California AGAIN

I'm going to California. Despite my frequently avowed dislike for the state, I just can't seem to avoid it. On the bright side, this time I'm going to San Diego. Most of my dislike of California stems from having to spend too much time in Los Angeles. There is much good to be said of San Diego.

One of the good things to be said for San Diego is that Allaryin (Ammon) moved there just a week or two ago, which means I'll probably get a chance to go say hi. He started life in Texas and has been drifting gradually west ever since. Ammon recently acquired a new baby girl (with the esteemed assistance of his wife, of course). I have been informed that said baby girl is adorable, and if I visit I'll probably be observed making silly googly noises. That should be fun.

Another good thing to be said for San Diego is: the weather.

Now, my purpose in traveling to San Diego has nothing to do with either the weather, nor the fact that Ammon just moved there. These are merely happy coincidences. No, I'm going to go play salesman at some conference for the week. The conference is to be attended by, and I quote, "Digital innovators, creative researchers, award-winning producers, provocative artists, energetic executives, and adventurous engineers." They really seemed to be stretching on some of those adjectives--engineers are very nice chaps, after all, but "adventurous" is not usually a defining quality. The conference is a lot of fun because there are a lot of very smart people there, and very smart people are a lot of fun. Unless they get drunk of course, in which case they're pretty much like drunk people the world over, but that doesn't happen all the time.

It is possible that, by now, you are wondering why on earth there is a picture of a mutant cow for this post. Interestingly, it's not entirely unrelated. Said mutant cow was made using software that I wrote, and which we'll be hawking at the conference. So, in essence, I'm traveling to California to sell software that lets you make your own mutant cow. Admittedly, it can be used for things other than mutant cows. Some folks have even used it to make weird horned monsters.