Wednesday, July 31
I'm gearing up for the Con. Worked my last day of the week and am doing some leisurely laundry and packing... I hear this strange rattle in my apartment, though, so I go to investigated.
The rattle gets louder as I approach my fridge, and I realize that my freezer door is adjar... Last I remember opening it was 17 hours earlier, before I left for work. Not good.
Everything is melted... Except for the freezer motor, which is a big block of ice... I spend until 2am emptying out the fridge, and mopping up melted popsicles. Packing takes a back seat.
Thursday, Aug 1
Running around like crazy, paying bills (rent is good), finishing up on the packing I'd missed... Finally get out the door by like 11am, on my way to LA from San Diego (my new home town). I spray on some Bullfrog to protect against a driver's scorching, and off I go.
Ten miles north, I see a car go slamming into the center divider backwards. I don't know what caused the accident, but I pull off onto the shoulder to see if they're OK. Driver and passenger say they're fine, ask if I'd seen anything, and say its ok for me to leave. Driver and passenger change seats in full view of the freeway, and the other party (who is on the right shoulder, on the phone to the CHP, and watching every move these guys make).
So, I'm on the road again... and the southbound 5 is backed up like crazy... CHP is leading them down a blocked off part of the northbound 5. Turns out a rig hauling asphault had wrecked the night before. They were predicting they might be done by midnight. A few miles further north, the 5 south is completely empty... Spooky.
Riding into Orange, I see the first Amber Alert; a message for drivers to watch for the vehicle used in the kidnapping of a couple girls. (Girls were later rescued, driver killed)
OK, more craziness ensued... Yada-yada...
I pick up xinc in LA and we get gone. xinc hooks my laptop up to the car stereo and we have audio for about 180 miles until my battery gets low and the laptop hybernates. Was cool while it lasted.
Grabbed a quesadilla at Bun Boy... that was a big mistake.
7:30pm, we hit the Alexis. I go see about our room, while xinc schmoozes with 23. Turns out I fucked up the dates, so our room wasn't reserved until the next night; we grab a room at the Embassy Suites and head back to the con.
xinc and I spend most of the evening hanging in the Alexis bar. I discovered that I liked Long Island Iced Tea. We made friends with some chick from San Diego (named Alexis) and I meet MMCA (who is a very cool guy to hang around).
I spent a few hours chatting with some admin types for an ISP down here in San Diego about their fat pipes, and abuse thereof. I still don't know their names. ;)
Friday, Aug 2
xinc and I get up early and hit the Embassy breakfast bar... I was happy for the orange juice, but my stomach wasn't too thrilled with the idea of food.. And I wasn't quite functioning right... Smacked my head into a light fixture, that sort of thing... Blah.
We go check out of our rooms... There we are, standing in the lobby of the Embassy Suites... Me with my "Police" and "Sheriff" bags (one of which has a gun in it), and xinc carrying an ammo box and his DoJ approved gun box... And two guys in suits come up to the counter... look at us, look at the bags, look at the boxes, look at us... xinc says "They're feds, run for it!"
We get checked in at the Alexis (thanks to a helpful (and cute) girl behind the counter) and wander back, back, way the fuck back to our rooms at the rear of the hotel (would have had to wait until the afternoon for one closer).
Settling into the room, we dig out the artillery... I show xinc how easy it is to remove the slide from the beretta... put it back on the rail, get distracted, then hit the slide release... without flipping the lock back on...
Slide goes flying across the room, where it explodes into its component parts... I had to grab the spring off the top of the TV... Yeah, I was not in good shape.
xinc and I are checked in, so we go hit up some lectures.
We ran into sorel on the way, and she accompanied us to the anon/priv hall where we see speaches on stealth data, ... something else ..., and jennifer granick's lecture on patriot.
Fud time, so we hit up the pizza shop at the store on the corner (if you've been to defcon at the alexis, you know the one). We chill for a while so we don't overdo it before the shoot, then head out and check out the first round of hacker jeopardy.
We had already run into Vanna near pool 1 earlier, so we knew what to expect... There's a somewhat embarassing photo of me staring at her breasts... I need a woman.
Saturday, Aug 3
Breakfast at the Alexis buffet (blah). Had a fucking blast at the shoot.
Lunch at subway for me, pizza place for xinc, and we head back to clean our guns, listen to music (on my recharged laptop) and watch commercials for Ike (had to be there).
Didn't see a single lecture and I don't care. Bought a Jackalope shirt and wore it to the ball at her request (was the only one there wearing one, too).
We did dinner at the hard rock, where we were apparently the only people in the building who weren't celebrating a birthday or hadn't just gotten married that day... It was just insane... We got 30 seconds of peace, between all the cheers.
With much convincing, xinc, arclight, and I got sorel out on to the dance floor... xinc and I were surprised at how enthusiastic a dancer she was once she was out there...
I bought a margarita at the bar outside of the ballroom... watched as the bartender poured in the tequila (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ... then poured it again (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)... woohoo!
Once Jackalope was on, I kinda tranced out like I normally do at the ball... Finally stopped when her set was over and I couldn't move my knee anymore.
I love the B+W ball. Missed out on klink's set, though. I keep wanting to see him (used to work with the guy), but he's on a bit too late for me (especially now that I'm an 8-5 putz).
Sunday, Aug 4
Could barely walk. Breakfast at the buffet again (getting there late is a mistake...). Checked out of the room.
Got ordered by flea to get in the pool, so we did... There are pictures of me in my jeans and UCSB shirt, floating around in the pool. We got Jackalope and Dark Tangent to come in, too. Was coo'.
We checked out gobbles for a bit, hit the award ceremony, then dinner at the hard rock and gone.