All Things Go

Everything in my life has been just wonderful lately. We went to NYC for a weekend of hanging out with college friends, and spent 24ish hours doing nothing but eating, drinking, and bullshitting (just like college!).

View from my spot on the couch in the room of happiness.

I got promoted at work, and also got funding to run a conference I've been wanting to make happen for over a year. It was this past week, and it went awesomely - it looks like I'll be able to turn it into an annual event based on how successful it was. I don't really have any fun pictures of it, but here I am in a hat made for me by my colleague in St. Louis (a coworker from Hawai'i came and brought me delicious candy, but I ate it before thinking to take a picture):

I love this hat!

Lastly, I finally remembered to order the recently-published book of one of my former professors, and I am in the acknowledgments section (I helped transcribed interviews for her):

I am famous!

In conclusion, it's only a matter of time before I get hit by a bus,  because no one gets to have this much good luck and happiness all the time.

Robots robots robots!

For the third year in a row, Ben and I were referees at the UPenn FIRST Lego League competition this weekend.

You can tell Ben is the head ref because his hat is bigger.

The competition has grown larger every year we have participated, and this year was even crazier than usual because snow caused a delayed start, meaning what was supposed to be a 10 hour event was compressed into 6 hours. As always, it was super fun to see all the kids so excited about their robots, and have them tell you all about their brilliant designs. But removing all the transition times and breaks from the schedule did result in a constant state of barely controlled chaos as multiple teams at a time jostled for position while referees, design judges, coaches, a photographer, and a videographer all tried to find space to do their jobs as well. This picture does not do it justice at all:

Imagine all these people cycling through every 2.5 minutes, with several hundred middle schoolers watching and cheering.

I guess it's all worth it in the end for a shot at the lego glory!