my address: opryland hotel

Dad and I started out the day by donating blood downstairs at the Red Cross cardboard camp. They're really not as efficient at taking blood and getting the whole process done as Blood Assurance is. I've donated lots of times, so I should know. (I just do it for the Little Debbies . . . j/k)

We skipped the afternoon General Session to hit the booths I hadn't seen yet. My favorite thing from today is one of those stupid little fans with plastic soft blades from LaSierra. The nice people at the Andrews University booth gave me a sticker when I signed up for an iPod, so I stuck it on Dr. Swafford's back while he was talking to someone. My dad stuck this one on my bag, so I wrote an "S" on it and it's still stuck there. =)

The afternoon breakout session I went to was by William Glasser, who developed Choice Theory. I went to a session by Jim Roy yesterday about the correlation between Glasser's writings and what Ellen White said a LONG time before Glasser. They're very similar. Glasser is an agnostic, but says if SDAs would follow EGW writings, we'd be fine. Anyway, for you non-education people, it was a good meeting. He just talks really s l o w.

After the Southern Union math teachers' meeting that dad and I had to go to, we met up with Ryan and toured the gardens and took pictures. The Garden Conservatory has lots of little statues of kids all around that are kinda cool.

Thank goodness there are escalators in some places, or my feet/legs would hurt even worse than they already do. I think I may have to visit the chiropractor after carrying my super heavy bag around all week too! Ryan was talking to his parents on the phone trying to line up some supper. Ours was provided by the Southern Union during the math meeting, so he got left out and didn't get to go to the Hunts' =(

I really like watching the water jump in the Cascades atrium fountains. After taking about 20 pictures playing around with exposure length, I didn't even post any ; )

This is me reaching into the giant waterfall from behind. It's in the same Cascades area at the main hotel entrance. The problem with all of these really nice water displays, fountains, waterfalls, fake rivers, pools, etc. is that you have to pee all the time if you stay in there! It's no good at all!

The only time I have felt comfortable outside since this convention started was this evening on the west (I think) side of the hotel. It's on the side where the main lobby for hotel registration is. I guess you have to stay at this place for quite a while to know what you're actually paying all that money for. . .

After walking for quite a while, we happened upon the spa/indoor pool/fitness place. They have two more outdoor pools right next door. The petunias made the air smell wonderful and the sunset (even in the southern sky in this pic) was really pretty.

I decided to use the "surreal" setting on my camera (also known as "sunset mode") to take a picture of the jacuzzi that was closed and then me in the foreground.