Dragon*Con 2008 Schedule

Tomorrow we leave for Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia. This year my lovely husband and I will be guests. I am on the Space track while Cmar is on the Science track. We make a brief showing on the Podcasting track as well. My official schedule is below. Now off to packing....

International Space University & Project Phoenix: A Lunar Biological & Social Archive
Description: Phoenix: A Lunar Biological and Social Archive was a team projects from the International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program 2007. This talk introduces ISU and discusses archiving human knowledge on the moon in case of catastrophe on Earth.
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Forsythe

Making Space Relevant
Description: Is going back to the Moon passe? Why aren't people as engaged in space exploration as they used to be? Could it be that space exploration is considered irrelevant? Join us to discuss how space exploration can be & is still relevant.
Time: Sat 11:30 am Location: Forsythe

Aliens You Will Meet Puppet Show, Live!
Description: It will be made of felt, fur, and awesome. (Obviously, not the description stolen from the program.)
Time: Saturday, 5:30pm, Rockdale (Hilton)

Stellar Women: Looking Up and Speaking Out
Description: Our esteemed panel of women are not only involved in space and astronomy, but also community outreach and education. Come and pick their brains about their experiences and plans for the future.
Time: Sun 10:00 am Location: Forsythe

The First Light Machine: James Webb Space Telescope
Description: Defined as one of the world's 9 largest science projects by the Discovery Channel, the James Webb Space Telescope is a 6.5 meter telescope set to launch in 2013. Hear an overview of the project and the current status from a project engineer.
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Forsythe

Space Flight: Robots vs Humans
Description: How should we explore the universe? Send humans with all their fralities and tons of extra oxygen, food, water, etc.? Or should we stick to robots who are cheaper, faster, and if they die the world doesn't violently object? Come join this lively debate and put forth your own views.
Time: Sun 05:30 pm Location: Forsythe

The Queen to visit NASA Goddard

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit the Goddard Space Flight Center on Tuesday, May 8. Security will be high, and I am not sure if I will get a chance to get to see the Queen and Duke, but I hope to get the chance. It is not often that the opportunity comes up, especially in the course of your normal job.

The guys over at geeklabel.com (ding) mentioned me on the RavenCon episode of their podcast. Very cool. In case you were wondering, I do find them cool, but sometimes they fixate a little tooooooooo much on things they shouldn't. (Vicar, I am talking to you.) I had a good time talking to them at the con though and look forward to seeing them again at DragonCon. They promised to link to my blog, so THANKS!

Still planning on doing some more RavenCon follow-up. Only 4 days until the end of the semester, so one thing will be over soon. On the other hand, there are a lot of things waiting to fill the time I have been spending on school.

Summer Fun

Just to prove that I am insane here is my planned schedule between now and September:

April 20-22 RavenCon, Richmond, VA, USA
May 14-15ish Work trip to Houston, TX, USA
May 25-28 Balticon, Baltimore, MD, USA
June 1-3 Book Expo America, New York, NY, USA - Unlikely but the door was opened
June 9-15 Work Trip to Dublin, Ireland
June 15-17 Wingin' It Pool Party trip, Phoenix, AZ, USA - Probably
June 20-21 Visit to Ames Research Center - Probably
June 22- Aug 25 International Space University Summer Session Program in Beijing, China
Aug 30 - Sept 4 Dragon*Con, Atlanta, GA, USA

That is all that is firmly on the schedule for now.... looking at some other things past September. ;)