Winter Road Trip Day 9: On to Albuquerque
Dec. 5th, 2019 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeIt was a relatively quick drive in to Albuquerque today, once we tore ourselves away from our hotel window.
We had a great view of the ex-Santa Fe mainline, and the trains continued to run at near-streetcar intervals.
A mere ninety minutes later, Albuquerque appeared in the distance as we crested the final hill.
The clump of tall buildings is downtown, and one of the tall ones with a pointy top is the Hyatt Regency, site of SMOFCon.
In keeping with the SMOFCon 37 theme of "All Right Turns," we turned right from I-40 east to I-25 south, then right onto MLK, and then proceeded to circle the block in which the Hyatt is located rightward a couple of times until we managed to find the entrance to the public parking garage.
The door in the distance is the entrance to the parking garage elevator. We ended up with one of the very closest non-handicapped-access parking spaces to the elevators, which was a huge help in getting our stuff up to our room. It still took six trips (as we didn't want to pay for a bellman and a cart, and we had time) to carry everything up to the room. We left some things in the van. There's no point in moving the Probability & Statistics Seminar materials until we need them on Saturday night, for instance, and the posters for Friday night's Convention Poster Session can wait until then, especially considering how convenient the van is to the elevator.
After we got the room loaded, I started to fade badly, but we decided to try looking downstairs, where we met up with several other SMOFCon early arrivals who, like us, were hungry. Checking the restaurant guide and Google Maps, we went to Hana Sushi, which is only about 450 m (about four blocks) from the hotel. It was nice to not have to rush through a meal and to spend it conversing with friends.
The Con Suite was not yet open when we got back, so we hung around in the bar with Sharon Sbarsky, Mark Linneman, Linda D., Mo Starkey, and others attracted to the aura of conrunners gathering. After the Con Suite opened, we headed up to the second floor to collect our badges. SMOFCon chair Ron Oakes had kindly generated a badge for Kuma Bear as well as for the two of us.
I would have loved to have hung around until late, but I still have to work on Friday morning, so I must get as much sleep as I can. Speaking of sleep, I'm pleased to report that my replacement CPAP mask did indeed arrive ahead of us. In fact, it appears that it was delivered about the time we were leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Grants. The only bad part is that the Hyatt charges $10 to receive packages. That's annoying, but all of the other alternative ways of avoiding that would have cost even more, such as next-day shipping to Ron Oakes so he would have received it yesterday. So I charged the $10 to my healthcare savings account (it being part of the cost of the prescribed medical equipment) and I look forward to getting better sleep.
We had a great view of the ex-Santa Fe mainline, and the trains continued to run at near-streetcar intervals.
A mere ninety minutes later, Albuquerque appeared in the distance as we crested the final hill.
The clump of tall buildings is downtown, and one of the tall ones with a pointy top is the Hyatt Regency, site of SMOFCon.
In keeping with the SMOFCon 37 theme of "All Right Turns," we turned right from I-40 east to I-25 south, then right onto MLK, and then proceeded to circle the block in which the Hyatt is located rightward a couple of times until we managed to find the entrance to the public parking garage.
The door in the distance is the entrance to the parking garage elevator. We ended up with one of the very closest non-handicapped-access parking spaces to the elevators, which was a huge help in getting our stuff up to our room. It still took six trips (as we didn't want to pay for a bellman and a cart, and we had time) to carry everything up to the room. We left some things in the van. There's no point in moving the Probability & Statistics Seminar materials until we need them on Saturday night, for instance, and the posters for Friday night's Convention Poster Session can wait until then, especially considering how convenient the van is to the elevator.
After we got the room loaded, I started to fade badly, but we decided to try looking downstairs, where we met up with several other SMOFCon early arrivals who, like us, were hungry. Checking the restaurant guide and Google Maps, we went to Hana Sushi, which is only about 450 m (about four blocks) from the hotel. It was nice to not have to rush through a meal and to spend it conversing with friends.
The Con Suite was not yet open when we got back, so we hung around in the bar with Sharon Sbarsky, Mark Linneman, Linda D., Mo Starkey, and others attracted to the aura of conrunners gathering. After the Con Suite opened, we headed up to the second floor to collect our badges. SMOFCon chair Ron Oakes had kindly generated a badge for Kuma Bear as well as for the two of us.
I would have loved to have hung around until late, but I still have to work on Friday morning, so I must get as much sleep as I can. Speaking of sleep, I'm pleased to report that my replacement CPAP mask did indeed arrive ahead of us. In fact, it appears that it was delivered about the time we were leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Grants. The only bad part is that the Hyatt charges $10 to receive packages. That's annoying, but all of the other alternative ways of avoiding that would have cost even more, such as next-day shipping to Ron Oakes so he would have received it yesterday. So I charged the $10 to my healthcare savings account (it being part of the cost of the prescribed medical equipment) and I look forward to getting better sleep.
