Santa Cruz

I spent the first part of this week down on the coast in Santa Cruz, CA at a company technology conference. Surprisingly, the conference was actually pretty good and it was nice to be back on the coast again (especially in a place without the constant fog like Pacifica). As a bonus, I also saw this bumper sticker.

Departure Lounge

My woes with United Airlines appear to have followed me overseas. When I checked in for my flight home this morning, the gate agent cheerfully informed me that my flight was delayed.

Delayed by ten hours. TEN HOURS.

And as you can see below, I didn't get re-routed on United 840 through San Francisco . . . as I am taking a picture of it as it taxis out to takeoff.
So I am holed up in a remote area on Kingford Airport, coding and watching DVDs. And waiting for my 14 hour flight back to Los Angeles...

Back From Vacation

So I haven't blogged much lately. Sure, I've been hitting twitter pretty hard (which has probably cut into my blogging), but there really hasn't been a lot going on in the past few weeks. To recap:

• I flew back from Melbourne on a long, long flight. I was happy to be back in NorCal.
• I flew to Nashville to meet up with some of my friends and play golf for a vacation. On my flight from Chicago to Nashville, Ashley Judd sat about five seats from me. I was oblivious to who she was until the flight attendant asked for her autograph and she almost bitch-slapped him. Although tired, I made a mental note to "never mess with an grumpy Judd" in the back of my mind.
• I was delayed on every single flight I took for two weeks. Sometimes short delays, sometimes long delays, sometimes even cancelled flights. I cursed "flow control" many times.
• Nashville seems a bit sleepy and backwards but was actually a lot of fun.
• I got some time with my girlfriend and dogs. Shelley is working at home a few days a week now (which confuses the hell out of Louie and Zeke) which makes life a lot easier.
• And I am back in Melbourne. It now feels like I am always in Melbourne. And I now believe that Melbourne might be the most boring place in the world. I am beginning to miss Nashville.

Just kidding about the last piece (before the entirety of Melbourne descends on my Aussie rules style and gives me a massive wedgie). To prove it, I will highlight one of the best thing about the Melbourne office: our prodigious wine selection (and extreme willingness to sample it). Back when I joined my firm (pre-Internet boom days), it was an unspoken rule that every office had a quality stock of booze. Even a corporate HQ (where I was stationed), there were Friday keggers. And in the more remote parts of the empire, it was usually much better. Unfortunately, economic reality set in, political correctness crept back and this tradition started to wane. Not here in Melbourne. Melbourne, being the heart of the Australian wine industry (Yarra Valley is close), has always had a quality selection of the vino. So much so that, they have converted an old computer (19" style rack for those in the know) into their wine cellar. We have a fairly constant supply of two to three cases of red with a sprinkling of white for consumption anytime after about 4:00 PM.

It being Friday and well after 4:00 PM, I am having a glass of the 2005 Mitolo Jester Shiraz. Bold, very full bodied with a bit of spice, The Jester is a Aussie Shiraz drinker's red. It has just come into its own (it was to be aged about 2 years) so we have a good supply and I expect to be drinking a fair bit of it over the coming two weeks.

I am off to New Zealand tomorrow to visit a customer in Auckland, so I should have something to post from there.