CPAC 2012 and everything after
Did my stint in the tax mines Friday, and it was Good. At this rate, I may actually score some commission at the end of the tax season.
Woke up Saturday morning to find that my DSL modem had died the real death, so I packed up Netzilla, drank my breakfast, and headed down to the Van Dorn Street Metro station for the long ride up to the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Towers, or whatever they're calling the Sheraton Park this week. The Occupods and other rent-a-mob types were absent, though there were half a dozen bedraggled sorts between the Metro exit and the bank, holding signs I didn't bother to examine.
Registration went very smoothly, which it should have given that I was showing up on Saturday morning after most of the other 11K attendees had come in. Unfortunately, I then spent about half an hour getting the runaround from Bloggers Row (closed to me since I hadn't managed to find the Hidden Link to the Super Secret Elder Blogger Sign Registration Page when signing up) to the Media Filing Room (closed to me since I was a mere filthy blogger and not a member of the PressTM) and back to the information desk where they pointed me in the direction of the overflow blogging areas to either side of the main auditorium, where at the time I arrived John Bolton was holding forth on the many and varied failures of Obama's foreign policy. I immediately regretted not arriving sooner, because it was a real stem-winder. I discussed the technical side of CPAC enough already here, so I won't go into it again.
Whether apposite or not, I want to take a minute to compare CPAC to the several SF & anime conventions I have known. Most of the larger conventions I've known have been Gathering of the Tribes affairs with many different subcultures represented, and this is true also of CPAC, even if the attractive young ladies are mostly in short skirts and heels rather than bondage gear or other costumes. In place of a dealer's room, there's an exhibition hall replete with booths for candidates, and after hours there are room parties - but unfortunately, like most anime conventions, not nearly enough of them, and you have to Know People to find out about them. No con suite, of course, though some of the exhibitors were giving away munchies, and the ACU had done very well at having a ton of water points and coffee stations where most needed, which is to say on Blogger's Row - which I finally got into thanks to my patron Stacy McCain. Of course, since this was my first time actually at CPAC, I was there to meet people I normally only deal with online, and it was a pleasure to meet about a dozen bloggers whose work I've enjoyed these last few years, including the lovely Little Miss Attila, whose blog pic doesn't do her justice AT ALL.
Speaking of attractive women: the high point of Saturday at CPAC, of course, was being there for Sarah Palin's speech. She blew the damn doors off the place. There were a handful of Occupod inflitrators who tried to disrupt the speech, but they were shouted down, quickly ejected by security, and mocked from the stage without Governor Palin missing a beat. A great inspirational speech, slamming the abject failure of the President in foreign and domestic policy and calling for the GOP to continue the primary competition with an eye toward sharpening the eventual nominee for the tough electoral battle ahead. I hope Mitt Romney was listening.
I hung around for a few hours after that, but managed to cut out at a reasonable hour, barely escaping the tremendous gravitational pull of Stacy McCain's party mojo and #UnsustainableBarTab.Ate a light dinner at McD's across from the Wardman Park, listening with some amusement to a handful of whiny Occupods on one hand and a stereotypical Angry Homeless Guy on the other. Then, home on the Metro and finally to bed about 2200 so I'd be well rested for Sunday.
As you may recall, Becker incurred my sullen wrath by not shipping me my books or materials until three weeks into Financial and Regulatory, and comped me a Final Review class to make up for that. Class was this Sunday at 0800, and good God was it ever cold. Even more unfortunately, they didn't bother to turn on the heat in the building, so I got to sit through a ten-hour class in my field jacket for the first time since Basic Training. Still, the review was good, and I think with enough drill on the material between now and April I ought to be able to nail Regulatory to the wall.
Speaking of drill and studying, I should quit the McD's and its free wireless and head home. I have a business law test tomorrow, and I think the best way to prepare for it is to go home and work on the later chapters of the Becker Regulatory class. :)
Woke up Saturday morning to find that my DSL modem had died the real death, so I packed up Netzilla, drank my breakfast, and headed down to the Van Dorn Street Metro station for the long ride up to the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Towers, or whatever they're calling the Sheraton Park this week. The Occupods and other rent-a-mob types were absent, though there were half a dozen bedraggled sorts between the Metro exit and the bank, holding signs I didn't bother to examine.
Registration went very smoothly, which it should have given that I was showing up on Saturday morning after most of the other 11K attendees had come in. Unfortunately, I then spent about half an hour getting the runaround from Bloggers Row (closed to me since I hadn't managed to find the Hidden Link to the Super Secret Elder Blogger Sign Registration Page when signing up) to the Media Filing Room (closed to me since I was a mere filthy blogger and not a member of the PressTM) and back to the information desk where they pointed me in the direction of the overflow blogging areas to either side of the main auditorium, where at the time I arrived John Bolton was holding forth on the many and varied failures of Obama's foreign policy. I immediately regretted not arriving sooner, because it was a real stem-winder. I discussed the technical side of CPAC enough already here, so I won't go into it again.
Whether apposite or not, I want to take a minute to compare CPAC to the several SF & anime conventions I have known. Most of the larger conventions I've known have been Gathering of the Tribes affairs with many different subcultures represented, and this is true also of CPAC, even if the attractive young ladies are mostly in short skirts and heels rather than bondage gear or other costumes. In place of a dealer's room, there's an exhibition hall replete with booths for candidates, and after hours there are room parties - but unfortunately, like most anime conventions, not nearly enough of them, and you have to Know People to find out about them. No con suite, of course, though some of the exhibitors were giving away munchies, and the ACU had done very well at having a ton of water points and coffee stations where most needed, which is to say on Blogger's Row - which I finally got into thanks to my patron Stacy McCain. Of course, since this was my first time actually at CPAC, I was there to meet people I normally only deal with online, and it was a pleasure to meet about a dozen bloggers whose work I've enjoyed these last few years, including the lovely Little Miss Attila, whose blog pic doesn't do her justice AT ALL.
Speaking of attractive women: the high point of Saturday at CPAC, of course, was being there for Sarah Palin's speech. She blew the damn doors off the place. There were a handful of Occupod inflitrators who tried to disrupt the speech, but they were shouted down, quickly ejected by security, and mocked from the stage without Governor Palin missing a beat. A great inspirational speech, slamming the abject failure of the President in foreign and domestic policy and calling for the GOP to continue the primary competition with an eye toward sharpening the eventual nominee for the tough electoral battle ahead. I hope Mitt Romney was listening.
I hung around for a few hours after that, but managed to cut out at a reasonable hour, barely escaping the tremendous gravitational pull of Stacy McCain's party mojo and #UnsustainableBarTab.Ate a light dinner at McD's across from the Wardman Park, listening with some amusement to a handful of whiny Occupods on one hand and a stereotypical Angry Homeless Guy on the other. Then, home on the Metro and finally to bed about 2200 so I'd be well rested for Sunday.
As you may recall, Becker incurred my sullen wrath by not shipping me my books or materials until three weeks into Financial and Regulatory, and comped me a Final Review class to make up for that. Class was this Sunday at 0800, and good God was it ever cold. Even more unfortunately, they didn't bother to turn on the heat in the building, so I got to sit through a ten-hour class in my field jacket for the first time since Basic Training. Still, the review was good, and I think with enough drill on the material between now and April I ought to be able to nail Regulatory to the wall.
Speaking of drill and studying, I should quit the McD's and its free wireless and head home. I have a business law test tomorrow, and I think the best way to prepare for it is to go home and work on the later chapters of the Becker Regulatory class. :)