 | I love math conferences. Not only do you get to listen to many interesting talks, to promote your own research, to establish new scientific relationships and to pick up a lot of mathematical ideas... but it allows you to visit new places (some of which you wouldn't otherwise go for holidays), return to old ones, and meet your worldwide-scattered math friends over and over. This time the destination was beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado! As most of you already know, I spent many months there in 2004 and in 2006 (that time with Gus too!), so for me it was just awesome to be able to come back and see the place and the people one more time. I always feel at (a second?) home there. |
 | Even at risk of sounding like a broken record: here is the irrefutable proof that I actually attended a math conference and wasn't just traveling around with the Spanish government money (your taxes folks! XD). Can you find Wally in the picture? [Hint: by clicking on it you'll see it at full size.] |
 | This picture (which is rather poorly taken -I am not a very talented photographer as you can see-) shows three typical elements of the place: Pikes Peak (the high mountain in the background), the Garden of the Gods (those reddish-coloured wall-shaped huge rocks right at the foothills of the big mountain), and deer (yes, there's one at the right-bottom corner!) [Again, click on the picture for the full-size version.] Deer are all around the place (this for instance is just one of the parking lots of the University where the conference was held...) |
 | The fantastic three: Lia, Roozbeh and me. This picture was taken at Colorado College right before we had (another) celebration dinner... Colorado College is the place where I was accommodated in 2004/2006 (in fact we are just blocking the view of my "house" ¬_¬), so plenty of nice memories there too! A great picture. Will go on my office wall in Malaga as soon as I get there. ;) |
 | Another group of fantastic three: me, Mickey and Gene. :) For some reason we are laughing and having a lot of fun! (but I cannot remember what was the joke! too much wine?) This is during the other celebration dinner, when Ranga's touching speeches (on the occasion of his retirement) were delivered. |
 | Once the conference was over, we had almost one day off to sigthsee. Hence, Roozbeh and I decided we should "climb" Pikes Peak (or the car should, whatever). Thus, we needed to recharge our batteries with a succulent food at a Mexican restaurant (which I specially liked because of the nice patio and the memories that I had there...) |
 | ... and we made it to the top of Pikes Peak! (altitude = 4.301 meters = 14.110 feet). Two comparisons: Mt. Mulhacén is 3.482 meters high (continental Spain's highest peak) whereas Mt. Teide is "only" 3.718 meters (which really is the highest one in Spain). The temperature on the top dropped sharply and accordingly (note the extra layers of clothing). By the way, the lake in the first picture of this post is some beautiful spot halfway to the summit. Throughout the visit and even on the top of the mountain, the weather was much better than in Calgary! So I certainly did enjoy that too!! |
Finally, and as usual:
NOTE FOR THE "DUMMY" BLOGGERS (LIKE US!)
1) (Left) click on the pictures to see them at full size.
2) Should you feel like commeting to this post (we would really appreciate it!), just click on "comments" below, and follow the instructions carefully (it could be a little messy at first...)
