Good times

This morning, was not a good morning.  I don’t know what happened but I couldn’t move at all.  Didn’t want to do anything but sleep.  In fact, half an hour after my alarm went off the first time, I finally decided to literally roll out of bed.  How bad was I this morning?  Let’s just say that when we were at ihop for breakfast, the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink … I didn’t register at all … my response?  "Can I have the rooty fruity breakfast with swedish pancakes?"  My buddy asked me if I wanted that blended as well … "What would you like to drink?"  "Hot water … <ponder> <ponder> … make that coffee."  I tell ya, it was a great start.

Anyway, the seminars today are going ok … I haven’t crashed yet though I think I feel it coming.  I finally found the shopping mall where I can get hit Aeropostale and a couple other stores.  I’ll try to hit them tonight.  More later as the day goes on.

"You know when you’re at a tech conference when at least 20% of the male attendees use conference t-shirts dating back to 2000 as their primary wardrobe …"

Well, the afternoon went pretty good for the most part.  The one class I ended up attending had a very lively speaker.  Later on, after not winning the ipod i wanted, we sat in on another talk with Joel Spolsky.  I won’t go into the details but that informal talk was entertaining as well.

After a rather lack luster dinner (pizza), I finally made it over to the mall to check out Aeropostale.  Unfortunately, I had just less than an hour to do any shopping … it was just as well though, there were too many stores for me to visit anyway, and most of them were too rich for my blood.  It seems that I’m going to be harrassed quite a bit when i get back to Victoria … it’s already happening.

It seems that most of the guys that they know take about 5 minutes in the mall and buy clothing once every couple years.  Forgive me if like to stay a little more with the times and need a couple hours in the mall.  I have no intention of using free conference t-shirts as the primary source of my wardrobe.  As many have observed already at work, I stick out like a sore thumb.  I dress down, and all the way up sometimes (just short of a jacket and tie) - not your typical coder - balance is key.

Actually, this is a good lead in for my next conference observation:

"You know you’re at a tech conference when you walk into the Hilton when you see a guy in a ragged, torn t-shirt and jeans standing next to a business man fully decked out in a Hugo Boss suit."

The contrast is astounding and the picture simply just looks wrong.  Good thing I have the ability to blend in.

Anyway, I think it’s time to call it a night.  I’ve gotta get some things together for the flight back to Vancouver tomorrow.  That’s it from California - take it easy and we’ll see if things get a little wild this weekend in Whistler.

Well, things are still going and haven’t changed very much.  As each day goes on, I seem to be hooked more on coffee … it’s not a good sign.

Interesting things that happened today?  Nothing too much … though there have been some interesting things at the Expo.  It’s amazing some of the products that you see out there.  For example, we came across a "stop piracy" add.  Good luck.  The solution?  A $10 USB key that you put into your computer (of course) … stick the key in, software works … take the key out, software doesn’t work … hmm … ever care to notice that software piracy is voluntary and always will be?  Otherwise, we’ve been on a mad spree going to each of the exhibitors looking for ipod entry forms .. it looks like there are about four to be won so the probability is pretty good … here’s hoping.

After dinner, we went out to Mountain View for dinner … that’s an area with some life and I was happy to see it.  There was some selection when it came to food as well (which was welcome).  I’ve become very wary of the food around here … quite greasy most of the time and all the same stuff.  We’re lucky that we have a car.  Tonight, we checked out this pub/brewery called Tied House.  The environment was nothing special though you can view their brewery from within the restaurant.  The quality of food was quite good - I had a Shellfish Linguini.  The presentation was good and the seafood was cooked perfectly well in a white wine based broth.  I was quite pleased and the desserts were quite good as well.

After that, we made our way back to the hotel to check out the conference’s party.  It was a poolside party that wasn’t particularily special in anyway.  They had food, an open bar, and finger foods being passed around.  We ended up spending the night chatting with some people I met earlier in the week … a group from Waterloo.

