On the road again: Silicon Valley, day 4

I'm rarely going to love a day that starts with me waking up at six a.m., but today went surprisingly well. The morning could have been far worse, because I did manage almost five hours of sleep. The usual process of showering, checking out, returning the rental car, and riding the train to the airport consumed the usual unreasonable amount of time, but every step went smoothly. American flies out of the new Terminal 2 at SFO, and it's a lovely place as airports go, so the time there was as good as it could be.

After moving through the security sludge, I stopped in a bookstore just to browse briefly. I was pleasantly surprised to see a book of mine in an airport bookstore for the very first time.

(Click on the image to see a bigger version.)
Of course, my greedy self would like to have seen a shelf full with a complete selection of my novels and anthologies, not just a single copy of the first book, but still, it's a start.

I worked in the Admiral's Club, where the bandwidth was decent and the soda free. What more could I ask?

I enjoyed first class seats on both legs, which was awesome. The first had no bandwidth on offer, but they gave me a breakfast/lunch with recognizable parts and adequate taste, so I didn't have to scramble between flights for lunch. Instead, I went to the O'Hare Admiral's Club and--you guessed it--worked. How exciting my life is!

I'm writing most of this on the plane home, which did have bandwidth for sale. I do love that and wish every plane had it.

I arrived home to a huge stack of mail and packages, plus unpacking and all the usual work. To it I go!

On the road again: Silicon Valley, day 1

The travel gods ate today whole and barely noticed the snack.

The first leg of the flight, the shorter one, was almost as pleasant as it could be, courtesy of a first-class upgrade and a mostly quiet seating companion. I did have to explain to her how everything in first class worked, because this was her first time there, but that was fine. Less acceptable was her reading of my email over my shoulder, a practice she abandoned when I requested that she do so.

The second leg proved to be an American Airlines 30th Anniversary Celebration Flight. Half a dozen AA folks mingled among the passengers, attempted to spread good cheer, and gave away gift bags that contained certificates for thirty thousand free AA miles. What they didn't give us was our upgrades, so I'm afraid that Bill and I were rather less chipper about the presents than they would have liked. Still, the extra miles are a treat, and we thanked them.

Our seats on this flight were in an exit row, which is good, but wow, was it cramped. Working was rough, so for much of the four and a half hours we were on the plane I just sat and tried to doze, my shoulders rolled inward because they didn't fit in the space available between the bulkhead and the very pleasant and fortunately small guy in the middle seat. My back is only now beginning to un-kink.

Dinner was at a nearby Max's, which makes the best patty melts I've tasted. (I always email a picture of my meal to Elizabeth, who loves those greasy concoctions as much as I do, to torment her. When you work with me, it's all about the love.)

Work itself, of course, is not on the table for discussion; confidentiality is at the heart of our business.

Tomorrow, client meetings and a lot of time on the 101!

Travel day

Worked late, got less sleep than I wanted, and then resumed the cycle. Worked, worked out, showered, packed, ate, and then dove into the joys of modern airport travel. The lines were unpleasant but no more so than usual.

American Airlines gave me one piece of good news: its folks had found the glasses I'd left on the plane on the way to Boston, and they held them for me at Logan Airport. I was pleased to have them back.

The Admiral's Club failed me--me and many others--because we could never get full connectivity. So, no email for me, but much frustration.

The flight itself was bumpy but tolerable, though on a regional commuter jet so cramped I could not work on my notebook PC. Frustrating.

Family dinner was at Cinelli's tonight; that was fun.

It's after five in the morning, and I'm still working, so that tells you how it's gone.

I also had the pleasure of giving myself two allergy shots tonight. That's really overstating the hassle, however. Though I had a severe needle phobia when I began taking the allergy shots over five years ago, I'm long since over that problem. I can watch as I push the needles into my skin, and it simply doesn't bother me anymore.

Back to work for a bit more, and then I will finally crash.