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Once again, I managed to stow away with Tubby while he pretends to work. This year, it's Anaheim, California. (Last year's conference, as you may recall, was in New Orleans, and a good time was had by all... and by all, I mostly mean me.)
For you anal-retentive types, this is for you: All times here are Pacific Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted.
Thursday,
11 September 2003 |
|
| 1:31pm | We began our magical journey by getting on the interstate. Big whoop. |
| 2:12pm | We stop for gas, and Tubby invests $1.60 in a Diet Pepsi (one liter variety) |
| 2:58pm | Our passenger, Jay M.*, nods off. |
| 4:12pm | It's stopping time. This helps Jay wake up, Tubby wake up, and me shake the dew off. |
| 6:56pm | Impressively, we got here in about 5 1/2 hours. Not bad for 380 miles of road. |
| 7:17pm | Tubby gets checked into the hotel, with the assistance of the Front Desk Manager, Aisha. She's from the United Kingdom, as shown on her nametag and implied by her accent. She thought Tubby was funny... but then again, she is English. |
| 7:23pm | Rather than be social (and by extension, normal), Tubby leaps into the Unnamed Expedition and heads off to Disneyland. I'm told it's one of the happier places on earth. |
| 7:29pm | Fighting the tide of exiting park visitors (Disneyland closes at 8pm tonight), we get our Annual Passport at the Pavilion. A very helpful Rochelle gave us the card hook-up. Tubby asked about why the card seems so much more flimsy; Rochelle said it was to help with the card reading machines. (Although our credit-card, not-paper-thin pass from last year worked just fine.) But she gave him an Annual Passport holder newsletter, and given the glossy cover, he was distracted enough for me to get him out of there without another outburst. |
| 7:41pm | Since we are illegally parked at IHOP, I suggest we legalize the transaction by having dinner there. I'll apologize now. The usual thing we get is $6.99 at home; here, it's $9.29. The soda (or "pop," depending on if you're from them parts of this country where the evening meal is "supper") was $2.59. An outrage. But at least the food was the usual banal fare I've come to expect and be annoyed by from IHOP. |
| 8:24pm | We return to the hotel and head up to the room. Which room number... it's not important. But it does have a nice view of nothing in particular. |
| 8:32pm | We dial up the ol' internet to see what new mail I've received in the last few hours. Number of new messages: 0 |
| 8:38pm | I'm amused by the proliferation of signs posted in our room. I can only presume that either (a) Radisson Hotels gets these at an excellent price, or (b) the general manager's cousin, Louie, is in the sign business, and maybe does some protection schemes on the side. |
| 9:03pm | Me sitting here writing this, listening to Nelly's "Country Grammar" CD. |
| * Names unchanged in the interest of simplicity. Sorry guys... | |