Rootstech 2018

You can possibly tell from the above that I am in Salt Lake City.  You can just see the gold statue of Angel Moroni on top of the temple in Temple Square.  I took the picture while rushing to the light rail train to take me back to my hotel from the Salt Palace Convention Center where I am attending Rootstech.  Today's sessions were very informative so I'm glad I came, despite the crowds.  I stood in line for 2 hours to check in yesterday, the day before the conference.  Apparently wait times were shorter today.  There are over 30,000 people registered for the conference.  I was lucky that I managed to get into all the sessions I wanted to.

NJSO Concert

We just went to another wonderful New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concert in Newark.

• Wagner - Prelude to Die Meistersinger
• Mahler - Songs of a Wayfarer with an amazing mezzo-soprano, Marianne Beate Kielland
• Brahms - Symphony No. 1

Chamber Music Concert

We heard the Brentano String Quartet, plus pianist Jonathan Boss, at Princeton last evening.  The program was

• Mozart String Quartet No. 19
• An interesting mixture of Webern 6 Bagatellen for String Quartet and Schubert Minuets
• Elgar Quintet in A Minor for Piano and String Quartet

Accordions!!

We went to a fun concert last evening at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  It was given by the Accordion Virtuosi of Russia.  They consist of 20 accordions of at least 3 different types, percussion, a couple of electric guitars, a soloist playing the electric violin, which I had never seen before, and an eclectic mix of music.

Trip to NYC

We had an interesting trip to NYC yesterday.  We have signed up for a Life Long Learning course called "Technological Change and Society" run by Swarthmore College.  The course will meet weekly for two months and is held in New York City in the area I now know is the northern portion of Chelsea.  The building is one of many new ones in the area between Penn Station and the Hudson River.  The view is quite spectacular from the 27th floor.


We took an earlier train than necessary because we weren't sure where we were going and were concerned about train delays, which are becoming all too frequent.  The building we were meeting in is on the High Line, so we used our extra time walking along it and enjoying the views.  We even got to see the sunset across the river before heading back for class.