Worst day of travel, ever
I cannot begin to explain how horrible this day has been.
It began half way decently. I was saved from a cold, lonely walk in the wee hours of the morning by a kind Dutch cabby in Amsterdam, but then was defeated for a time by the closed ticket offices (it was 5 am after all) and the money machines that didn’t take the kind of plastic I had on me.
Thankfully I found an open ticket office (didn’t take cards!) and an ATM machine that took VISA and I was in business again. A quick train ride to Schipol, and I thought my troubles were over. Man, when I am wrong, I am wrong.
The flight was uneventful, watched some decent movies, didn’t sleep per usual of course. A little less than 9 hours later I was in the US again, going through customs in Detroit. All was well until I got to my connecting flight gate. The flight was delayed an hour and 40 minutes, which sucked, but wasn’t a complete loss.
Then the great gate shuffle started. By the time I went back and forth from one side of the airport to the other a couple of times, it was close to departure time, so what else could go wrong? Yeah they cancelled the flight. Bugger. Instead of putting me on the flight that was leaving 30 minutes from that moment in time, they push me to a flight at 10 Monday morning.
It was at this moment that my crazy eye started twitching. Bad stuff happens when the crazy eye starts a twitchin’. It was here that a better man would have stoically accepted his fate and found a hotel to check into.
I can be accused of being a great many things, but being that caliber of a human being is not one of them. Also a flaminco dancer. I definitely can’t be accused of being one of those. I look horrible in stretchy pants.
And so I bore down on the manager at the counter with the aforementioned crazy eye, now in full twitch mode, and explained that I hadn’t seen my wife and 2 year old son in an intolerable amount of time, and I was not… enthused about having to wait another day to see them.
So intolerably long story just long, I got a flight to Cleveland that then connects to Lexington. I should be home by 10:20 this evening. Only 8 hours later than expected.
Sigh, some days it doesn’t pay to travel across the pond. Know what I mean?
The end of all things Dutchy
Tonight is my last night in Amsterdam, and I plan on passing it in quiet and reflection.
Mostly due to the fact that I am at the end of the money I budgeted for this trip. This has been one of the more difficult, and most enjoyable trips I have taken. It was difficult because I had to leave my wife and son behind. I have felt their absence very acutely these last few days.
But in many ways it has been one of the best trips I have taken. Amsterdam is a beautiful city full of life, energy and beauty. Walking the streets here one can easily get lost in the hum of the city, the many side streets that bridge wide canals filled with boats, and the smells of a thousand different cuisines. Just don’t get too lost and end up in the Red Light district.
But most of all, it was great to be able to spend time with the folks who make Apache so great. I feel privileged to be able to sit and listen to them discuss the future of our industry. Because make no mistake, these people are the ones who made it possible for everything we hold dear on the web. And let me tell you, they aren’t going to be sitting on their laurels.
Another highlight for me was the talk I gave this year. I think I have found the topic that I can really own. I am passionate about meritocracy, and the ways it can revolutionize both open source and closed source development. Not to mention that it makes us all better people. Clicking on the cover will take you to an HTML version of the presentation.
When I gave this talk at OLF, one of the audience members asked me if I had this all documented somewhere. They wanted a “manual” that they could download, print out and hand to their employers. I think that after giving the talk again, and again having someone ask this question, I am finally convinced that there is a real need for it.
So yeah, I am going to write a little booklet about meritocracy, the way we use it in Habari, and how it can be applied in businesses to make the world a better place.
Should drive me crazy. We’ll see. Oh yeah, and I helped launch a new Apache.org site. Not too shabby for a week in Amsterdam.
ApacheCon Day 2
It’s Day 2 of Apachecon, and things are going fairly well I think.
I spent some of yesterday, and all of the morning working on a project with a couple of the big brains here at the conference, and I must say it was fun and gratifying feeling I finally had something of real value to contribute.
I often feel like the mentally challenged cousin that everyone tolerates at these conferences, so to feel useful was a nice change of pace. Today is my day to speak, and as in Stuttgart I have been placed opposite a talk that I would like to attend.
I will be surprised if I have 5 people in my talk. Le Sigh. On a high note, I got out yesterday and did some sketching. You can see the one sketch I like in my Flickr stream.
Day 2 in Amsterdam
Today was a good day.
I slept on a decent schedule, and was up at 8:00 am for a delicious, but over priced breakfast. Next was a bit of a nap, and then I moved on to doing some hacking on a side project I am working on with a certain someone, finishing up said work in time for the members/commiters reception (I was a guest of course).
Then it was off into the city with a group of geeky types for some Chinese:
Along the way I saw some killer graffiti:
All in all, a very good day. Tomorrow starts the conference proper, so no more touristy/hackiness for Chris. I speak on Thursday this year, so I am going to attend some talks and polish up my own tomorrow. Or at least that is the plan!
The Wild World of ApacheCon
In just a little under 3 hours I will be winging my way towards Amsterdam, Holland for ApacheCon EU.
I am very excited to hang out in Amsterdam for a while. I have passed through the airport there a couple of times, but I have never had the chance to stick around. Should be fun.
I think I am most looking forward to the chance to visit some of the museums and galleries there. I picked up a 3 pack of extra large Cahier’s from our good friends at moleskin to do some sketching. I might share some of those sketches when I get back.
Well, I think that is it for now. I need to go and spend some more time with Jakob and Heather, and then get on the road.
FOWD Bound
Here I am, once again sitting in the Bluegrass Airport waiting to be taken away.
I am really looking forward to this trip. It will be the first conference I have been to in a long time where I am just going to be attending, and not speaking. I am hoping to sync up with some of my online friends while there.
Colin, Erik and Bryan at least need to watch out, I am stealthy like the ninja.
A big, hairy, bad tempered ninja… but a ninja none-the-less.
If you are FOWDing and would like to chat for a moment, look out for me.
Traveling update
I will be at the Future of Web Deisgn conference in New York in November, so any of you peoples out in the Big Apple area need to pick a place so we can hang out. Clint, I am looking at you pal.
