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Written yesterday, posted today:

I woke up at 4am to boot up my brain before shutting down the servers back at the office some 1300 miles away. With a minor exception (the newest servers without VNC on them yet), it went smoothly.

A heat wave would raise the temperature to almost 60 before a tailgating cold front brings snow in a few days, but I walked six blocks to the train in 40-degree weather. I'm sure I looked like a wimp in my tan trenchcoat, but I wanted to stay warm if I could.

I reached the airport over three hours early, got oriented, and decided to get a bit of exercise. I walked to the farthest gate on Concourse A, then back across the central mall, and down to the farthest gate on Concourse G.

By the time I finished, I was quite ready to stow my heavy backpack in the lockers. $2/hr is worth it, and seeing my thumbprint displayed on the screen was kind of neat. That thumb, plus a six-character code on the receipt, will let me retrieve my bag.

Thus unencumbered, I repeated my little jaunt -- a mere mile and a half each time, the information desk told me -- and had the pleasure of helping a tourist be in the picture with his family. I also got to sample Leiniekugel's Red, a lager with an interestingly sharp clear taste and banana esters. I could be wrong about the esters, though, since I did eat an actual banana between walks.

While I waited and wandered, I got a call from the office saying that the air conditioner upgrade had gone well and quickly, the servers were all running again, and the server room was now a proper 69 degrees. If we can cough up $20-30k for a proper centralized backup, it'll finally be up to snuff. And if not, I guess I can hack together an AMANDA network.

I stopped halfway back to Concourse A for a pint of Leiniekugel's Honey Weiss (filtered, sadly) with lemon at TGI Friday's. Since it's about the only restaurant in the airport not owned by the same company as all the rest, a pint of decent brew is under $5. That wouldn't buy a Bud anywhere else in MSP.

Since the flight home was 48% full, I traded my exit-row seat for one of the many empty rows in the back. Flying is even more fun with satellite radio (although it's clearly prerecorded and synced on the ground like other in-flight audio). We took off as I was listening to "Wonkavator / End Titles" from _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_, soaring into "a world of pure imagination". (Yes, the end title is instrumental, but it quotes richly from "Pure Imagination".)

Later in the flight, I switched from the Cinemagic movie soundtracks channel to Bluegrass Junction. Bill Monroe played or would have recognized almost all of it, but Hayseed Dixie's cover of "Feel Like Makin' Love", mixed in with the more traditional tunes, delighted me.

During most of the flight, I reviewed and made thorough notes on the study guide from yesterday's class. HIP 4.x's architecture of abstractions is really a lot more useful than HIP 3.x's. I have a sinking feeling that there are global settings that should have been delegated to a smaller scope -- what if only some of our libraries want to allow borrowers to get e-mail when the library gets new items on a particular subject, by a favorite author, etc? -- but generally it seems useful.

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The pharmacist said that I probably don't have anything that would care about antibiotics, so I've got some DayQuil and NyQuil, and I'm going to make sure I fall asleep right after dinner. WIth any luck I'll get enough rest to feel better before I have to go get my congested ears blown out on a plane.

Fortunately, I've only missed today's first session. It was one I really wanted to go to, though. I'll have to see if it's being repeated later.
sylvar: (Hmmm. (Giles))
So here it is, the morning of my presentation on anonymous library cards, and my throat is congested and raw AND my right knee hurts a bit. I know I can get through this presentation, but I'm not sure I should.

If I give the presentation and end up hoarse the rest of the week, that'll suck. On the other hand, it's possible that I'll end up hoarse anyway and it's a good thing my presentation was scheduled for the very first slot so I could still give it. Or maybe, if I duck out, I'll be saving my voice and avoiding further damage.

Well, I guess I'll probably give the talk. It's probably only going to be about 15 minutes, so that shouldn't kill me. And I do really want to evangelize.

The things I do for CODI...

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I'm really enjoying my trip so far. I was sure that I'd get my bag searched, what with all the wires and gadgets, but security was a doddle. While waiting for the plane, I managed to catch a few good photos (as you may have noticed).

Unfortunately, the ballyhooed satellite radio was missing from the Boeing 717-200 that took me to Minneapolis. I wish their amenities were as predictable as their safety record, but I was at least pretty comfortable, and that's a noteworthy accomplishment. I had help from SeatGuru in figuring out which seats were the best on that particular plane.

I took Metro's Hiawatha Line from the airport to downtown. Instead of waiting around for a bus (they come every 30 minutes on Sunday, but much more often in weekday rush hours), I hoofed it about half a mile to the hotel. My fingers were pretty cold by that time, but I managed to sign in and check out my swanky room. Doesn't every hotel room need a king bed and a hot tub? And doesn't every hot tub need a champagne bucket?

A couple on the train told me about Seward Co-Op, where anyone can shop and members get discounts and profit-sharing. It's a good place to find organic groceries, and I stocked up for the week. I stopped next door to get pizza, but settled for miso soup to go as the kitchen was already closing. Guess it's more of a breakfast-and-lunch place.

My bus driver on the way back was the same friendly Cameroonian-American guy who, on the way out, had been talking to a Somali traveler in French and English. The driver also speaks German, but I was satisfied to say je suis un tourist and manage to be understood despite my total lack of classroom education in French. I didn't even catch the guy's name, but Metro driver 64054 was a great welcome to a city that's not nearly as Scandinavian as a Garrison Keillor fan might imagine.

Now, back in the hotel, I'm having dinner: half a baguette with fresh mozzarella and "cranberry 'n' stuffing" flavored Tofurky, and a noodle bowl. I'm hoping to get enough protein to support a walk on the treadmill, but I think I got a pretty good workout walking around downtown -- a mile or so, anyway. I tried to find a geocache but didn't see it (presumably under lots of freshly fallen leaves). Perhaps some morning I'll try a webcam cache, which requires the help of a friend to take my picture. Anyone willing to take my picture some morning this week when I phone you? I don't think I've done a webcam cache before, so this should be fun.

I'll keep posting photos, though probably only two or three per day. If you want more, you'll have to look at my Flickr page.
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Today I packed a rolling suitcase and a backpack with almost all the gadgets a modern Pharaoh would be entombed with: GPS, digital camera, PDA, cell phone, laptop, and cables to connect them all. Then I watched

Tomorrow morning I'll drive to Orlando to take a plane to Minneapolis. You can track AirTran Flight 870 to see where I am. (It should leave around 10am Eastern time.)

I'll be at the CODI 2005 conference, presenting on a panel Monday morning, and learning from speakers through Wednesday. Thursday I'll get trained on a product that doesn't exist yet, and Friday morning I'll shut down almost all the TBLC servers in Tampa around 5am Minneapolis time so that new carpet can be installed in the server room. Then I'll fly home, and assuming that no asshats decide that Veterans' Day would be a peachy time to fly a thousand-mile nonstop jumbo jet into the Mall of America, I'll be home right around rush hour. Those of you who have driven in Tampa during rush hour may wonder which would be the kinder fate.

Meanwhile, the revolution will be blogged with the canonical tag on Flickr, Technorati, and other tag-aware sites.

November 2010

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