"You know you’re at a developer conference when every person on the plane converging on your final destination is male with a laptop, pda, and cell phone in hand."

Late last night, down in sunny California, I ended up helping a friend in need … some personal problems and relationship stuff.  The stuff that I talked to them about are things that I end up talking to everyone about when the look to me for some advice.  Over the years, people have mentioned to me that I should do something about what I think I know as in sharing things with people and I guess this is a good a place as any.  (Any ideas expressed in this blog is mine … i had better not see it anywhere else!)

So, i think that for the next little while, I’ll put up a small comment on some of the things that come up.  Some of the suggestions that I’ve made to others and some of the things that I go by in both relationships and life.  Perhaps it’ll serve as something that some of you can consider and if you agree with them, can integrate it into things that you do as well.  Otherwise, it’ll be a good opportunity to get some feed back from you guys and create additional conversation.  I can build on my own theories and learn as well … hopefully you find some of the stuff I have to say valuable so check back every so often!

I’ve always got time for you guys and there will always be an ear here … just let me know if you need a shoulder to lean on.  All i really want is to see smiles on everyone’s face and help find internal happiness for everyone because only then can you be happy for the rest of your life.

Ok, all i have to say is that by the end of this conference, i will have had more coffee than i usually have in an entire year.  When i get a good lecturer, it’s all good … i’m all into it, i’m awake, i’m bouncin’ off the walls.  Get me a monotone, boring lecturer and it’s all over - it doesn’t matter for a second how interesting the topic is - I’ll just read the notes myself thank you very much.  Most of the sessions that I had scheduled i walked out of after about an hour … i didn’t even make it to the coffee break.  Nothing profound was said, nothing to capture my attention and keep me from nodding off every five seconds.  I did, however, avoid breaking into the sour candies that i brought along for the ride.

Anyway, so every opportunity i got, i was getting coffee … oh that glorious coffee that keeps you buzzed … I seem to be craving it first thing in the morning, at the 10 am break, lunch time, and finally the 3 pm break.  I can’t seem to get away from it now - could i be finally hooked after all these years?  Anyway, after giving each of my scheduled classes a fair chance, I moved to another course that was taught by Juval (the same guy as yesterday), and what a difference … his style and topics breathed life into me again … i was awake and attentive the entire time i was there.

Perhaps it was the topic as well … he we getting into some component oriented process methodoligies and some project management - stuff i’m interested in, and stuff that i consistently get weird looks from co-workers.  It’s just not normal for a coder to be interested into those things … it must be that business flair that i bring to the equation and the desire to move up in the org structure.  We’ll see what happens.

Anyway, after all the classes we ended up booting it out to Santa Cruz.  Although dark at the time, I found it to be a nice place … of what I caught of it anyway.  We didn’t get a chance to take a look around until after we had dinner … and i wasn’t having a great time.  The late dinner allowed the acids in my stomach to start eating away at the inner lining … almost getting to the point of feeling naucious(sp?).  i finally got some East Indian (sorry Raj, had to get it in) food into me unfortunately it felt decidedly foreign and i felt sick as usual.  What can you do?  Either way, when it gets warmer, I’d love to check out Santa Cruz in the summer - they’ve got some sand v-ball courts lined up right on the beach.  The Boardwalk would be cool too.  We did have a chance to go for a walk through downtown Santa Cruz though … it was pretty quiet and definitely more interesting that Santa Clara.  Anyway, it was very clean and reminded us of Victoria’s Government Street … almost felt like home actually.  On the way back i took it easy and tried to sleep through the ride.  The road back to Santa Clara wasn’t exactly straight with tight turns banked the wrong way it wasn’t a good mix … that’s for sure.

You know when you’re at a tech conference when it’s a complete sausage fest … the guy to girl ratio’s about 100:1.  Great odds … I tell ya.  You also know you’re at a tech conference when every person whips out a laptop the minute they sit down - in actual fact, you’re completely out of place if you don’t have one.  Anyway, what can you do?

