Received an email asking if I was attending the 1st AfricaGEO Conference that will be held in Cape Town at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from the 30th May to 2nd June 2011.
For those requiring info
www.africageo.org
Guess they got my address from last year's FIG and no I will not be attending.
RADU
I can't make it this year either. I'm going to Bonnaroo in Tennessee in June and I'm saving up for that. Any other brave souls going to be there? It's only an hour or so from either Nashville or Chattanooga but I'll be there with three women (my wife's one of them) so they will pretty much have veto power over side trips to visit Beerleggers. I can be persuasive though, so if anybody wants to meet me half-way, I'd be up for that.
Anywhere on the opposite side of an ocean is definitely not in my travel plans. For that matter, it better be extremely valuable to me and incredibly inexpensive or I wouldn't even cross the Mississippi to go to much of anything. If they moved the Super Bowl 30 miles from my house and I had free tickets, I still wouldn't go.
Holy
I know it's going to be an incredibly expensive trip that I would have taken in stride 3-4 years ago. I've already paid for the plane flight and a couple of nights in Nashville. The cost of the rest of the trip is not accounted for in any way in a budget of any kind. I figure, hey, my wife and I are 57 years old. How many more years can we rock out? A whole bunch I hope but you never know. If I have to live in a single-wide in Rio Linda the last few years of my life, at least I'll know I had a good time when I could.
Guys
I'm totally into people doing what they view as important. Have fun, enjoy your stay on this planet.
I'm just not a big crowd type of guy. I'm also not one to go to something where everyone dresses as if it was their high school prom when all it really is is a bunch of old farrts gathered together hoping that everyone else agrees that only important people were present. I've hung out with presidents of corporations and university deans and super high muckety-mucks in D.C. Generally, we were at our best when we were talking about things we had in common, like family, educational experiences, hobbies and such.
On a regular basis I socialize with fellows who have millions in net worth, but, no one would know it by the way they dress or what they drive. Shooting the breeze with them is a joy.....and an education. To me, that is much more enjoyable than the standard wish list of items the majority of people would want to do if they got the chance.
Steve,
> I know it's going to be an incredibly expensive trip that I would have taken in stride 3-4 years ago....I figure, hey, my wife and I are 57 years old. How many more years can we rock out?...A whole bunch I hope but you never know.
I hear ya, I'll be 57 by show time and it would, at this point in time, be an incredibly expensive and taxing undertaking for me from here. And I could drive there in 3 hours and sleep in my work truck. Nope, not into it anymore and just the thought of the trip would totally freak my poor wife out. I knew it would come to pass one day, though, when I'd be happy to sit in my favorite chair when I felt like it and play for myself and the cats.
I know you'll enjoy it and I'm sure you're looking forward to the experience. To see Greg Allman and Neil Young live again would be a hoot. U2, umm, maybe not so much.
Take care,
Ed
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> Guess they got my address from last year's FIG and no I will not be attending.
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Hmmmmm. I would rather wander around the great African Savannah dressed as a wounded gazelle with a raw steak tied around my neck than go to a function in asstralia, but thats just me.
Africa scares me
I love Africa. I have been in Sudan, Kenya, Mozambquie, Uganda, Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Madagascar. Four separate trips.... Long for another one.. It is a magical place.
I would like to see Cape Town, but it's NOT (anywhere near) in my budget this year.
I spent some time in Egypt a couple of years ago (Cario and the tip of the Sinai Peninsula down on the Red Sea). Had a great time, but I don't think you could drag me back there anytime soon.
There are still a number of African cities and/or experiances on my Bucket List, but that entire continent has been screwed up since day 1.
We'll see....
Loyal
Funny. I would recommend reading the book by Patterson. It is a great chronicle of the building of the bridge and railroad. I give it 4 stars. The terror those lions created was immense.