My trip to Seattle March 27-30th.
I went up to Seattle to attend the Engineers Without Borders Conference (EWB). It was a great conference. I have a lot of work ahead of me on the project I am helping head up for our company. While the majority of my time was spent in lectures, we did get to hear from several somewhat famous folks that gave engaging presentations.

The first of these was Bill Gates Sr. He talked about the work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing. There were a few anecdotal stories about his son, as well as the confession that Bill Sr. is not a technology user, and has a hard time with his smart phone. But mainly he talked about the foundation, the challenges it faces. There is so much need in the world, and even with the vast resources of the Gates foundation, they can only put a scratch on the surface. There are many problems that they ignore so they can focus on solving a few problems effectively. Very good speech. Bill Sr. also announced that the Gates Foundation was starting a new initiative for anybody that has a good idea that could help others. They are having a mini grant process for anyone that has a good idea for those in need. 2 pages long, and if your idea is one of the many they pick, they will seed your project with 100,000. If things are going well in a year, they will seed it again with more money. Most of us at the conference thought that 100,000 was not in the same league as mini. So if you have a good idea, you could end up with a "mini" grant to help those in need.

That night we went to the Museum of Flight for heavy hors d'oeuvres catered by McCormick and Schmick's. The first place we went in the musuem was to the "Red Barn." This was originally used to manufacture planes back in the early 1900s. The precision and craftsmanship amazed me. I have a few pictures I took. I was going to put most of them on this blog, but it was easier to upload them to picasa, so you will have to take a look at the link for more photos.

After we had eaten, we heard from Bonnie Dunbar, a former astronaut, who now is the CEO of the museum. She had some amazing stories to tell of her experiences, as well as the many heros of the aviation/space industry.

We then heard from the current ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) President, David Mongan. Here is a picture of us with him after the presentation.

We saw a few more interesting planes, walked through Space Lab, and saw a copy of Sputnik.

There were many more seminars, and heard from Bernard Amadei. All in all, a very productive and enjoyable trip.



See below for more pictures I took in Seattle.

Seattle Trip