Whales in Space
Dec. 28th, 2005 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lurkittyTomorrow is Whales in Space. WIS is an annual "conference" we go to. It started nigh on 20 years ago -- a group of friends going to the coast to a friend's mom's beach house for New Years. Worked well. Nobody had to drive and we all had a good time. The beach house got sold. We tried it in town and it didn't work, tried it at a local 4H camp a couple times, didn't go as well. Nope, the coast was the spot.
T was working for a whale researcher, Bruce Mate, who was attaching satellite tags to whales. We're all geeks in this crowd, and everybody loved talking about the tag technology. So the yearly party transformed into a conference. We had it at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. We had papers and talks, but the highlight was an update from Bruce and discussion of his latest problems and brainstorming session. He got a lot of free help from some of the best geek minds in the state in exchange for our paid use of the Center facilities.
Then T took a job for the RV Wecoma, so we started renting other houses along the coast. Still lots of fun to be had. The big secret is that there is a warm current that runs up the Oregon coast during the winter months. There are always nice days around New Years, and if there's a storm, the views are spectacular. So New Years on the Oregon Coast is beautiful. This year's house is in Lincoln City.
Fun, frolic and much geekery. Wireless internet throughout. One guy is bringing his projection TV. Many boardgames -- Settlers of Cataan, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Cribbage, Go. Then, of course, the puzzle. You have to complete the puzzle by midnight on the 31st.
And competitive cooking. Face off with omelette pans at 30 paces.
I'll let you know how things go.
T was working for a whale researcher, Bruce Mate, who was attaching satellite tags to whales. We're all geeks in this crowd, and everybody loved talking about the tag technology. So the yearly party transformed into a conference. We had it at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. We had papers and talks, but the highlight was an update from Bruce and discussion of his latest problems and brainstorming session. He got a lot of free help from some of the best geek minds in the state in exchange for our paid use of the Center facilities.
Then T took a job for the RV Wecoma, so we started renting other houses along the coast. Still lots of fun to be had. The big secret is that there is a warm current that runs up the Oregon coast during the winter months. There are always nice days around New Years, and if there's a storm, the views are spectacular. So New Years on the Oregon Coast is beautiful. This year's house is in Lincoln City.
Fun, frolic and much geekery. Wireless internet throughout. One guy is bringing his projection TV. Many boardgames -- Settlers of Cataan, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Cribbage, Go. Then, of course, the puzzle. You have to complete the puzzle by midnight on the 31st.
And competitive cooking. Face off with omelette pans at 30 paces.
I'll let you know how things go.
