"I Left My Brain In San Francisco..."

and actually came home with a new one!!!
An opportunity afforded itself (HECK YEAH!) to attend a 3 day Learning and the Brain Conference at the Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill in the city by the bay! Leading experts on the latest brain research from all over the world presented, and IT WAS OVER THE TOP PHENOMENOL!!!!!! I have a 3 inch thick manual into which I also crammed pages and pages of notes. I'll be digesting it for some time and then hope to synthesize it if anyone's interested in reading. I bought 4 books as well and am going to begin teaching my students all about their brains!! Go figure. Nobody ever taught me about MY brain before!!! You??? I know!!! The whole thing smacked of eternal progression! And we thought we had a corner on that...These guys in Chinatown certainly redefined Happy Pants for me!! I was traveling alone, so all my adventures involved whatever I could cook up myself. One day at lunch I hopped on a cable car and did some exploring. Chinatown yielded a fist-sized bean-filled sweet bun and a bit of a parade featuring these guys. .When I wasn't embracing my "inner mountain goat"--huff puff huff--I leaped onto cable cars to get to and fro. That Bay Bridge off in the distance was closed for a few days while I was there. They've been building a parallel bridge which will replace the part of the old bridge that the most recent earthquake damagedI passed this little neighborhood garden squeezed between two buildings on one of my trips UP Nob Hill one morning. What's not to love about a little urban oasis?
A hearty Shout Out THANK YOU to my nephew Nathan and his wife Nikole who along with their 5 kids are spending a year as San Franciscans as part of his responsibilities as a pediatric cardiologist at the Mayo. This photo is their deck view on their south San Fran house where I stayed! I kept the wrong hours to see much of the kiddoes. Dang...I opted for the train. 36 hours coming and going on the AMTRAK was a beautiful thing and costs about the same as a flight. I loved the little old men volunteers that hopped on in Sacramento and gave a running historical commentary all the the way through the Sierras to Reno!!! I befriended 4 Amish boys out on a bit of what appeared to be a walkabout. I can't imagine their moms' cooking resembled the Sunny Delight and cheese in a can they were subsisting on. I didn't come right out and ask them, but I think they were wife hunting in Amish communities between Canada and their home in upstate NY. Encounted many other sorts of folks as well with LOTS of time to chat. The only one I Wasn't ennamored with was the Arkansas dude across from me coming home who spent the entire trip calling every human he'd ever encountered in his LIFE on his cell phone. In the middle of the night his cell kept ringing UNSUCCESSFULY awakening him! I had to raise myself out of my sleeping stupor and poke him in the ribs. "COULD YOU TURN OFF YOUR PHONE?????" And I did it without the least little bit of remorse. Sheesh... Oh, and one night I ventured on the BART over to Berkeley to hear the guru of "mindfulness" (google it) speak. That was an adventure in navigating. Groovy trip. Traveling shakes you up--rattles your chains--shines up your perspective. A treat indeed...