Arts as Astra

This hotel is totally over-the-top. The property is expansive, with paths meadering through and between buildings, and it's pretty easy to get lost. It's a good 5-10 minute walk between the building where my room is and the main building that houses the front desk and conference center. But that's okay. You can take the monorail, or wait for the boat to come down the canal. It's just as well. I've been making a point of walking back and forth, since I've been indulging myself at the breakfast and lunch buffets. There's what's basically a small upscale mall and at least 5 (overpriced) restaurants here, too, including a sushi bar. They also have a dolphin center, with three dolphins (Atlantic bottlenosed, at that!) that you can go play with for some exhorbitant fee. There are several swimming pools surrounding the lagoon, plus several waterslides. You can go snorkeling or rent a paddle boat in the lagoon. The beach itself is rocky and rough and not so good for swimming, but it's very pretty to look at. There's also a full salon and spa. Really, they've done their best to make it so you never have to leave the hotel to have a terrific time. Why bother coming all the way to Hawai`i, then??


I was foolish and only made 10 letter-sized copies of my poster to hand out. I kept one in case I had to make more copies, and stuck the rest by my poster for passers-by to pick up. By this afternoon, there was only one left. I went to the business center to see about making more copies, and they want $3 PER PAGE. So I'm going to see if my friend who works on this island might be able to scare up some copies for me.

Last night I went for an after-dinner romp in the water with some folks I met up with. Most of them were working on the COMPLETE Project. We determined that we outsiders were inCOMPLETE, which must be an old joke for COMPLETErs, but it was funny for us. We splashed through a series of shallow pools and went down a few of the waterslides, but never did find the rumored hot-tub.

And there is one small consolation for being a woman in a male-dominated field -- when you go to a conference, there's no line for the bathroom. Ha!