Flying to California

As many of you may know, I’m currently heading to California for an on-site interview with Google. I had intended on posting while waiting for my connecting flight in Toronto, but I’m shocked to find the lack of a wifi connection (well, except for an ad-hoc network called “pocket_pc2″, and I don’t believe that I’ll get very far with that). So this message will get posted when I next find a good net connection, most likely at my hotel in Mountain View.

My flight thus far has been OK, no delays or turbulence, etc. I still marvel at what a feat of engineering it is to travel by air. We sit in what’s essentially an oversized aluminium cigar tube (but with wings… non-flapping ones though), and they manage to get that thing to fly. I mean, I understand the basic physics behind flight (in a general sense), but it still amazes me every time I fly (which is pretty easy to tell that it’s not all that often — last time was in the spring of 2004, and only as far as Montreal).

So I sit here in TO, digesting three of the smallest chicken fingers I’ve ever had the opportunity to pay for (they really know how to gouge you in an airport), awaiting my flight to San Francisco. I’ll probably return to my book (Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer), which is how I occupied my mind on the first leg of this trip. I’m about halfway through it, and it’s getting very interesting. I picked up two of his books for this trip (ideally one for this flight and another for the way home), and hopefully the other one (Frameshift) will be as good as this one.

In any case, I think it’s time to put away the laptop and break out my book & iPod. I figure the iPod might drown out the crying children behind me… I don’t know why condom companies don’t take video of screaming kids at airports, grocery stores, McDonald’s, etc. and use them as commercials. I can see them on TV now… screaming kid and the words “Don’t want this to be you? Trojan can help.” I suppose a number of parents wouldn’t want their kids in such an ad, but I know there’d be plenty enough willing to pimp out their kids thus so.

…

Maybe I spoke too soon about the good flight. The flight from Toronto to San Francisco was delayed by an hour and a half, and had more than it’s fair share of turbulance… and I got no sleep on the plane, so it’s been a very long day for me. It’s only 12:20 here in California, but my laptop says that’s it’s actually 4:50am.

On the bright side, I finished my book and it was great. And the car that’s rented for me is not so much a car, but a boat (4 door Chevy Impala). But, as I drove right past my hotel and ended up in Sunnyvale (instead of Mountain View), I realised that having a navigator would be very useful.

… and as I can’t seem to SSH into my server at home to access my song quote list, my post(s) from California will be without quotes. Oh well.

One Response to “Flying to California”

1. Lori

   December 3, 2005 at 10:19 am

   I’m glad to hear you’re alive, sorry about the flight delay, but since you are flying Air Canada and you know me, something has to go wrong.

   Hope today is a good one!