Conference Doldrums
Well it’s been nice here. Toronto’s a lovely city, what little I’ve seen of it anyway. The subway/streetcar system is neat though I’ve avoided using it. The city itself reminds me a little of Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York all jumbled together. Maybe a little Chicago, too, though I say that only from pictures. Except it’s in another country!
Ha.
This is my 8th ATS Conference:
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Atlanta
- Orlando
- San Diego
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Toronto
- San Diego…
Even though things change from year to year, at this point it pretty much runs as a well-oiled machine for me, and so, while it can be a bit nerve-wracking at times, overall it’s pretty boring and uninteresting. If anything, just mildly frustrating having to deal 10 hours a day with the 10% of people who simply can’t read program books, signs, or the simplest of instructions. How do these people become doctors? But the way I look at it, there’s always that tail-end of the bell curve… It’s more frustrating these last couple days because there’s just enough downtime for me to be trying to do things like write this post, but just enough steady interruptions to frazzle my brain.
Out of the conference, Toronto has had on-and-off crappy weather. I hear it’s worse in New York. On Friday the weather was great and I spent the evening walking around the city — going to the mall (got a belt at the Gap), strolling over to chinatown to look for a health food store (it was closed when i got there), and hiking back to the hotel by a different route and seeing some nice pub-type bars.
But after that it’s been cloudy, windy and rainy. And wouldn’t you know, of course, the hot tub in the hotel was busted all weekend and because it was Victoria Day on Monday they aren’t getting it fixed until today. Oh well.
On the up side, my friend Sara came to visit me over the weekend and we’ve had a nice time hanging out. I suppose the highlight of the trip so far has been discovering the nearby large liquor store with a variety of beers, including a massive 2-liter bottle of a 5% IPA! I’ve never seen such a thing! Forget your 40s, I’m going for the 2-liter!! 
We didn’t buy it though… We also found a good thai restaurant and had some nice room service. Beyond that, I’m in the conference all day and she’s been walking around the city when it’s not raining.
It’s been a good time. That said, I’m pretty much ready to go home. I don’t until Thursday. I miss Alex, I miss Marianna, and I miss home & reading & working out. I’ll be good to get back, settle in Thursday night, go to the cloisters Friday with Marianna, spend the nice memorial day weekend hangin’ with Alex, watch some Doctor Who, finish the book I’m reading, and get ready for summer to start.
Speaking of Doctor Who, the news is out: Russell T. Davies, the head writer & producer of the show since it was revived in 2005, is stepping down after next year’s three specials. The fifth full season to start in 2010 will be headed by Steven Moffat. I am very happy with this news. I’ve been loving the show, but Moffat is a much better writer and, I feel, has a feel for the show that better matches my own sense of enjoyment. All three of the episodes he’s written have been amongst my favorites, and his two-parter coming up this season is my most anticipated. I really liked his old sitcom “Coupling,” too.
OK, it took me two hours to write this entry. So many distractions. I’ll stop now and get back to ways of passing the time that don’t require so much focus. See you later!