Arrival in Daytona

Well, I'm here. Daytona again...the third year, and it almost seems old hat. They've completely remodeled the place since the first year I was here: Hilton had bought the place from Adams Mark after one of several hurricanes got the better of it. That first year, the paint was still...stinky. Thom and I were the first ones to stay in our room after the remodel. (Think about it: a brand new hotel room. How often do you get to stay in one of those?)

So this year, I'm back in the South Tower. Last year, I was in the North, and it wasn't quite as nice. Here's the view from my fourteenth-floor room...

So I'm here a day early as an "Early Reader," and I didn't really know what that meant, but I agreed to do it anyway. I ran into David, the Chief Reader for the exam, after my ordeal with the parking garage...

(begin interruption for parking garage ordeal)

Parking was horrible. Bumper to bumper in the tight turns of the garage, inching my way up five levels to finally find a spot. And of course, one of the elevators was broken and the other one was oh-so-slow, so I took the stair (with luggage) down five floors, across the street to the Hilton, and then to check-in. After a small problem at check-in, I realized that I had left my phone on the passenger seat of my truck. So I dropped my bags off in the room and then huffed it up five stories and down five stories to retrieve my phone.

(end interruption for parking garage ordeal)

...and David told me that "we" (meaning David) was worried about getting the essays read on time since this year is the first year of the synthesis question on the exam and since they have a significant number of overseas exams. Thus, he brought in a few of us early to get things started: from the looks of the list, maybe twenty or so early readers. He let me know that tomorrow, I'll be reading the argument question on the overseas exam, which should be interesting, since I've never read an argument question before.

I'll let you know how it goes...