#SDPAIN2020 Part 1

Rey Allen (hat, from Texas) and Erik Ouellet (from Montreal) in foreground

Soooooooooo much to unpack after this past week. I'm waiting for the eval forms to arrive by email, because there is much to say about this year's San Diego Pain Summit, and at the moment it's all a bit blurry. But I wanted to get started with this lovely evening out the first night of the 6-day summit. Jason Erickson (the guy behind Erik with his arm extended along the back of a chair) proposed the venue, Ortega's Cocina. It's a lovely place full of colourful folkloric kitch, great food, and giant pitchers full of margarita. I was transported back to 1987 when I lived in Mexico City for 4 months. Good times!
Right down the street was Belching Beaver with the most wonderful stout I've ever tasted.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love visiting San Diego?  In February? Yeah, it was a bit chilly (that's me with the orange scarf keeping my neck warm) but nothing like the hour-long drive home from the airport yesterday late afternoon through a ground blizzard.
Seriously, ground blizzards are hard to drive through. The highway appears covered in millions of writhing white snakes traveling at high speed from one side of the highway to the other. Your eyes are drawn to watch the snakes instead of the road. You have to interrupt your brain constantly and force your eyes to stay glued to the lane markings instead. Very tiring. And then, when a car goes by, the snakes blow up and visibility is completely lost for a few seconds. Huge focus is required, especially when most of you is still nostalgically lingering in the land of palm trees, your peer people, and intense mental stimulation. Ah Rajam, you have created quite a movement, with fierce momentum.
This was my sixth summit. I've been to every single one of them. They are such fun I just don't know how to quit. Now Rajam is offering a second one in the autumn, in Charlotte North Carolina. Clearly she doesn't know how to quit either! And I hope she never does. 

SDPAIN2020 Part 2
SDPAIN2020 Part 3
SDPAIN2020 Part 4