I woke up at just before 5 this morning, went down to the lobby to call my wife, then took a Lyft over to Corepower Yoga, a studio on Fremont Street, about ten minutes’ drive from Union Square. A hot yoga session had been organised for keen conference participants, and as I wasn’t going to get any other exercise this week, and because I keep meaning to do yoga, I’d signed up for it.
It was hot yoga, which was warm by US standards, I guess, but only about 85 degrees in old money. What is that? Regular temperature in Singapore, I suppose, although I don’t do yoga outside. Whatever temperature it was, my yoga mat was slick with sweat by the end. We did a whole hour of poses, accompanied by dance music, and with an instructor who was rather quiet and also told us to close our eyes a lot, so by the end of it I really wasn’t sure if I’d done things right or not, but I was feeling quite relaxed. I showered, stuck my sweaty kit at the bottom of my bag, and then went outside to find it was pissing down with rain. Luckily I had my raincoat, but unluckily it doesn’t extend to the floor, so by the time I’d walked four blocks to the convention centre, I was soaked from waist to toe. The rain was so strong it felt like it was going up my sleeves. Damn you, San Francisco, and your ridiculous physics.
Inside the convention centre it was predictably freezing, which was worse when you’re sopping wet. If I go home without a full-on cold I’ll be amazed. Still, the speakers were good this year (much improved on the previous year, I felt) and I now know quite a few people, so the convention was a good opportunity to meet with them and hang out. Still, the cold and the lack of sleep and the sitting in a darkened room for a long time were a bit punishing; the afternoon was spent concentrating just as much on not falling asleep as on the speakers.
I was talking to one new colleague and she asked me what team I worked in. She did this just before unintentionally inhaling a mouthful of Pepsi, so as I replied ‘Client Measurement’ she did a tremendous spit-take, regurgitating the Pepsi in a rooster-tail of cola twice as high as her. At least, I hoped she was trying to avoid choking, rather than just disguising her contemptuous laughter at the idea that I might be allowed to talk to clients. Let’s assume best intent wherever we can, right?
In the evening, we had dinner and I had a long chat with a colleague I’d never met before about WWII and the philosophy of mathematics. I tried not to insult anyone by telling them they were bigger than I expected, but pretty much everyone was. I didn’t mean they were fat, just that video conferencing is very bad at conveying people’s height, but hopefully I got that across.
Then back to the hotel room for a quick nap, before another 6am start. I have a climbing gym to visit tomorrow…