This weekend, I attended my 9th SIOP conference. Although I did not present this year, my friend and ex-coworker from Sempra Energy graciously included me as second author in a presentation he delivered during a Practitioner Forum. There was a good turnout and I thought Jamie did a great job. However, I felt the presentation lacked something. Although it had a nice blend of scientific rigor, stunning illustrations and slide transitions, even a bit of humor and wit, it was definately missing something. I believe a picture of a llama would have done the trick.
Being my 9th conference, I had trouble remembering the other conferences that I had attended. This conference not being one of my favorites, I decided to list all of them in chronological order and rank them from 1 to 9 as I remember liking them.
- 2005 - *Los Angeles (8)
- 2004 - *Chicago (2)
- 2003 - *Orlando (9)
- 2002 - Toronto (4)
- 2001 - San Diego (7)
- 2000 - New Orleans (3)
- 1999 - Atlanta (6)
- 1998 - Dallas (5)
- 1997 - St. Louis (1)
The asterisks are conferences that I had presented or had been an author on something. So, Los Angeles comes in at the bottom of my most memorable conferences to date. I don't know if it was the location, or the fact that I missed Gabriel. The hotel couldn't have been better. Although I thought the room at $211 a night was a bit plain, the hotel was one of the nicest I've stayed in. I really liked having the conference all under one roof again.
With all said and done, there are some good memories I take from the conference. Here they are in no particular order.
- Got to spend time with two of my friends and classmates, Jeff and Doren. These guys are a riot, and I must admit had much more energy than I did this year so I'll have to make up for it in Dallas in 2006.
- The Pantry - After leaving a ritzy, stuck-up nightclub at the Standard Hotel (although I must admit the view was amazing) Doren and I ate breakfast at The Pantry. For those of you who have never heard of or been there, go. It is the best damn food (at least at 2:00 am).
- PSI Party - Usually, vendors throw small parties in one of the hotels smaller conference rooms. There are dozens of them each year. All mostly the same. They have a table with hotel appetizers, and free drinks. This year, PSI held theirs outside, behind the LA Public Library, next to a restaurant I can't remember the name of. It was probably the best time I had at the conference. It was classy, and I met a lot of nice, interesting people there. A few of them were Celia from Cox Communications, Temre from Carlsbad (friend of Ben and Alicia) and Heather, a PSI rep I had only spoken to over the phone. We left early, which was a big mistake to go to another party that sucked hard.
- Romy and Michelle - Although not their real names, Doren introduced me to two women he had befriended during a previous conference. I met them at the Aon party where they attracted several stares (from men) and glares (from women) as a result of their short, black cocktail dresses. Turns out they were both very nice and not at all the sluts they initially appeared to be (too bad for Doren).
- The CSUSB Alumni dinner - Held at the 4th floor brewery, the current batch of students threw an alumni dinner. I'd like to have seen more alumni there from my year (or other years) but I generally had a good time. When I got bored or tired of grad students pimping me out for internships, I headed over to Ben and his Alliant friends who were much more fun (because they were drinking and playing Rock, Paper, Scissors). I decided to sit with the current students because they seemed more interesting than the alumni (Doren and Jeff both ditched) plus, the only alumni I recognized were from that kiss ass class two years before me (although to their credit, they're pretty smart).
So 2006 brings me full cirlce back to Dallas again. I had a good time in Dallas back in '98, so the chances are that it will be good once again. Hopefully, I have a few things to present too.
