Vegas, Baby

That's where I would be if I still worked at Blackboard. In a ridiculous attempt to kill all its employees' virtue (and livers), my former employer is holding its annual convention in Vegas. Ridiculous. I went to the one in Boston last year. Not quite as awesome, though I was able to go to Australia in 2006, so all in all I think I made out pretty good! I hope all my former compadres are enjoying their time there in Sin City. I am off to my bachelor party today. 3-4 days of ridiculousness, Natural Light, reminiscing, and pretending I am 19 years old will culminate in a week-long hangover, I am sure. Should be awesome.

This weekend, Jena and I went out to San Francisco. Her friend Zeena got married. It was a beautiful ceremony in Hillsborough at her parents very nice house, overlooking the bay. The weather was beautiful and breezy. It was also a pretty interesting ceremony - a combined Hindu/Zoroastrian celebration. We sandwiched the wedding with a couple days of R&R, spending Friday exploring Santa Cruz and Capitola, and then Sunday we headed up to Wine Country in Sonoma, drinking and eating until we couldn't anymore. A great time. Monday was a long day of travel, but we made it back and now I am off again...

As usual, travel time afforded me the ability to polish off a couple of the books I have been working on. I polished off the book I was reading about the first crusade, aptly titled "The First Crusade". I found it to be an incredibly interesting and easy read. I was not at all informed on the subject so it was pretty fascinating, although the attack and occupation of Jerusalem seemed to receive short shrift, whle the siege of Antioch got about 75 pages. Still, a great introduction to the First Crusade. I also finally finished The World Without Us. I thought it was a bit unfocused, but still quite entertaining. It was not as doom and gloom as it could have been given the title - it was mostly a broad swath picture of different man-made things that would not persist if man didn't. It was also a rather uplifting picture of how our planet could, if given the chance, bounce back and recuperate. Interesting book - I'd recommend it as a quick read that could get you interested in a few different topics.