Other universities and vertigo

Yesterday sounded like it was going to be pretty lightweight, just giving two 40-minute presentations at two universities (Univ. Católica de El Salvador in Santa Ana and Univ. José Matías Delgado in Santa Tecla) as part of the U.S. embassy's Earth Week events. It turned out to be a marathon day, leaving the house at 7:15 a.m. and not getting home until almost dark. No huge surprises, just the usual random delays, meeting lots of people, getting from place to place...

The presentations were fun, Rich Cairncross and I tag-teaming. He talked about his biodiesel production research at Drexel, using ethanol in place of methanol in the transesterification/esterification process and other adjustments that could make production more cost-effective and/or more environmentally benign. I talked about renewable energy in El Salvador and the need for a renewable energy research institute. The students, mostly agronomy and industrial engineering majors, were very receptive and asked good questions. One thing that impressed me was that about half of the students at both universities were women. I hope this translates into women being well-represented in the technical workforce and enjoying equal status and pay with their male counterparts.

With Rich at UNICAES

One funny incident at Univ. J.M. Delgado: I was introduced to the director of the school of industrial engineering, and she commented that we had already met before. She looked very familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. Later, after the presentations, she asked me "when are we going to sing again?" and it came back to me -- she was one of the other engineers who sang karaoke the night I went with Nelson to an engineering society get-together a couple months ago! She was a great singer, both in English and Spanish.

I think I have something called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. I had this intense sensation of vertigo or dizziness as I got out of bed Sunday morning (no, I didn't get wasted Saturday night!). The first wave was so strong it made me throw up. I throw up like once every ten years, so that in itself was kind of disturbing. I canceled plans Basilia and I had made to go out with our friends Francisco and Kyle so I could stay home and rest. The vertigo has recurred a few times but seems to be subsiding. I looked online and found the link above, which I think pretty much nails what I've got. Sounds like I don't need to rush to see a doctor unless the nausea and vomiting come back. Otherwise I feel fine but am taking a day off work to rest. I have some prep work to do for another presentation tomorrow at the Universidad Centroamericana, but I think it will just basically be a truncated version of yesterday's presentations.