Thursday, October 13, 2005
back from (pseudo-) DC
Sid, if you're reading this, sorry I didn't have time to look you up. I was too caught up trying to hang with the rock stars of my current profession and getting drunken under the table by them.
Full disclosure: the rest of this entry shows me in a pretty irresponsible light.
Monday night, dinner with my co-workers at a Vietnamese next to the hotel. No drinking.
Tuesday night, several conference attendees walked to the nearby mall and ate at "Red Robin". Apparently a chain in these parts; never heard of it before. Large (think TGIF or Fuddrucker's) burgers and 25-ounce mugs of beer.
Wednesday night, the conference provided dinner and I had a few snifter's of liquor to go with it. I then went back down to O'Malley's Guiness-less Irish pub and had several Sam Adamseses. (Didn't count).
Had an interesting conversation with a middle-aged security guy whose presence in town had nothing to do with OWASP; something to do with web applications running on naval vessels. WTF? He also claimed to have had some sort of involvement with the capture of Kevin Mitnick. Don't remember his name so I can't verify.
Then, already drunk, I walked over to O'Leary's Irish Pub, where several of the hard-drinking security crowd had proceeded instead of O'Malley's. Probably about a half-mile walk, but it's along a 4+ lane highway with near-freeway-speed traffic. Not exactly a pleasant stroll down the block.
Had an indeterminate number of Guinessessess, and then someone who shall remain nameless (not to protect his identity, but to avoid giving him any fame as a result of what he did to me!) suggested Jaeger shots.
I turned down a cab ride with the rest of them, because I was busy arguing with some local people who IIRC were insisting that RHCP was the greatest band evar. (My argument, from what I remember: I'll give you "Higher Ground" and "Under the Bridge" but what have they done lately?)
On the way back to the hotel, placed the drunkest phonecall I've made in years, to the Mallet lobby phone. I have no idea what I told those kids.
After that, I think I was hazed. A couple of my so-called colleagues took my drunk self to an unfamiliar part of the hotel and left. It was actually worse than that, but I'm not getting into it here. I through what I thought was a door back to my part of the hotel, and found myself outside.
Some point later, not sure how much later, I pulled myself up off the ground in the pseudo-forest of pine trees and found my way back to bed. There were pine needles and such in the bed the next day to prove it.
I was *sick*. Worst hangover since MalletCon 2000. Possibly worst since college. The next day during the conference, I kept having to get up during the middle of powerpoint presentations to go run to the bathroom. Eventually I gave up
Went out with the same bunch to an establishment in Adam's Morgan called "Madam's Organ" (not nearly as bad as it sounds from the name). This time, I didn't touch a drop, I just had dinner. I had forgotten how it feels to be one of the few sober people in a room of drinkers.
Flight back was unmemorable. On MARTA heading back to work, a woman sang:
Got J-O-Y
Joy in the Holy Ghost
Not gonna let the Devil take my Joy
Not gonna let the Devil take my Joy
Got J-O-Y
Joy in the Holy Ghost
Got P-E-A-C-E... etc.,
For a period of about 10 minutes. Nouns inserted in place of J-O-Y included "power", "worship" and even "covering".
Apparently my baby took her first few steps while I was gone.
Full disclosure: the rest of this entry shows me in a pretty irresponsible light.
Monday night, dinner with my co-workers at a Vietnamese next to the hotel. No drinking.
Tuesday night, several conference attendees walked to the nearby mall and ate at "Red Robin". Apparently a chain in these parts; never heard of it before. Large (think TGIF or Fuddrucker's) burgers and 25-ounce mugs of beer.
Wednesday night, the conference provided dinner and I had a few snifter's of liquor to go with it. I then went back down to O'Malley's Guiness-less Irish pub and had several Sam Adamseses. (Didn't count).
Had an interesting conversation with a middle-aged security guy whose presence in town had nothing to do with OWASP; something to do with web applications running on naval vessels. WTF? He also claimed to have had some sort of involvement with the capture of Kevin Mitnick. Don't remember his name so I can't verify.
Then, already drunk, I walked over to O'Leary's Irish Pub, where several of the hard-drinking security crowd had proceeded instead of O'Malley's. Probably about a half-mile walk, but it's along a 4+ lane highway with near-freeway-speed traffic. Not exactly a pleasant stroll down the block.
Had an indeterminate number of Guinessessess, and then someone who shall remain nameless (not to protect his identity, but to avoid giving him any fame as a result of what he did to me!) suggested Jaeger shots.
I turned down a cab ride with the rest of them, because I was busy arguing with some local people who IIRC were insisting that RHCP was the greatest band evar. (My argument, from what I remember: I'll give you "Higher Ground" and "Under the Bridge" but what have they done lately?)
On the way back to the hotel, placed the drunkest phonecall I've made in years, to the Mallet lobby phone. I have no idea what I told those kids.
After that, I think I was hazed. A couple of my so-called colleagues took my drunk self to an unfamiliar part of the hotel and left. It was actually worse than that, but I'm not getting into it here. I through what I thought was a door back to my part of the hotel, and found myself outside.
Some point later, not sure how much later, I pulled myself up off the ground in the pseudo-forest of pine trees and found my way back to bed. There were pine needles and such in the bed the next day to prove it.
I was *sick*. Worst hangover since MalletCon 2000. Possibly worst since college. The next day during the conference, I kept having to get up during the middle of powerpoint presentations to go run to the bathroom. Eventually I gave up
Went out with the same bunch to an establishment in Adam's Morgan called "Madam's Organ" (not nearly as bad as it sounds from the name). This time, I didn't touch a drop, I just had dinner. I had forgotten how it feels to be one of the few sober people in a room of drinkers.
Flight back was unmemorable. On MARTA heading back to work, a woman sang:
Got J-O-Y
Joy in the Holy Ghost
Not gonna let the Devil take my Joy
Not gonna let the Devil take my Joy
Got J-O-Y
Joy in the Holy Ghost
Got P-E-A-C-E... etc.,
For a period of about 10 minutes. Nouns inserted in place of J-O-Y included "power", "worship" and even "covering".
Apparently my baby took her first few steps while I was gone.
