Everyday misadventures of the everyman of interpretation

Abstract

It didn't seem like four years had passed since Sam attended an SEG Annual Meeting in Houston, but then again time flies whether you're having fun or not, and those years had passed quickly and eventfully As has become his custom, Sam's convention week began on Sunday with committee meetings during the day and the Icebreaker in the evening. In the setting of the exhibition hall in the George R. Brown Convention Center, the sights and sounds of the Icebreaker offered no surprises, with the exception of the unmistakable and distinctive sound of an alphorn, the origin of which Sam tracked to Alpenfest, an authentic German oompah band that was providing some of the evening's entertainment (like herding cats, playing an alphorn is noteworthy not so much for being done well but for being done at all). The unfortunate low point of the day came when Sam and hundreds of other conventioneers attempted to leave the subterranean parking garage immediately across the street from the convention center all at the same time. The clog of vehicles behind the gated (and only) exit proved that this facility was engineered more for entry than exit and served as yet another example of the term bottleneck.