Technobabble

Over Washington, rv

Since everyone else seems to be blogging their vacations, I figure it’s my turn. See the extended entry for details.

  • Wed. night / Thu. early, early morning: A little late-night hacking. No sleep before my flight.
  • Thursday: Arrived in Seattle. Noticed the new light rail system going in. We have light rail in San Jose – trust me, you’re gonna love it up there. Relaxed for a couple hours, then visited Tillicum Village for a nice smoked salmon & dinner dance. Totally exhausted from no sleep earlier, yet my brothers convince me to join them at a local bar for pool “for a half-hour or so.” Yeah, right. Didn’t get home until about 11:30 pm, over my quiet fuming.
  • Friday: Full night’s sleep, felt pretty good. Rented a bicycle from Montlake Bicycle Shop, then headed for the Burke-Gilman Trail. Ended up somewhere just past Lake Forest Park, a couple hours later. I’d never been on this trail before, and I had a blast. Dinner with an old friend of mine, and picked up a half-dozen used books for the trip home.
  • Saturday: There’s only one thing on my mind today: Seattle Seahawks preseason football. Picked up some ear muffs for hearing protection, wandered downtown to pick up the ticket my brother reserved for me. Late-breaking call from the office to fix one little bug (dude, I’m on vacation… ah, well, that’s start-up life) just as I’m going into Qwest Field. 29-26 Seahawks, overtime, went home on the bus on a very warm evening. Started fixing this little bug. Sent it in later (sometime Sunday AM) – turns out I only had to recompile.
  • Sunday: Checking out of the hotel in Seattle. Now the fun begins. Have I got everything? Yep, sure looks like it. Off to Church. Leave Church, brunch with uncle & aunt. Leave there, down to the train station. Three hour train ride, Vancouver, WA, to my parent’s house. Open up my suitcase. Ummm… where’s my jacket? You know, the one with house keys, wallet, and cell phone? Commence freak-out.
  • Monday: Slept very poorly that night – AC is broken. Two hours at a time, all the time wondering where my jacket is. Hotel says they don’t have it. Carpool says they don’t have it. Suitcase doesn’t have it, I wasn’t wearing it on the train for sure. I’m scrambling for ideas, even to the point of calling my cell phone provider to locate the phone (which is in the jacket). No dice – it’s a company phone, needs company authorization, and no one’s in yet. Then I get an e-mail from the Church I went to – someone turned it in. Yay! Problem solved. My brother retrieves the jacket, ships it on Greyhound that afternoon back to me in Vancouver, and I fly home with it. End the weekend with pizza, then a flight and a taxi ride back to my apartment complex.

I actually had so much fun on my vacation that I didn’t mind the request from work at all. I only wish I had spent a little more time to work on my pet projects – but the jacket crisis on Sunday and Monday ate all my energy up. Overall, a great success.