Is there anybody local who has time on Tuesday afternoon to give me a ride from Woodside to San Francisco airport? My flight is at 4.30, so I'd need to leave here at 2pm.
Only people I know, please!
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.... are a thing of the past. After getting up at 5.30 every weekday morning for the last 3 weeks to train at Boot Camp, I could have used a lie-in yesterday, but duty called.
And how can I complain, when duty these days is so much more fun than it was when I worked in an office?!
First appointment was a sponsored breakfast - some parents had paid a useful amount into the expedition coffers for me to have breakfast with their daughters, in the hope that I may be a good influence. So I found myself at 8am sitting in Buck's restaurant with four gorgeous but giggly girls on a blood-rush-high after eating sugar straight out of the packets. I'm not sure how much of a good influence I was on them, but it was certainly educational for me. I would never have imagined there were so many different ways to slaughter a stack of pancakes.
Then it was off to the Tech Museum in San Jose where my boat was on exhibit during the Tech Challenge. 1000 kids launching robots into a crater, and lots of people fascinated to see my boat, eager to ask questions. It was a really fun day, and great to see so much interest, but after 7 hours or so my throat was getting sore and I was losing the power of speech. The solitude of the ocean was starting to seem rather appealing...
But no rest for the wicked - I was off to have dinner with a lovely couple who have offered to let me use their workshop to refurbish my boat. They wanted to introduce me to their engineer, who will be helping me.
Work on the boat hasn't even started yet, and I have just 2 months left before I have to be on standby, waiting for the conditions to be right for departure. Luckily, apart from the installation of various new technical toys, I don't think there's too much work to do. There again, I thought that last time - and 2 weeks work turned into 2.5 months.
June could be intense.
[photo: making new friends at the Tech]
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My next public engagement will be this Saturday, at the Tech Museum in San Jose, where I will be exhibiting my boat and standing by to answer questions from 9.30am to 6pm. Sedna and I will be in Parkside Hall, where the Tech Challenge is taking place.
The following piece appeared in today's San Jose Mercury News:
By Sal PIzarro:
"CHALLENGING FEATS: I hope you caught Monday's inspirational story about Roz Savage, the 39-year-old native of Great Britain and current Woodside resident who's training to become the first woman to cross the Pacific Ocean alone.
I'm sure Savage will be providing a lot of inspiration Saturday, where she'll be appearing at the Tech Museum of Innovation all day with her boat as part of the museum's annual Tech Challenge.
For this year's project, Silicon Valley students have been finding innovative ways to make a crossing of their own, navigating a vehicle of their own invention in and out of a Martian crater. The Tech Challenge runs from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the museum at 201 S. Market St.
Savage, who is still raising funds for her trip, gets her own
challenge started in July."
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Not my words, I hasten to add - I wouldn't be so immodest - but I liked the pun when somebody described me this way in an email!
And last night I was made to feel like a star of sorts - we had a fantastic time at the presentation in Menlo Park. The room was meant to hold no more than 75: nobody got an actual headcount, but according to estimates there were around 120 people there. We didn't have enough chairs, so people were sitting on the floor, standing at the back of the room and in the corridor outside.
They were a great audience - they laughed in all the right places, asked intelligent questions... and generously came forward with much advice and encouragement, over $2500 in cash, an offer of a speaking engagement, two potential sponsorship leads, and a stuffed dolphin.
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