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Uneventful if typically annoying travel day today. Headed out at 10:30a Eastern for a noon flight, 2 hr layover in Chicago, then out to San Jose for a 6:00p Pacific arrival. Made it to the hotel OK, but made the very foolish mistake of not getting cash at the airport. Ho ho. I will not be making that mistake again. Getting food is going to be challenging since I can’t find an ATM (people here look at you funny when you ask for a “bank machine”, so “ATM” it is) and the Wendy’s across the street has a non-functional Interac machine. Crapsticks. Of course at this point it’s 11:10p Eastern and I’m fading fast. I’ll probably just skip dinner and get up bright and early to take fullest advantage of the complimentary continental breakfast.

Anyhow, for those of you who care (hi Mom! hi Dad!) I made it here safely. Will be flying back to Ottawa on Saturday.

Back in Ottawa after a whirlwind week in Mountain View. Summary of the return trip: Chicago airport is as insane on Saturdays as Fridays, so that’s right out now. All future trips will avoid ORD if possible. Luggage: lost (at ORD, natch), but it managed to catch a later flight and get a cab home within 24hrs. McDonald’s: as foul as I remember it being, particularly when you’re trying to juggle a full Quarter Pounder combo while hauling carry-on and trying to find a seat somewhere near the correct gate. WiFi: always too expensive. 4 hour layover: not bad considering that the Ottawa flight that was supposed to leave 3 hours before mine ended up leaving at basically the same time. Could have been worse. Random rumour has it that there will (someday) be a direct Ottawa > San Jose flight. That would seriously, seriously rule, but I’m not holding my breath.

Left Ottawa at some ungodly hour this morning (4:30a) and after a quick pitstop in Detroit am now in (not so) sunny Seattle. A few notes:

1. Flying on Sundays is utterly humane compared to Mondays. Both flights were on time, and the first was 1/3rd empty.
2. Detroit’s airport is much nicer than Chicago’s. This may be because it was 7:00a on a Sunday and basically empty, and Detroit has a much trippier tunnel between terminals.
3. Sleeping on airplanes only barely counts as sleep if you’re stuck in the aisle seat.
4. People in Seattle are really nice.
5. This hotel has duckies.

I’m only here for a conference tomorrow then off to Mountain View for the rest of the week. I will be offline all of Monday, but will be back Tuesday (albeit in the wrong timezone). Flying back Saturday morning, although through Chicago with (for some stupid reason) a 4.5 hour layover. Not quite sure how I let that happen.