Funny story: I got the Sunport shuttle from the airport to the Hyatt Regency where the conference is, and where I'm staying. Five people were going to Hotel Albuquerque (their website has music) and I was going to the Hyatt. I started talking to the guy next to me...older fellow, alone, white, bald, kinda heavy - but not THAT heavy. Anyway, somehow I mentioned that I was going to a conference, and he said that he TOO was going to a conference. I'm like "oh yeah? what conference are you going to?" He's like "overeater's anonymous...it's a business meeting." I'm like "...oh cool...so I guess you aren't anonymous anymore are you..." "well I didn't tell you my last name". Fortunately he was a jovial fellow.
Anyhoo...makes me wonder if I shouldn't ask people what conference they're going to...but how often is it something awkward like that? I mean come on?! He didn't seem too embarrassed.
Tonight I went to the student worker's orientation, then a bunch of Oregon State MS students, an MS student from Barcelona who's now in Peter Moyle's lab in Davis and I went to a pretty cool restaurant called the Flying Star. I had fried feta on a Greek salad. FRIED FETA!! It's like fried fat...but on a salad so you can feel healthy. I love it.
Albuquerque, or at least this little corner of it is kind of interesting. It's kinda dirty, there are a lot of homeless people, and a lot of Mexican women wearing really really short shorts (all I really saw was cellulite...I'm a little traumatized), and a lot of Mexican dudes wearing cowboy hats, and driving lowered pickup trucks...'cause you know, the way you buy them off the lot...the clearance is just too high...TOTALLY not practical to have a pickup truck with clearance. I'm still waiting for the day when I see a lowrider stuck on a speedbump. And I saw spinners for the first time in a while (click on the link to check out the wheel visualizer - what would YOUR car look like with spinners?).
Part of this cultural experience could be due to the Cinco De Mayo festivities. When I checked into my room there was BLARING rancheria music in honor of ...the 5th of May. I guess they were celebrating early so that they could party on the weekend. Should be pretty interesting when Tuesday rolls around. Fiesta!!!
As it turns out, Cinco De Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla (1862), when a small group of Mexican soldiers defeated a much larger French army. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to show off your cellulite.
Tomorrow I'm doing some AV stuff to knock $100 off my registration, and then there's some sort of banquet. Tuesday I just don't know. I should probably finish my talk that I'm going to give on Wednesday. Is it bad that the abstract I submitted isn't really what I'm going to end up talking about? I mean sort of, but I kinda changed it? Oh well. Maybe no one reads those abstracts.
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