A travelog, YOW->SFO in 12 hours
6:38
You know you’re travelling more when you start recognizing the staff and crew at the airport. I believe dria said something like that a couple of years ago, and I finally know what she means. From arrival this morning at the ridiculous hour of 5:30am until checking through security to my gate, I encountered no fewer than 5 people I recognized. One of them was the rather bleary-eyed american customs officer.
I made a conscious effort to travel lighter this time, packing fewer things and paring down my travel electronics to the bare essentials: laptop, iPod, nintendo DS, book, magazines, cell phone, 2 sets of headphones, … I think that’s everything. I even left my camera behind which I find somewhat painful, but we all have to make sacrifices. I suppose I can always take pictures with my phone if need be.
The first thing I noticed I’m being protected against is decent coffee inside the secure area at the airport. After chugging a quick blast from the Second Cup just in side the airport, I was politely asked to leave it behind before going through security. I did so, as-instructed, and proceeded to get scanned by the severe and weathered staff. My shoes were removed. Wands were waved. I was denied my liquids. Inside the gate, the second cup coffee is noticeably worse. It is vile. I gave it a banana nut muffin to keep it company.
Almost time to board so I’m going to sign off until my next stop…
7:47
airborne. We’re in an Embraer 170 enroute to Chicago at a cruising altitude of around 10KM. The plane is surprisingly empty with a choice of seating. New TSA restrictions have further-segregated the wheat from the chaff — first class get their own washroom, the cattle have to use the back of the bus.
I’m reading Accelerando by Charles Stross. The world of 20 years into the future — Moore’s Law permitting — could be very much like the world Stross describes. The protagonist, Manfred Macx is constantly connected via a network of personal computers. He is under a constant barrage of instant messages, news messages, webdata and phone calls. Being slashdotted crushes his personal network and painfully assails his senses. Not unlike the highly-connected technophiles of today, but ramped up another order of magnitude. Every surface in public areas is covered in receptors to receive, store and retransmit data. People leave vCards on the hand railings at a bar, in the washrooms, on doorknobs… The matter in the solar system itself is being transformed into a networked computer. As technology decreases in size, and more and more of it is produced, it is leading to an asymptote of computational power beyond which, the implications of it are unpredictable and likely, not even understandable by humans…
My first dispensation of TSA-sanctioned water at 45 minutes into the flight.
10:00
Chicago. I just ate a bagel while sitting next to the two biggest, fattest, most ignorant americans in the world. I’m not exaggerating. I won’t repeat what they were talking about but it was crass and extremely hateful.
12:25
In a 747 somewhere over the midwest. Another couple of hours until I arrive in San Fransisco. Oh, you thought I was going to San Jose? So did I! Due to nearly unfathomable reasons, the good people at United Airlines cancelled my flight to SJC. They did so with less than an hour to board, merely offering that the next flight was at 3PM and it was already sold out. So sorry. But, if you’d like to go to San Francisco, you’d better get running to terminal B. Which I did. I don’t know where my luggage is going.
17:50
Some kids are screaming “FBI” outside my room at the Creekside Inn in Palo Alto. I arrived, as-promised, at San Francisco and my luggage made it too. All-things-considered, despite the shitty service from the ass-clowns at United, they at least got me to a destination not far from where I was supposed to be delivered at about the right time. So, way to go. Assclowns.
Now I’m going to go to Fry’s and grab a burger.
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