Whirled-Weary Traveler
Feb. 2nd, 2005 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerBack from the three-day conference in Florida. Feeling much better after a good night's sleep in my own bed, with the two I love most curled against/around me.
It's a worthwhile conference. I've gone the last several years, and each time I learn and network a lot. Good speakers. They had the 2002 Nobel (Econ) winner as the closer; that makes three Nobel prize winners I've met. (The other two being Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson.)
Monday dinner was at Vizcaya Gardens, a 1910ish mansion now run by the county. Imagine a Venetian mansion built in Florida. Wow.
Aargh! My flight was scheduled to leave at 7 AM Sunday. This, combined with waking up Saturday from cat heavage, meant that for seven straight days I had woken up around 4 AM. The flight was completely full.
They stopped boarding shortly after I sat down. Apparently one of the overhead bins was leaking water into a row. They swapped it out; then some hydraulics needed replacing; then we had to taxi back to the terminal to replace the fuel we'd used while idling. All in all, we sat on the runway for two extra hours.
I used my frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean as much these days. F'rexample, we actually got food (as opposed to coach, who get nothing and like it) - but they don't carry much these days, so my breakfast choice was: cornflakes, or cornflakes. (I went with the cornflakes.) The only real reason to fly first class now is for the extra width/legroom. Not a worthless thing by any stretch (hah), but not the pampering it used to be.
Finally arriving in FL, I had a clueless cab driver who didn't know where to go. We drove around for an extra half hour while he tried to find the hotel. This wasn't him trying to pad the meter - it's a fixed rate from the airport. I ended up missing first couple sessions at the conference, which I would have anyway due to the flight delays, but I also missed registration so I wasn't sure when things were that night. Fortunately I ran into the organizer at the elevators.
Things I lugged for no reason:
Um, nothing really. But I couldn't do the other two tags without using that one. Key Biscayne is beautiful this time of year. It's too bad I was inside an airport, a taxi, or a hotel nearly the entire time.
Anyway, I'm home now. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but that's not out of the ordinary.
It's a worthwhile conference. I've gone the last several years, and each time I learn and network a lot. Good speakers. They had the 2002 Nobel (Econ) winner as the closer; that makes three Nobel prize winners I've met. (The other two being Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson.)
Monday dinner was at Vizcaya Gardens, a 1910ish mansion now run by the county. Imagine a Venetian mansion built in Florida. Wow.
Aargh! My flight was scheduled to leave at 7 AM Sunday. This, combined with waking up Saturday from cat heavage, meant that for seven straight days I had woken up around 4 AM. The flight was completely full.
They stopped boarding shortly after I sat down. Apparently one of the overhead bins was leaking water into a row. They swapped it out; then some hydraulics needed replacing; then we had to taxi back to the terminal to replace the fuel we'd used while idling. All in all, we sat on the runway for two extra hours.
I used my frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean as much these days. F'rexample, we actually got food (as opposed to coach, who get nothing and like it) - but they don't carry much these days, so my breakfast choice was: cornflakes, or cornflakes. (I went with the cornflakes.) The only real reason to fly first class now is for the extra width/legroom. Not a worthless thing by any stretch (hah), but not the pampering it used to be.
Finally arriving in FL, I had a clueless cab driver who didn't know where to go. We drove around for an extra half hour while he tried to find the hotel. This wasn't him trying to pad the meter - it's a fixed rate from the airport. I ended up missing first couple sessions at the conference, which I would have anyway due to the flight delays, but I also missed registration so I wasn't sure when things were that night. Fortunately I ran into the organizer at the elevators.
Things I lugged for no reason:
- the 20-lb work-supplied laptop (I forgot my remote ID, so I couldn't log on to work e-mail and all that; because of that, I couldn't justify paying the hotel fees for internet access, so I couldn't even check web cartoons and LJ and all that. Otherwise you all would be reading this whine several days ago.)
- the suit and tie (last year, I forgot it and was underdressed for the dinner out; this year, they announced beforehand as sport jackets only. Aargh.)
- a leather jacket - it was coolish when I left San Francisco, and I still apparently have it wired in my brain that Florida in late Jan / early Feb will be like it was two or three years ago - 30 degrees and windy. Nope, it was typical FL weather.
Um, nothing really. But I couldn't do the other two tags without using that one. Key Biscayne is beautiful this time of year. It's too bad I was inside an airport, a taxi, or a hotel nearly the entire time.
Anyway, I'm home now. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but that's not out of the ordinary.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-03 06:59 am (UTC)I took a laptop to Texas, and it did come in handy, but like you, it's not worth it to me to pay the huge fees for internet access from the hotel.
So who WAS the Nobel prize winner for economics in 2002?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-03 04:50 pm (UTC)On the way back, my five hour flight was beverage service only; but they oh-so-graciously would sell sandwiches. Le sigh.
Dr. Daniel Kahneman (http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/2002/) won for his work on behavioral economics. Great speaker.