Day [4 .. n]

So classes started on tuesday, 8:30 to 6:00 or so every day, which is hard enough when you're not jetlagged. On top of that, the subject matter is sometimes, shall we say, dry? So going to a party Tuesday night and being up until two or three in the morning was not condusive to being a fully functioning human at 8:00 in the morning. It was my one and only party this year as I am getting far too old for that shit.

Classes went until thursday and I went to a lot of stuff. Saw some presentations for "Wall-E", "Horton", "Kung-Fu Panda", "Pirates III" and "Indiana Jones". Went to a couple really interesting technical presentations on hair scanning and rendering. By Friday my brain was jam packed with new stuff. Spent a couple hours on Thursay walking around the Booths, you can't walk ten feet without seeing someone you know, so it's cool to catch up with people. Frankie and I went down to Imageworks on Friday for a while and I caught up with some of the old timers there.

Going home on Saturday was an adventure. I had so much crap with me that I bought in LA, that I totally got profiled and hassled by customs in Auckland, missed my flight and had to get the next one down to Wellington.

I wish that I could have made it to a Dodgers game, but it's amazing how busy you feel like you need to be when you're there on someone else's dime. Looking forward to next year in New Orleans.

Day 3

Pixar took us out to dinner on Monday, or maybe Weta did, all I know is that I didn't pay. And since we were meeting with the software development guys, and the head of software development at Pixar has a brother who just happens to be a world famous chef, who just happens to have an Italian restaraunt in Los Angeles with a two month wait for a table, well, we got treated pretty well, I guess. All fourteen of us. We got to sit in the private room in the back. I wouldn't say that Italian is my favorite food, but this was a very good meal. I even drank some red wine, and it wansn't awful. For me that's saying something, since I usually can't stand the stuff.

President of Walt Disney Feature Animation and founding member of Pixar Ed Catmull gave the keynote speech for Siggraph. He was awesome. He talked about "ideas" vs. "people". In short, you can give a great idea to a mediocre team, and they'll just fuck it up, but if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they'll either make it work, or throw it away and come up with somehting better.

Day 2

I don't travel well across multiple time zones. Very jet lagged. Got up late, 10:45 local time, 5:45 biological time.   Went to Chano's for lunch. OMG best burrito in LA.  Dan L and I walked down to the LA Museum of Contemporary Art. Stopped and checked out the Architecture of the Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry up close.  Both very cool.  Work took us out to eat at a fancy, of course, Mexican place.  Stayed up too late at the fourth annual Siggraph poker came.  Won a couple bucks.

Quickie Day 1

Left Wellington at 11:15. Five hour layover in Auckland. Seat next to very large, not fat, just a very large person. Squeezed into seat. Kid kicking back of seat. Insane mom. At various points in the flight she told her daughter that "we don't use toothpaste, it's poison" and "no it's not butter, it's margarine, you can't eat that, it's made of plastic" and something about her "third eye" and "astral travel". Left my favorite brown hat on the plane. Picked up rental car with Guy, went to In-and-Out. Discovered that I had lost all my travel documentation and my per diem, ouch. Went to hotel and checked in. Showered. Actually took mass transit in LA to Hollywood from downtown. Still had to take a $10 cab ride from a totally insane Armenian taxi driver from the subway stop to The Guitar Center. Mrs. bought me a brand new JS1000 for my birthday/father's day. Very first brand new guitar. Very excited. $30 cab ride back to hotel. Haven't really slept in much in 48 hours. LA is a shitty place to not have a car.

Home

FYI. Here are some places that I'm guaranteed to be.

SIGGRAPH 2010
July 26-30
Los Angeles, California, USA

SIGGRAPH 2009
August 3 - 7
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

SIGGRAPH 2008
11 - 15 August
Los Angeles, California, USA