an extended period of time and caught up on life in general.
	After dinner the rain was clearing up so we went down the road to see the cacti, watch the lightning (I can see why Liz kept talking about it) and check out some nice sunset views. It was neat to see all the pull offs on the road. Lots of good chances to stop and take in the scenery, though I imagine lots of people just stop and make out. Tons of cacti, mountains everywhere, lighting flashing. It was quite a sight to see. It would be fun to have a chance to just sit around and stare at it all night, but it was starting to get late so we drove on back and called it a night. So chalk up another day. I am sad to say that I watched the Fat Albert movie as I drifted off. Even though it was free, I don't think that reduces the riducule I deserve for watching it.