Busy

Back from an interesting trip to Salt Lake City in Utah and Evanston in Wyoming. Saw the very impressive main church which took 40 years to build, the main office building, and the Family History Library building and the very clean very neat and very well kept grounds of the Mormon church or Church of the Latter Day Saints. We wandered through around Temple Square, were treated to some demonstration of the incredible accoustics of the Temple Tabernacle. You could hear every whisper, every pin drop and every paper tear of the pulpit or podium (not sure what you would call it). And the incredible organ. Things we only see in movies. And across the road from the Temple Square, the huge LDS Conference Center that is built to be columnless and can seat an audience of 21,000, everyone of whom would have an unobstructed sight of the podium. Every modern convention amenity has been built in. And again, an incredible organ with a keyboard that can actually be moved around the stage. We were given a guided tour of the conference center - the roof itself is so huge, it covers many acres of space. We were a little apprehensive about being preached to and asked to convert but that did not happen. All the followers of the church who were on duty (likely all volunteers) were extremely courteous and hospitable. But we did manage to learn a little about Joseph Smith and a little of the history of the Mormons. I must say, despite all the misgivings most folks have of the church, they are an impressive lot.

This within a half hour of arriving at the city. A bunch of us just dumped our bags and took a walk to enjoy what was perfect weather. Before heading to a very good dinner at an interesting underground restaurant.

The next day was off to learn about sour gas operations. And the next day to learn about open pit coal mining operations. As usual with my learning group, back to back activities that left little room for anything else. Exhausting schedules but as always, very interesting and with loads of good camaraderie, both within the group and with our hosts. This trip was better in a sense that members from the two different operations actually folllowed us on our tours and collaborated. We felt like we were catalysts that brought two singular groups into better communication and exchange with each other.

Morning of the last day - another incredibly perfect weather day - was at a refinery very close to the SLC airport. So we managed to pack three different parts of the company and three very different types of operations into a single trip. Well done!

Came home from perfect weather to the most incredible heat wave that has lasted all weekend. And the trip back from SFO on the Bart was one of misadventure. Stalled trains and bad annoucements of train destinations amidst 100+ degree weather with luggage and comp bag to wit. What an anti-climax.