Trip to San Jose

So, off I got to XenSource certification. A trip to San Jose is not strategic for us at this time, but we really want to get in bed with XenSource. I *have* to meet with their executives and get their technical certification if we want to play ball together.

Here's a rundown of the trip:

Customs and security were routine.

The flight to Chicago was too heavy so the airline had to find 4 volunteers to get off the plane before takeoff. Only two people said "thank you" to the volunteers as they were walking down the plane's corridor. I guess graciousness isn't really a traveler's trait.

My laptop started giving me SMART failures during the flight, so I started a backup on the plane, which I had to interrupt because we were landing. I won't purchase from Tiger Direct anymore, I really promise this time.

Arriving at O'Hare, I started Kismet and noticed that the Wifi coverage was huge, but I had no time to connect if I wanted to eat and make my connecting flight. The "Bar&Grill" on concourse G has a good fruit and bagel breakfast. I heard a Homeland security anouncement as soon as I was off the plane : "Level is Orange!" Who cares, and who can really tell what the heck that means ? Should I really change my behavior or are they just announcing justification for draconian security measures that have *previously* happened that day ?

Finding a power outlet near the H8 gate at O'Hare is like finding a needle in a haystack. I finally located an outlet and sat on the floor in the corridor to recharge my laptop. Sure enough, 10 mins later, a golf cart came by and the driver ask me to go somewhere else. That's OK. I got 20% more juice for my battery. It's not like there were any signs on the floor or on the wall that this was a reserved space...

The flight from Chicago to San Jose was OK, but I swear that I have hearing damage from sitting right next to the engines on takeoff. I was wondering if I wasn't *in* the engine. I guess S80 airplane are not known for their "hush kits".

The hotel was OK, right next to the HP arena where the Sharks play. It certainly was not a 4-star, but had complimentary Internet, complimentary breakfast and complimentary dinner. For $79US per night, that's pretty hard to beat.

As I said in my previous blog entry, the whole discussion and certification with XenSource is under NDA, so I cannot write about it at this time. But the people I met were awesome. I mostly stuck around the Aussies and Kiwis since they seem to be the best people to drink with :-) Ask Stuart to tell you the one about him going from the east coast to the west coast of the US with a $300 car purchased in New York, and then sold for $100 in Los Angeles when the trip was done...

The XenSource executives were on the ball, and my certification went rather well. I stayed at the back of the class with some kindred souls, and soon the trainer was calling us "the dangerous guys at the back", or maybe it was more like "the <censored>ers at the back"... Rebooting the Aussies box from the other end of the classroom while they were trying to finish a module was fun, and they promised to get even later over beer.

Leaving San Jose was a bit tricky. The weather was pristine but the flight was delayed for 2 hours as our destination (Chicago) was dealing with -2C temperatures. Our pilot said "I don't really know why that really matters, but O'Hare flight control tells us what to do , and we do it". I don't think he was too impressed.

I landed at O'Hare already 10 minutes late for boarding for my next leg. I rushed and got there to see the other passengers filling the waiting area. The flight was actually delayed 1.5 hours. When the plane finally did show up we were once again told that they would need 3 volunteers because they had overloaded the plane *again*. I volunteered, but it came out that it wasn't necessary since 3 passengers didn't show up. We got good wind and I ended up landing in Ottawa with just one hour of lost time from my original schedule.