The Magic Kingdom

Last week, I went to Orlando, FL to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Over 1000 women attended. It was odd to see that many female professionals in computing in one place. At the conference banquet, they shut down the men's room and commandeered it for the use of the ladies. I had a great time, in part because my friend and colleague Christine attended:



I also was very excited to see Sally Goldman, a professor and friend from Wash U, at the conference. Sally and I played softball and basketball together, and I always have a great time chatting with her. She's a great role model -- she always manages to do fun things and spend time with her kids, in addition to being a great teacher and researcher. Here's Sally with Christine on our way back from lunch:



After the conference, I stayed an extra day in Florida to see my cousin/friend Sara, who lives in Tampa part-time. Sara drove to Orlando to pick me up and we spent a few hours at Disney World. The only other time I've been to Disney was with Sara when we were in the second grade, when we were too short to ride Space Mountain. This time, we managed to ride the teacups, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (which got stuck), and the Haunted Mansion. We attempted to ride Space Mountain, but we were thwarted again...just as we made it to the front of the line, a park employee came out to tell everyone that the ride was temporarily broken. I don't mess around with broken roller coasters, so that was enough Disney for me for the day.

Here's Sara on the teacups:



Sara and I also gave our best "yarrrrghhh" in an attempt to fit in on the Pirates of the Carribean ride: