San Diego 2012

10,000 chemists meet twice annually at the giant American Chemical Society meeting. Spring 2012 brought the convention to San Diego. Now that I work in industry, I don't go to as many conferences as when I was a student. Yet, Professors Dudek and Dudek planned to attend the spring ACS meeting so there must be a Dudek gathering in San Diego. My company paid the steep admission fee; I was on the hook for air fare and hotel. Fortunately, John booked all of us a room in the swank hotel next to the convention center. Unfortunately, 3 Dudeks and one Jason Hofstein weren't going to fit on two double beds. Fortunately, Lee (traveling from New York) wasn't going to miss a Dudek gathering. He bailed us out yet again by offering a couch and part of a bed in his hotel suite to Ray and myself.

During the day, I attended lectures given mostly by tenured professors such as Craig Hawker (excellent), Jonathan Sessler (good), and Paul Weiss (yuck). On a rarely-cloudy afternoon, we toured the Coronado Hotel, traveling by ferry. Another day, we set up camp at the Mission Brewery for a drunken afternoon of beer, shuffleboard and foosball. We hit Old Town for huge plates of Mexican food.

Eindhoven-colleague Rene has settled in San Diego with his equally-Dutch wife and two kids (born American!). Rene picked me up at the San Diego airport, and then hung out with the Dudeks for a crazy night on the town in search of my brother's friend Payroll and Monkey Boy. Later in the week, ene brought me over to his house for dinner and a chance to run around with his kids. Odd and fun to see my friends have progeny.

Conferences are certainly more crazy when your family has the same profession.

The view from Lee's San Diego hotel roo

The San Diego Convention Center, ground zero for the ACS meeting

Lee bails us out yet again

The famed Hotel Coronado

Every President since, like, Eisenhower, has stayed here

The movie "Some Like it Hot" made this hotel famous

LIfeguard Ray

Sand swirls

Danger: Underwater Obstruction Between Signs

Not quite Some Like It Hot

The front end of the Coronado Hotel

Sculpture by the Convention Center

So many triangles

The view from Lee's San Diego hotel roo	The San Diego Convention Center, ground zero for the ACS meeting	Lee bails us out yet again	The famed Hotel Coronado	Every President since, like, Eisenhower, has stayed here
The movie "Some Like it Hot" made this hotel famous	LIfeguard Ray	Sand swirls	Danger: Underwater Obstruction Between Signs	Not quite Some Like It Hot
The front end of the Coronado Hotel	Sculpture by the Convention Center	So many triangles