Today I flew out to Los Angeles, to prepare for hearings tomorrow. On the plane, finished that chess tournament director's open book examination--some of the Swiss system pairing questions were truly challenging, although if I had made up pairing cards, I'm sure my natural instinct would have worked better than when I charted numbers on paper. The dilemmae were all of the "the natural pairing is Ian v. Sylvia, but Ian has already played Sylvia, and the color alterations are all aglee" variety. I rate it more difficult than the driver's license test, but less demanding than the patent bar examination. I will mail it off tomorrow, and then wait to see if I waited too long to send it in, and must retake.
I spent my afternoon making business calls and studying appeal briefs. I did get a chance to go to Hogan's Heroes in Playa del Mar, not far from my hotel. I had originally wanted to go to the new Zankhou chicken in the westside, to have the best spit-cooked Armenian chicken and pickled vegetables known to man, but after fighting insane traffic on, of all things, Fairfax, I figured out from the Glendale outlet that the westside LA outlet is not yet open. The traffic reminded me of one thing I like about not living in the Los Angeles area any longer.
Hogan's Heroes played the Boomtown Rats'"I don't like Mondays" at 100 decibels, and it was odd to hear a song so old seem so timely. It was an effective way to ensure that patrons used the outside tables rather than eating in. My hero was not heroic, but it was a credible sandwich. Next time I follow my usual "hold the mayonaise and all other sauce condiments" instead of "hold the mayo and put in mustard", as I detest mustard-ruined bread.
Tomorrow I get up early, have a conference call, argue two appeals, have a meeting in the valley, and then head off to a late plane. Wednesday things get really busy. Busy, though, is good.