LISA Prep

Tonight was a busy night. Tomorrow I leave for San Diego, to attend LISA '05. The last time I was in San Diego for LISA, the entire surrounding area was on fire.

But tonight, before I can go to bed, I had to run to Sears and buy some new luggage (during the move, one of my cats decided to piss all over my really nice extra-large Eddie Bauer duffel, rendering it pretty much useless for clothes-carrying from that point forward (because, let's face it, the smell never really comes out, and that's the last thing you want to cram clothes into afterwards).

Combine that with my growing dislike of my briefcase as a "carry-on" bag, and I was off to get some luggage. For the laptop, et al, carryon, I got myself this rolling tote, and then to replace the main bag, I bought the matching pullman.

I had considered spending the same amount of money for one of the 5-piece sets instead, but every one of them I could find, the carry-tote was either too-small, or it was hard-sided, and I really like soft-sided totes, because they are easier to cram under your seat on the plane (thus preventing you from having to get up out of your seat to get stuff out of the overhead compartment).

Once I got all that home, I had to do (and am in the middle of doing) a metric ass-load of laundry. If I don't, my new pullman will be empty when I go to California, because what I wore to work today was the last of the clean clothes. Heh.

Combine that with all the usual pre-flight stuff (where's my passport, where's my headphones, what DVDs do I want to pack, where the hell did I put the airline-power adapter for my laptop, etc., etc.) and it makes for a busy evening.

Tomorrow, before the LISA festivities begin, it is my plan to go to Pechanga for a 10AM Texas Hold'em tournament. My last experience at a poker tourney had me right on the cusp of being in the money, so I think I have a pretty decent shot at it on Saturday if I don't panic like I did last time around.

If you're going to be at LISA, give me a shout. Maybe I'll see you at the Casino, or we can hook up at some point during the week and swap war-stories.