DC Trip report
OK, I'm finally getting around to a post trip summary.
On the way out, I ended up getting stuck at DFW for a few hours waiting on a storm to roll through, and didn't get to DC until around 2am. On the other hand, I had a really nice late night conversation with my cab driver, and there was no traffic on the way to the hotel.
The next day, frozbot and I got up early to do the Day of Service. We were volunteering with a domestic violence prevention nonprofit that specializes in working with people from Asia and the Pacific Islands. It was interesting. It sounded like they provide a lot of translation and cultural training services, and do a lot of awareness and outreach work, both in terms of making sure that their target population is aware of available services, and that service providers have the necessary cultural knowledge and language resources to provide services.
That night, I met up with lovimoment and we walked around DC for awhile, and then went to her Russian conversation group at the Brickskeller, a bar in DC that has a pretty amazing beer selection. I was amazed at how much Russian I'd forgotten, but I did manage to pick up a few things.
The next day, I spent conferencing. I went to a good session on technology usage by low income users, and I went to a digital storytelling session with some of the people responsible for The Meatrix and Store Wars. That had a lot of interesting things to say, and managed to relate Joseph Campbell to generating web content. That night was the NTC party, which featured booze, geeks, and salsa dance lessons.
Friday, the last day of the conference, the session highlight was one on inventory management that had people from America's Second Harvest. They're a giant national food bank network that distributes to regional and local food banks, and they've put together a really impressive system for managing it. Inventory management, albeit on a smaller scale, is a point of pain for KIPR. Putting together a better system is going to be one of my main projects once the 2007 Botball season comes to a close.
Also on Friday, there was the conference awards ceremony. It highlighted a lot of really cool people and projects. I think my personal favorite was ISIS, which won a Grassroots Techie Award for their inSPOT STD information site (they've got partner notification e-cards), and their SEXINFO project, a text messaging service for STD information. That night, we met up with Brian and Val for Lebanese food, and then went back to the Brickskeller for more beer.
Over the weekend, there was more great food, and a lot of walking around to see monuments. I met up with Jeana and met her boyfriend, I ate Moroccan food at a place in Silver Spring, MD ( We had a Bastilla, which is a meat pastery that might just be the best thing I've every eaten anywhere.)
On Monday, I walked around DC some more, got a Reader Card from the Library of Congress, and hit the highlights of the National Archives before it was time to fly home. All in all, it was a great trip.
On the way out, I ended up getting stuck at DFW for a few hours waiting on a storm to roll through, and didn't get to DC until around 2am. On the other hand, I had a really nice late night conversation with my cab driver, and there was no traffic on the way to the hotel.
The next day, frozbot and I got up early to do the Day of Service. We were volunteering with a domestic violence prevention nonprofit that specializes in working with people from Asia and the Pacific Islands. It was interesting. It sounded like they provide a lot of translation and cultural training services, and do a lot of awareness and outreach work, both in terms of making sure that their target population is aware of available services, and that service providers have the necessary cultural knowledge and language resources to provide services.
That night, I met up with lovimoment and we walked around DC for awhile, and then went to her Russian conversation group at the Brickskeller, a bar in DC that has a pretty amazing beer selection. I was amazed at how much Russian I'd forgotten, but I did manage to pick up a few things.
The next day, I spent conferencing. I went to a good session on technology usage by low income users, and I went to a digital storytelling session with some of the people responsible for The Meatrix and Store Wars. That had a lot of interesting things to say, and managed to relate Joseph Campbell to generating web content. That night was the NTC party, which featured booze, geeks, and salsa dance lessons.
Friday, the last day of the conference, the session highlight was one on inventory management that had people from America's Second Harvest. They're a giant national food bank network that distributes to regional and local food banks, and they've put together a really impressive system for managing it. Inventory management, albeit on a smaller scale, is a point of pain for KIPR. Putting together a better system is going to be one of my main projects once the 2007 Botball season comes to a close.
Also on Friday, there was the conference awards ceremony. It highlighted a lot of really cool people and projects. I think my personal favorite was ISIS, which won a Grassroots Techie Award for their inSPOT STD information site (they've got partner notification e-cards), and their SEXINFO project, a text messaging service for STD information. That night, we met up with Brian and Val for Lebanese food, and then went back to the Brickskeller for more beer.
Over the weekend, there was more great food, and a lot of walking around to see monuments. I met up with Jeana and met her boyfriend, I ate Moroccan food at a place in Silver Spring, MD ( We had a Bastilla, which is a meat pastery that might just be the best thing I've every eaten anywhere.)
On Monday, I walked around DC some more, got a Reader Card from the Library of Congress, and hit the highlights of the National Archives before it was time to fly home. All in all, it was a great trip.