I decided to have a quick meet-up of some of my Twitter contacts in Seattle this week. I figured I should open it to anyone else who wants to show up. Follow the GeekDinner link above to RSVP so I can tell the bar to make room. Let me know if you have any questions about the dinner!
Note: GeekDinners isn't perfect yet but after I get back from Seattle I will be doing some improvements to the site to make it a bit easier to use. If you want to volunteer let me know.
I am not sure exactly how the pilot actually landed today, but he did it. I made to Toronto for the Silverlight Workshop on Monday. Here are some pictures of the snow (sorry for the lousy pics, my cell phone camera kinda sucks):
At the airport:
Still at the airport:
From my hotel:
I had a lot of fun in DC. I headed out to do an INETA talk for the Capitol Area .NET Users' Group. Trish and I had time to visit some sights but were ready to come home. Click on the picture to see our pictures on Flickr.
I headed out from Atlanta to Redmond yesterday. I've made this trip enough times that I thought I knew what to expect. I didn't expect a snowstorm.
I arrived at SEA-TAC at 10:30pm expecting to grab a car and do the quick drive to Redmond. The snow kept the airport luggage handlers from getting the luggage from the plane for 45 minutes. Then the nasty job of getting to the rental agency. Their shuttle was hampered by the ice on the roads. But at midnight I had a car, my luggage and some hope to get to my hotel before too long...
Then I found the real problem. I got on the highway but it was very slow going (I could have walked faster), but it was moving. I assumed that it was because of an accident. When we finally got to the head of the line I found out the problem was a banked pavement covered in ice. Cars were being abandoned and SUV's were sliding sideways trying to get through.
I took my Boston training in hand and headed to the shoulder and kept my tires on the snow (snow has more traction than ice). Moving at 5 MPG I was able to get through the banked pavement and headed north. Almost three hours later I was at my hotel room.
I don't mind telling you that it did scare me. I had visions of sleeping in the rental car, spinning out or even running out of gas on the highway, but I got lucky and got through. My suggestion is that Seattle cancel any future snow. It shuts down the city (and the the MS campus) and is just plain annoying.
I am in Atlanta today in anticipation of speaking to University of Georgia on Tuesday. I haven't been here in seven years. I am not sure how it got to be so long. I had a wierd day today. I was hanging out in a cool area of Atlanta (Little Five Points) where I used to live. I went into one of my favorite little shops and bought some political buttons. It occurred to me that twelve years ago I was buying my Anti-Bush buttons at that very shop. How little has changed in twelve years....