The full day tutorial that I had today was good … albeit a little too long.  I was on information overload.  The lecturer was great and very knowledgable in the area.

Other than that, the area’s kind of interesting.  Office sprawled all over there place … all the big names that you would normally see: Intel, ATI, Sun, etc.  Just outside the area, are very new housing developments … though crammed together pretty tightly.  I saw something interesting at night … some of these townhouses had some sort of odd european flair to them … they were regular townhouses with facades that had what looked to be medival tower’s built into the side of them?  I couldn’t figure it out.  If the picture I took turns out, I’ll post it here.

Anyway, things are fairly low key - a little more info as the conference goes on.

It was a wickedly sunny day in Vancouver today and in all honesty, I was a little sad to leave.  There’s always so much to do in Vancouver on the sunny days.  But, all was not lost, California was in my destiny.

Going through the airport in Vancouver went fairly smooth … side from the fact that the damned security guard sent my bag for an extra check because I had locks on the case.  I got it back in San Jose with them cut … that always sucks.

Anyway, getting onto the plane I ended up chatting with another guy heading down to California.  He was an environmental consultant that had to mediate some sort of discussion with some of the political heads.  Either way, the conversation was good and it sped up some of the travel time.  If people are willing to chat, it’s always good.  When we hit Portland, we both had a two hour layover so we just chilled out for a little while - it’s all good.  I had a small pasta salad that was apparently a large (large is actually an extra small) and a nice sweet italian hotdog - had a craving.

The flight down to San Jose was delayed for a good half an hour … on the flight down some of the people didn’t seem so chatty so I ended up reading a book off my Palm for the duration of the flight (working on Bourne Identity right now - apparently it’s a good read I heard).  Landing in San Jose, I was instantly bored … it took all of 30 seconds.  The airport itself was quite old and sprawled out into multiple terminals.  The weather was a cool 17 degrees with a good breeze - not as warm as I had hoped.  Exiting the terminal, I wondered, "where the heck are the taxi’s?  Are there none in this town."  After about 5 minutes of scratching my head, I was directed around the corner to a secluded area where all the taxi’s were … some better signage would have been nice.

A 20 minute cab ride landed me at the luxurious Hilton Santa Clara, a stone’s throw to the convention center.  After checking it (I was the first), I was desperate for food.  Unfortunately, the closest place was about a 15-20 minute walk down the road.  At this point, I had decided to liken downtown Santa Clara to an empty wasteland almost as busy as the Victoria International Airport on a slow day.  It’s that bad.  Anyway, this certainly wasn’t a good start …

Friday finally came.  A shortened day it was starting off with a high level design review of my project by yours truly to our internal business groups.  After some of the guests left, some light banter with my boss and another engineer led to a 45 minute introduction of RoboCode.  RoboCode is a gaming platform where you’re required to program the AI for a tank that destroys others.  Its certainly a challenge in strategy balancing movement, scanning, and firing - the complexities involved is certainly what’s keeping my boss consumed … and the fact that he’s into gaming.

I bolted out of the office like a bit out of hell the minute it hit 3.  Booting it to the ferry I missed the 4 by two cars.  doh!  Well, i didn’t expect to make it anyway - and i ended up being happy for it.  I bumped into an old co-worker, Leanne, on the ferry.  It was good bumping into her.  We had a wicked chat catching up that lasted the entire ferry ride.

Finally released from the steel monster (shitty old BC ferry), I made my way to Shizo.  It’s the meeting place I had an opportunity to meet Ingrid’s new bf Doug - a nice guy with a good sense of humor.  We both started harassing her to utter and complete embarassment.  Oh, and yes, I was givent the name "shit disturber" once again =D

It was the first time I had an opportunity to try uni (sea urchin).  And fresh uni at that.  Apparently it’s really gross if tis not fresh.  Anyway, it had an interesting taste and texture, though it was pretty good.  It was good to get some Japanese food in this deprived island boy.

