Well SVP (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) meetings have been going on now since Tuesday, and I am having a blast. Justin and I have meet professors at grad schools that we are interested in and all have responded positively. So this is incredibly encouraging. Not only did we meet lots of people we get to see our paleo-hero's. Paul Sereno, Bob Bakker, Phil Currie are all here and its great to hear them speak on their current research on the cutting edge of paleontology. The highlights of the talks have been, one on an pterodactyl embryo, that was so well preserved that on the inspection of the wings it is believed that they could fly within days or perhaps hours of being hatched. There were some great T.rex talks, one of which boldly stated that dinosaurs were warm blooded.
People watching is aways a great source of entertainment at these meetings. I think one girls t-shirt summed it up nicely, "Talk Nerdy to Me." It's so interesting to see 900+ dino nerds get together. There's the "normal" looking people, hopefully I fall into that category. Then there's the "field" group, they are always dressed like they just walked out of their summer research. they are the ones sporting the large rimmed hats, shorts, then either a flannel shirt or a t-shirt with a vest with their school or research logo on it. Then there is the "nerd" group. I don't think I really need to describe this group. But as I think, I think there are two groups of nerds, there are the academic nerds. They are skinny, so skinny that it looks like their pants will fall off, neat button up shirt, short neat hair, glasses, and a tie that displays what they are interested in (dinos, fish, mammals ect.) Then there are the nerds that look like they belong in a science fiction/fantasy convention. Usually on the larger spectrum body type with messy, long and greasy hair and totally unkempt/dirty clothing.
Then there was one person that totally creeped my friend Alyssa and I out, the Hitler lookalike. He looks like Hitler because he has that mustache that just is below the nose. Anyways, Alyssa and I were walking about and we both saw him staring at us. Not like checking us out staring, but Staring. Ugh, so we quickly walked past him and we have tried to avoid him with all measures.
Denver itself is a fantastic city. I have not gotten around much in the city, only as far as the Natural History Museum which is 3 miles away. But the vicinity right around the hotel is absolutely beautiful. Right next to our hotel is the "mall" which is a pedestrian street a mile long or so that is full of awesome restaurants, shops fun touristy places. There is a free bus that runs the length of the mall, so it's very easy to get from one end to the other quickly and it runs from early in the morn to about midnight. On my birthday we ate at a brewery called the Rockbottom. It was amazing and the beer was really good. We've also been to the Hard Rock Cafe, this one is two stories and upstairs they have a wall full of autographed guitars. I swear you could spend at least an hour just looking at all the neat stuff in those places. Well must get going, the auction is starting in half hour and must wake Justin up.
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4 comments:
"Then there's the "field" group, they are always dressed like they just walked out of their summer research. they are the ones sporting the large rimmed hats, shorts, then either a flannel shirt or a t-shirt with a vest with their school or research logo on it." Not to make fun of your profession or anything, but OMG! those people are nerds! I mean I thought those were the nerds u spoke of. You cant get any nerd-lier than that...i cant believe people are more nerdy than those people...it's just too funny...
You know, you remind me of a female Ross from FRIENDS...but in a good way.
Your descriptions are pretty funny. Yes, you'll find the same thing in my dept. There's a few well-dressed "normal" individuals like myself (as well-dressed as myself? I think not.) After that, there's the people who haven't figured out that you can't wear brown pants with black shoes, or that the sweeper sweaters are done and dead. Then there's the oddballs where it looks like it's a miracle they were able to both shower and dress themselves. You steer clear of those folk in case it's a non-shower day. The guys have an easier time of course, but there's always the poor half-bathed schlubs that think a T-shirt that's clean and hole-free constitutes a "dress shirt." Sigh. These people are the ones who tell statistics jokes that aren't funny, and have sweatshirts that say "When all else fails, manipulate the data." Sigh.
Were you at this conference?
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/10/science.dinosaur.reut/index.html
Nope, that was from GSA or Geology Society of America, which was held right after our meeting in Denver also.
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