U2 at the Sphere

 I was invited to Heather's final 2023 concert extravaganza, a getaway weekend to Las Vegas to see U2 at the Sphere

The $2.3 billion concert venue just opened and is affiliated with the Venetian hotel and casino

There are over a million LEDs on the surface

but the owners didn't feel inclined to show them off while we were there

The Venetian is a spectacle unto itself, with a huge indoor shopping area complete with faux canal. The hotel complex, 2nd largest in the world, has over 7,000 rooms and was fully booked

But the space could handle the crowds, even when "Bono" made an appearance in the foyer

The U2 fan zone had a photo booth

and cinema where we watched a 1987 Joshua Tree tour concert filmed in France

Onto the show. Our entrance was via a walkway connecting to the massive Vegas convention center

The inside atrium was decorated in math equations that the builders are hoping will help recoup the outrageous building cost

Our seats were in the first of the seven tiers that hold 18,000 people. We were just behind the standing-room floor

A DJ tried to rev up the aged crowd. In our section we were the youngest couple.

The effects of the Sphere screen were absolutely incredible. The sound was pure and not overly loud. 

For the early part of the show, the band downplayed the screen, but then they built as the show went on

Not sure if YouTube will allow upload of the movies, but here are some stills

November 2023

In November I traveled again to Gothenburg Sweden for work

The Lidl provided some Christmas goodies

like this Swedish candy advent calendar. Plopp bar, anyone?

Our company's new lab space is outside of Gothenburg, in Molndal, and right adjacent to the campus of AstraZeneca, my first employer

From Sweden I flew to Italy for a mitochondrial medicine meeting

Protesters over the war in Palestine

Tiramisu is easy to identify

but at one restaurant we had to rely on Google Translate. Hmm, should I get the Pepper's Madness with salami from extinct sheep or the Raw Crazy with the old cow?

Back at home Erin ran in the LHS XC post-season. At the Division 1 All-State meet she finished the 5K in 20:52, #45 out of 141 and #7 for freshwomen. The team finished #5 and then the following week competed in the State meet with all school sizes and finished #7.

Both Lex XC teams finished #7 in the state and with a strong crop of underclassmen and women, should be even better next year

We have a 15 year-old Erin now

Thanksgiving was a repeat of our October feast and once again the roast chicken couldn't be beat

The XC team sponsored a turkey trot 5K on their home course, which has 320 excruciating feet of elevation gain. I accomplished my goal of breaking 29 min, which would have only been 7 min behind Erin if she had run.

At the local Christmas tree nursery they had mini goats

Tessie got in the spirit with her friends up the street

and she competed in her first swim meet of the year. I took this picture at the swim facility to illustrate the sad state of tennis these days. Everyone plays pickleball and some courts are converted to parking lots.

Our big 11 year-old

Caroline is in the top orchestra at LHS, and here they play a Shostakovich string quartet