I saw Al Gore speak!

The American Geophysical Union conference is being held this week in San Francisco. Something like 13,600 of the world’s top geoscientists are congregating around town to present and talk about the latest earth science research. It’s a really awesome experience.

I got to help present a research poster this year on behalf of the SF-ROCKS outreach organization I work for, helping high schoolers get interested in the sciences. It’s definitely awesome seeing the kids talk to real scientists about what they learned and the research they carried out as part of the program. Some of the kids are absolutely brilliant too, and have a better grasp on science in their sophomore and junior years than I did when I was starting college!

Anyway, highlight of the day was attending one of the keynote speeches at the Marriott, given by none other than Al Gore! It was great getting to see him speak in person. His speech focused on how ”inconvenient truths“ (ie, research that challenges conventional wisdom) are being censored by the current government and that we as geoscientists have a huge moral responsibility to make sure that our research and its implications are heard by the media and general public, especially in regards to climate change. It was a neat sort of speech in a ”rah-rah let’s do it“ sort of way. He definitely does a great job. When he started his speech, he introduced himself by saying, ”Hi, my name is Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States.“

Hah.

Anyway, in other news, I am now in the new place. It’s on the 17th story of this apartment building in Lower Pac Heights (which I think they only call it that to give it a classy sounding name… we’re right in the middle of Western Addition and the Tenderloin. Hah… at least this immediate surrounding area is nice though).

Check out some photos!

Definitely love this place. My roommates are quite cool too. We also have very similar schedules and habits. Apparently, we’re all snooze button sleepers. So in the morning, the house is a chorus of alarms constantly going on and off for 30 minutes. It’s kind hilarious actually. A nice way to wake up. 😉

Last bit of news:
Just got my work schedule for next week and I’m pretty disappointed. They didn’t give me the days off that I requested, so I will not be coming home for Christmas. 🙁 Ugh! That makes me pretty sad. So many friends and family members I haven’t seen in so long that I was looking forward to see again. Thanks to the wonderful world of retail, I’ve missed out on two big holidays this year! Boo to that. I’m actually currently looking for a real job at the moment as well. Something that will utilize this nice, shiny and expensive geology degree that I’ll now have!

Speaking of which… my thesis defense went AWESOMELY! I just have a few minor edits to make on my actual thesis paper, then I am home free and done with my undergraduate education. Out into the real world! What a crazy prospect…

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