I took off Friday afternoon and met up with Calvin at night in Palo Alto. He already had dinner but graciuosly accompanied me to Gordon Biersch for some food...and Biersch (good Maibock). Thanks Calvin! Then onward to the Adante Hotel at 610 Geary. Room not terribly expensive but parking was killer. Didn't sleep until 2:30 that night (why oh why) but had to get up at 7:45 the next morning anyway. Ooph.

And let me tell you, the conference didn't help. The papers weren't terribly exciting though I did enjoy one or two (out of 10?). As always, peripheral events were slightly more amusing. After lunch, we had some time extra time to walk around and so we went out to a little courtyard. What do we see?

I think I call this "Food Deco". Excuse all the resolutions of the pictures but that's a slice of pizza. On a wall. Don't know how long that's been there but it was pretty amusing at the time. You can guess how bored we must have been to be amused at pizza on a wall. After the Saturday portion of the conference was over, we all went back to my hotel, rested for a bit, and headed out for victuals.

Got dinner at a place called the Irish Bank. Cool place, good food, lots of it, very satisfying. Had a pint of Stella there but couldn't finish it because of a raging stomache ache. On to drinks! Travis, Anita, and I met up with the rest of the peeps (Jimmy, Katie, her husband, and her sister) for some drinks at "Voda". Vodka without the K. Duh...well they did serve a whole lot of vodka so that makes sense I guess.

Here's jimmy having some fun with his drink. He gave a paper at the conference. Honestly, it wasn't the most exciting thing I've ever heard but it was clear, well thought out, and had a point (something which the rest of the papers lacked). My not falling asleep during his presentation even though it was on Asperges (ass purges?) is probably a pretty good sign.

Here's Anita, Me, and Travis all taking a picture with my shitty camera phone. What you don't see behind that row of low-resolution and somewhat demonic smiles is the effort that went into the making of this picture. Anita had us take this picture no less than 4 times, but as always with these situations, the first time turned out to be the "best."

We all got quite a few drinks and nearing the end of the night, most of us couldn't drive legally, and few of us even claimed that we COULD drive, legally or not. One last shot of the lights in the alley we were in and it was time to walk home. The bar wasn't too far away from my hotel (5-6 blocks at the most) so we walked there. Anita took a nap to sober up and I drove Anita and Travis to their car (their hotel was nearer SFO) and came back to my hotel. Watched a bit of the second Matrix, laughed at Keanu, and fell asleep late again.

Sunday mornin' was a sleeping in morning. Eventually got up, checked out, took a brief walk around Union Square (half-assed shopping trip) and got some grub at the Cheesecake factory. Then it was another 5 hour drive back from SFO with Malia (gave her a ride up to San Jose on the way up, same deal on the way down). Got home, devoid of all motivation to work, and slacked.

Oh right, and the second half of the conference (sunday morning)? Skipped it. I think we (UCSB people) all did. Just didn't seem worth going. So it turned into a mini-vacation. All in all not a bad (albeit tiring) trip. And now, back to being behind on work!