La Quinta

One day to my presentation, and I'm back in a "maybe I should've rehearsed" panic. Thanks to my East Coastery, I wake up at about 6 AM with a shrieking headache and toss and turn for a few hours, trying to get back to sleep. That doesn't work, so I get up and take a photo of the sunrise from my window and headache around for a bit. I'm feeling so sluggish that I miss the keynote.

The conference is at La Quinta Resort. There are a billion pools and spas, and the walkways are lined with citrus trees. We're invited to grab fruit right off the tree and try them, but when I actually do this they're either unripe or rotten inside. Come to think of it, I don't know whether the guy who told us to do so actually worked for the resort.

I still have vague ideas that I'm going to drag someone to the Palm Springs tramway. Again, everyone says no. And the tramway says no too - a cable frayed and stranded a car in midair. Instead, I take a quick run over to Trader Joe's, which is far better stocked in California than back home. I want to do all my shopping here. They have almond meal in big bags! Why can't our Trader Joe's have almond meal in big bags?

I managed to snap my Ray-Bans while on the plane, so I've had to purchase some ugly, off-the-rack replacements at the resort. I'm still tired as heck, although I hide it well by lying in the 100 degree desert sun for a couple of hours. Then, off to dinner at a charming little Palm Desert establishment called Ruth's Chris. They evidently serve some sort of steak product and have 13,200 branches in the United States. Who knew??

After a 40 lb. petite filet, I drop off the lightweights from CMP at 10 PM or so, I go over to David Lazar's party for a couple of hours. I'm trying to keep things light because I have my big presentation tomorrow.