Louisville Day Two

I am a little behind on these updates, but I will write these as if I kept up to date. A and I woke up at our leisure on Thursday and registered for the conference. We met a student from the University of Louisville and quickly struck a conversation. Since we were still early for any of the sessions, we walked the downtown area with our new buddy to find some food and see the area. Like most of America, this downtown had been through a recession during the 80s and 90s and just recently started to revitalize the area. Being the preservationists we are, we critiqued the manner in which certain buildings utilized adaptive reuse. (adaptive reuse= using older buildings in such a manner as to retain the historical elements but update the interior to use for modern purposes.) For the most part they were really successful, but there was one huge exception to this. They had a one block area that they call Fourth Street Live that is has a bunch of restaurants, retails, etc and at night they block off the road to traffic so people can walk between the venues without being hit by cars. To keep people from being rained on they put this ugly modern structure over the block. This hid the beautiful exterior of one building and looked completely out of place with the buildings underneath. The only good thing was that the structure appeared to be removable without hurting the exterior of the historic buildings.
After walking around, we ate at this amazing Mediterranean cafe where I got a vegetarian Falafel. It was fantastic. The people at the restaurant were surly though. Then we attended a few sessions of the conference. I attended one on historic cemeteries that discussed not only some of the ways in which you can get community involvement, but also how to identify unmarked graves and sources to post the names you find to allow people to find their ancestors. A and I also attended a session about the importance of archaeology. Being that we are both non-digging archaeologists, we already knew how cool they were, but they spoke about public archaeology which I knew little about.
That evening we had a get together with all the current students and the alums in celebration of our co-directors retirement this summer. We had a great time and the food was also good. It was nice to get to meet some of the alums of the program, but I really enjoyed hanging out with my fellow students who I don't often get to be casual with because I am so busy that I can't attend social get togethers.

Louisville Day One

Today my friend A and I left for our conference in Louisville, KY. We had to get up at 4 to get to the airport in time, but we made it with plenty of time and our flight left on time. We were lucky that we flew Delta. Not only were our tickets super cheap, but we avoided that mess with American Airlines.
When we arrived in Louisville, after a short layover in Cincinnati, we rented a car for the day to go down to Mammoth Caves. We had a great time. The caves are huge and in order to get down in them we had to descend 350 stairs, some of which you could see many feet below you. It was quite the workout and we were down there for 2 hours. I wish we could have gone on the lantern tour, but it was sold out, as was the tour of the historic town inside the cave! We asked lots of nerdy questions about archaeology and preservation because we are that kind of people. It was nice to be the one asking the questions though instead of receiving them. I also asked about my relative who is created as the first European to discover the caves, John Houchin. I was a little disappointed because they didn't say a lot on the tour or when I asked and they didn't have any books for sale about him in the tiny gift shop. I will have to see if I can find something around town.
After the caves we arrived at our hotel exhausted from the early hours and walking, so we took a nap. Two hours later we finally willed ourselves out of bed and went to a pizza and pasta place a few blocks down. The food was awesome and the price was cheap. We split a calzone and a salad and we still had some left over.
On our walk down we noticed lots of older buildings in the area that have been rehabilitated or renovated. We also saw a movie palace that had been beautifully restored that I sat and drooled over for awhile. (I will post pics when I get home since I didn't bring my cord for the camera.) So far we have been really impressed with the city, and I can't wait until we can explore more of it in the daylight.
The only downside to our trip is that tomorrow our two other roommates show up and it will be crowded in our room. Our room has two double beds, so we are going to be nice and cozy at night. Hope no one snores or kicks.

Lightning

We are experiencing a tremendous thunderstorm right now. Here are two of the weather reports that show how many strikes have happened so far. I tried to get some video, but my camera didn't pick it up so well in the dark. Trust me, it was cool looking.

Books of 2008, Part VI

I know there are those people who don't think science fiction can be considered literature, or at least serious literature, but those people just aren't reading the right books.

Earlier this evening I finished Childhood's End, by the late Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke, best known for his Space Odyssey series, took science fiction completely seriously. As a result, his name is beloved among sci-fi fans, who cite the ABCs of classic science fiction as required reading--that's Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke.

This is the first novel of Clarke's that I've read, but it won't be the last. The story deals with an extraordinarily advanced alien race that comes to Earth with the stated intention of "fixing" the human race. War, poverty, and disease are eradicated under the beneficent management of the Overlords, and humanity enters a Golden Age.

But, of course, this leaves the human race in a state of stagnation--what's the point in spending one's entire life working on, say, the secrets of interstellar space flight when the secrets are already known? Certain members of the human race point out that, despite the optimistic rhetoric of the Overlords, nobody really knows what their agenda is, or what it will mean for humanity.

Of course, that's the big secret of the book, and I couldn't possibly tell anything about where the story goes from here, or how it ends--this book has one of the most audacious, exhilarating, and tragic endings of any story I've ever read.

I think it's safe to say that nobody in Hollywood will ever do justice to this amazing story. This one is highly recommended to anyone who has any interest in the genre, or anyone who wishes to see what a master storyteller is capable of. You'll be missed, Mr. Clarke.