Jaw hurts from so much talking, I am exhausted from not much sleep. It was largely due to my choices - going to parties after the long conference days, so I'm not complaining, merely commenting. I think I am getting sick. I don't sleep well in Vegas, my nose doesn't like the dry air, and when my nose ain't happy, it takes it out on my sleep.

I wonder if I am going to find edible food here at the airport? I just looked at Wendy's & Popeye's and could not bring myself to eat anything I saw. Which is a good thing, I've been eating pretty paleo, and I'm getting used to healthy food. Except for salads, which I don't want in the morning, the food at these places is awful. Ah, I found nuts! Really, the obesity and dietary disease in the US is totally understandable given the foods we eat. (Random fact to annoy the eco-localists: only 1% of the carbon generated by an average piece of food is due to transportation. The largest factor is making the fertilizer, as it is very energy-intensive. Half the carbon load occurs in the agricultural process. I'm not claiming that some farming techniques aren't lower-carbon, only that transportation is a negligible overall factor)

The eye candy here is so annoying / distracting. My made-up evolutionary just so story is: in the evolutionary environment, hot young strange women were very unusual. You knew everyone in your tribe. So if you saw such a person, it was a serious mating opportunity. Hence, strangers are super-exciting. I dunno if that's the reason, I just know that every time I see one of these scantily clad desert beauties, lights flash in my head and bells ring and a little guy in there jumps up and down and yells "LOOK AT HER! NO, LOOK AT HER! WOW! LOOK AT THAT!" I know it sounds funny, and when I am really bored (which is rare) it is good entertainment, but the vast majority of the time when I would rather not be yelled at by a horny little libido imp in my head, it's really annoying! I have deep thoughts to think, and it is hard to think when someone is screaming inside your head.

I'm still attracted to cute people I'm used to, of course, but it's toned down to a much more manageable level.

Anyway, schmoozing while tired works fine for me, talking to people keeps me interested and alert, so it was a fine week for talking to people at the booth, but I did not get a lot of other work done during breaks. It's really hard for me to focus on more abstract stuff like reading/writing when I am tired. I think I'll prob. take a sleeping pill tonight and sleep 12 hours. Then, I'm going to try getting up at 8 or 8:30am every morning. Dunno if I'll be able to stick to it, but I'm healed enough that I'm ready to attempt a consistent schedule.

I doubt we'll do a booth at FreedomFest again, and many exhibitors I talked to said the same. Just not a lot of foot traffic in the exhibit hall. Basically just during breaks, which is 2 hours a day. And for that, we had several staff sitting around all day. A lot of time and energy, and not worth it. I will probably come back, to talk to people and enjoy being around like-minded people. A lot of the talks were awful, but there are a few good ones in there that were fun. I am annoyed that the event charges speakers for speaking and listeners for listening, and I think that's why a lot of the talks were awful, but the event still has some value.

Also a weird mix of old and young people (compared to, say, NH Liberty Forum), which some of the young people I talked to didn't like, although I didn't really mind.

Anyway, a lot more I could say about FF, like the awful "debate" between my dad and Mark Skousen on anarchy vs. minarchy, where Skousen's "points" alternated between ad hominem and irrelevance, but I don't really feel like writing up more detail right now. Suffice it to say that I have a rather low opinion of Skousen as a person and a thinker. Anyway, if you are thinking of going to FF, expect the highlights to be talking to and partying with other libertarians, many who work at non-profits / think-tanks, and a few good talks. But it's expensive and the guy who runs it is lame.

So much work has piled up this last week...hopefully I can get lots of sleep tonight, take modafinil a couple times next week, and work through it. ipsafictura is leaving TSI for personal reasons, and jhogan is moving and getting ready for a trip to Asia, which makes us even busier than usual. (I'll post our job req for a new Director of Development next week). Fortunately James is a work machine, and with luck I will be too next week.

I think I might invest a bunch of my money with Peter Schiff's firm. I really hate managing my own money. So glad I put some into Palantir, I like it way better than the stock market right now.

I am getting better and better at accepting reality and living in the present, either acting to change situations or accepting them. Haven't done any hard-core practicing on it, like a daily practice, but I try when I can, and I have had noticeably less frustration in my life as a result. Not sure whether I will ever get a tattoo along those lines, it is tempting, as it feels like something that will be part of my attitude for the rest of my life, but I'm not sure what purpose a tattoo would serve, I don't think I need it as a reminder, so it would mostly be advertising, and it is said that advertising one's mindfulness is anti-mindfulness, although I have mixed feelings about whether that is true.

Enough rambling, my flight is boarding. 'twill be nice to be home with family and work and more regular sleep and all that.

Responded briefly to an emergency during the final dinner. During a speech, there were a couple weird screams from backstage, maybe 30-60 sec apart. We thought someone was being a dick, but after the third time, a staff member went to investigate, and called for a doctor. A half dozen of us went.

The patient, a young large male, was lying down backstage with blood on his lips. Coworkers reported he "just started acting really weird and didn't recognize them", and that he had been sick that morning. Patient was confused and disoriented, he knew his name but not much more. A bit freaked out by having 6 people around him. I sat down and tried to connect with him non-threateningly, but there were too many ppl and the hotel EMT came in a minute or two, so I left.

So, the simple explanation (seizure), or something else?

If seizure, that's twice this year I've been present for an unexpected one!

I wish I could refresh my EMT training and work a shift a week...sigh...so much else to do. My life is full with a huge waitlist.

DSL: 1.5Mbps down, 380 up.
Comcast Cable: 13 Mbps down, 9Mbs up.

Wow.

every time I've read LJ in the last month, I've had at least 4 days of backlog.

Hustler is making porn movies based on classic shows like Happy Days, Star Trek, and The Cosby Show. (via boffo)