Well, the first day is over at the conference. It was a pretty good day, starting with no headache! The missing box of books showed up by noon, all the tutorials were well received, all the instructors showed up on time for their tutorials — there were no real mishaps.
It’s also been an old home week for me. We’ve had some folks here this year who I haven’t seen in years, starting with Tom Hinke, who I used to work with on BLACKER (and who is now supporting NASA-Ames); Dixie Baker, who used to be my manager when I was hired at Circle A Ranch; Dick Kemmerer, who is always fun to be around (and yes, ellipticcurve, I did remind him he owes you a degree); and a bunch of other folks.
As for the hotel… I’m of mixed feelings. The facilities are nice. The food is overpriced, and the location is too far away to walk to anything. Perhaps we can find something less resort-ish?
We did have a delightful dinner, although it was a bit breezy as we sat outside. We walked down about four blocks to the Eden Roc (which is a beautiful hotel) and ate dinner at Aquatica, an oceanfront bar/restaurant. The prices here were much more reasonable. I had a delicious piece of grilled chicken with spinach and mashed potatoes for $15. That’s a perfectly acceptable price.
Tomorrow we start the main technical program, so my tutorial work is done until Friday. I can sit back and enjoy the conference, and perhaps learn something useful.
One question from tonight’s reception: If you can surf in the ocean faster by waxing your surfboard, can you surf the net faster if you wax your keyboard? And what is sex wax for?