Other interesting tidbits from dinner?  The freak of nature toilet that was staring back at me when I walked in the washroom.  It looked like some Japanese torture device ready to strap you down and violate you in ways you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.  I couldn’t figure out what the heck it was for the entire time I was there.  I just wanted to go about my business and get outta there!  Interestingly enough, there was a brochure for the contraption by the sink - I guess they figured people would have some similar thoughts.

The interesting things you see sometimes eh?

More later … from sunny, but seemingly windy, California!  =)

Thursday it is … and the weekend’s coming up.  I’m starting to get really stoked - so many things lined up.

Going to Vancouver is usually really hectic visiting family and all … it’s been a long time since I’ve had an opportunity just to hangout with friends (as my sis).  Meeting up with so many people it’s going to be crazy … I can already see myself bombing around town like a mad man (Burnaby, Richmond, downtown Van, North Van, etc.).  Good thing I’ll have my wheels =)

Anyway, Sunday I fly out of Vancouver down to sunny California … to Santa Cruz to be exact.  If only it were only a few months later and warmer I could checkout the locals and get some pickup beach v-ball games.  Oh well … next time I suppose.  I almost had some performance driving courses slated for the weekend as well.  Two days driving a 500hp Viper around a world class touring track (Laguna Seca) … too bad I didn’t have the pre-req’s … and $1200 US for that matter.

Why am I down there?  The office’s shipping me off to a five day developer conference.  It’ll be a good experience I’m sure.  Shacked up at the Hilton with all meals and transportation paid for … doesn’t get too much better than that.  We’ll see how things go.

This coming Friday when I land in Vancouver, I hit the ground running.  A couple people and I are booting it up to Whistler that night for a day of skiing the next day.  Should be good times.  Updates as things happen.

Alright, all I gotta say was our play tonight at the intramural playoffs was sweet.  We got past all the game jitters and really came together as a team.  I guess it really helps that we had a chance to play best of three sets.  Every one was digging, covering, hitting the floor, and moving our lazy asses.  It’s amazing what happens when you’ve got some shirts on the line and you feel like you’re in contention.  We played one easier team and one team that was clearly stronger than us but we fought well.  My sets were going up pretty good for the most part, the passes were good as well.  4-0 puts us on an unbeaten streak heading into the semi-finals.  We played smart and deserved every win.

What I’m not too happy with is the fact that I won’t be able to see it out to the end.  We’ve been playing five-one and the primary setter’s (me) gone for the week.  Dunno what’s going to happen but to a certain extent, I feel like I’m letting the team down a bit.  Bad timing I guess … the office is sending me down to Santa Clara California for a five day conference.  More on this later.

Wicked job guys!  Bring me a shirt!

Alright, what the hell is going on?  Today, we catch wind of a teenager, who stole a car in Maple Ridge yesterday.  Later the in the day he goes to a gas station and tries to rip off 12 measly bucks of gas.  The attendant tries to get in the way before the kid drives off and gets hit by the car.  What’s worse? He gets dragged around town for 7.5 kms part of which I’m sure the guy was alive screaming his head off begging the kid to stop.

Hmm … what else happened today?  Hundreds of farmers decend on Ontario’s legislature to protest various concerns regarding financial aid from the government.  Fine.  No big deal.  Another day in Canada.  No such luck.  What do we find?  Some guy in a Budget cargo van, apparently not related to the protests, goes wacko in the middle of the road.  The cops boxed him in and made various attempts to calm him down to no avail.  This guy soaked his entire body and clothes with gas and threatened to light himself if anyone got too close.  After numerous attempts to run people over, the cops decide to put and end to it and literally ram the van and wedge him in … and <poof!> the guy lights himself on fire.

Umm … hello?!  No offence to the american viewers out there but i feel like i’m watching american tv.  This is CANADA for gosh sakes.