Arizona Trip, Part II

Ok so a few days later I get around to finishing off these posts about my trip. I was just too tired Sunday, and work has kicked my ass.


So without further ado, my shirt for my "drive-in geek"[1] appearance:

From shirt.woot.com, item was named "Geek Crest"

You know what's funny? Anywhere else I wear this people point out how geeky the damn thing is, but at UAT no one even batten an eyelash. ALL DAY! I'm going to love this place.

Here, however, is where my pictures stop. I was sooooooo engrossed in the presentations that I really didn't pull out my camera after snapping this at the beginning, outside:

If you drove too fast, you'd miss the sign

I learned a lot, and decided I will be attending this fall. Will be working on my finances. You can check out the school if you'd like at uat.edu if you'd like, great place.

I did have lunch with some other members of the Fly-in, met an amazing artist named Ian while at lunch. That brings up a funny story: So at lunch with several other fly-ins at our table we get into talks with the biology teacher on campus. Towards the end of lunch she starts talking about the show Shark Tank, were inventors present their ideas and try to win contracts. Turns out one of the winners was for a device that was meant to replace dust/medical masks. The item fits into the user's nostrils, which reminded the teach of the ones used in the film Ultraviolet, or even from still-suits in  Dune. The end of the conversation when like this

Teacher: I can't believe this guy is getting $2 million for something you stick up your nose.

Me: There are worse ways to stick $2 million up one's nose.

Yeah, I went there. And everyone laughed too ^_^

Also ran into Ian while playing with Wacom tablets. Did I say tablet? No, we're talking brand new Cintiq's here. For a self-admitting non-artist, I did pretty damn well with one:

Proving I'm a Californian still: "Draw A Tree" means Palm

The end of the day was bittersweet as I had to drive back. That drive was.... interesting. I had the option to stay the night but I didn't. Due to, well, circumstances in my family (more bluntly: my father's health) I needed to know I could do the drive back to Orange County at a moments notice. 4pm Saturday I pulled out, got gas (at about 30 cents cheaper than on our side of the border I might add) and headed back west.

I had a nice view of the sunset coming home

Sometimes I read too much meaning into things. Go see my post on why I'm not married: I've read too much , or sometimes too little, meaning into the events I see. I took the picture above (yes, while driving. Shut up both hands were on the wheel) because it had meaning for me. I'm approaching a sunset in my life: I've been in twilight for so long that all of this is new to me. I should have been doing this years ago. I have the means and I have the ability. The only thing holding me back was, well, me. This is changing, and I'll be damned if it doesn't feel good.

Trip meter coming back. 373 miles one way

P.S.: I didn't get a picture, but there appears to be a Fry's grocery store, as well as Fry's electronics, in Tempe. That explains the listed at my hotel in the first post.

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[1] The event is called "Fly-in g33k", but since I drove and didn't want to use l33t-sp34k I called myself the Drive-In Geek for a day.