apss '09

seattle, WA

0.0. justin had the slightly demented idea that we should get into seattle early and try and make the worldwide pairs at noon, a game we have now played in 3 countries in as many years. next time: malawi. the nearest and "best" bridge club to the city center was, to my chagrin, in a strip mall, which meant burger king for lunch and the most venti cup of starbucks in the western hemisphere in order to prop me up for the game, which we quite fortunately made, and did fairly well for, all things considered.

0.1. notes to bridge clubs all around the world: please do not use dratted plastic cards if you have lacquered tables as well, because that's just suffering.

0.2. also pertaining to bridge, i am seriously considering creating a "spaceman of the session" award, with a little shooting star mounted on a base that plays a .midi file of david bowie's starman, something small i can keep in my back pocket and award to those whose minds suddenly and spontaneously leave the galaxy in the middle of a hand.

1. anyway, i'm here for the big annual sleep conference.

2. thanks in large part to j., i actually have a big room on the 29th floor of a proper hotel with a view of the puget sound. coastal cities have it so good. they used to be my favorite in the days of playing simcity

2.1. no FREE INTERNET, though. i don't understand how you could get FREE INTERNET in like, motels, and belize, and not in a 4* hotel in seattle, but perhaps someone will explain the economics of the situation to me.

3. in general, i tire of conferences already, and i've not even graduated yet. i never was very good at the backslapping and mutual congratulations, seeing as i lifted the painted veil on these things like 8.5 billion years ago, never mind the dick-measuring contests which happen which such frequency that there's hardly any point wearing trousers. i'm beginning to think that the best and only solution is to drink often and early -- i swear that some presenters i've seen are quite drunk while giving their talks -- but i'll try and give it a few more years at least before it comes to that.