Elephant Bar

Today in the morning Chris has departed on his flight back to Poland, so last night we had nice farewell dinner at the Elephant Bar in The District. Picking up an appetizer was a challenge, since Satyam (the vegetarian) was with us, but we finally ordered artichoke dip, which was delicious.
Since it was late meal, I went for Oriental Chicken Salad, the specialty of the bar. It was very good: I really liked the mixture of greens, chicken, fruits and veggies.
Happy eating to everyone!

Linux weekend

Dell Mini 12 I have ordered for my parents in Poland arrived on Friday, 24th (five days ahead of schedule - bravo, Dell!) I have ordered it with Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows for two reasons:

• it is cheaper,
• Ubuntu can be configured to use Polish interface (and many other) out of the box.

I was impressed: during the first boot i was asked to specify my language (Polish) and location (Poland) and in a few minutes I was talking to my computer in Polish.
I have connected to the internet quickly and downloaded updates: during the second round of updates system downloaded huge number of files and now it looks that it updated itself from Ubuntu 08.04 to 08.10.
Today I have purchased external DVD drive and modem to complete the configuration. Lots of fun!

Last week's travel

I thought that nothing can surprise me any more, but my flight from Las Vegas, NV to San Jose, CA taught me that I was wrong. Here's what happened:

• we boarded the Southwest plane on time and everything seemed dandy,
• 3 minutes before the scheduled departure time (11:50 am) pilot started chatting with us on the intercom and informed us that we are waiting for a few late passengers from the late connecting flight; oh well...
• five minutes later a few passengers appeared, but we were still waiting for something,
• another five minutes and large group of passengers arrives and settles down; I overheard that they were from the cancelled Ontario, CA flight...
• few more minutes and we are still at the gate; pilot promises to investigate,
• pilot returns and says that with so many people on board and the amount of fuel currently in we are too heavy to reach San Jose; the nearest fuel truck will be available in 20 minutes, so it would be nice to have some volunteers to get off the plane...
• some volunteers do get off the plane, but it takes some time; at the end of the process somebody realizes that Ontario guys would miss the connection in San Jose now...
• Ontario guys (all of them) get off the plane,
• we finally depart at 12:30 pm - 40 minutes late!

Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Really weird birthday weather

Oh, well - another birthday... I would not even pay attention if it wasn't for the weather: it's middle of April in the middle of the desert, and it's snowing! The temperature was in the seventies yesterday (lower twenties Centigrade) and today it barely reached 50 (10°C) . But wait: the real fun is scheduled for the end of the week, when the temperature is supposed to reach nineties (lower thirties Centigrade). Such horrific dips of temperature cannot be healthy.
I'm also mourning the demise of my favorite sushi lunch place: yesterday I went there and it was closed, with red court seal on the door. What the heck! I need my sushi!

Easter

Just another Easter - rather sad here in Las Vegas valley: so many restaurants, stores and other venues closed. Let's hope it is the bottom and we will be able to rebound soon...
Last week was pretty exhausting at work; no travel, but multiple webinars made me feel weak. As the result, I was sleeping way too much and still felt not rested. I need vacation!

Surviving April Fools' Day

I have managed to survive another April Fools' Day without serious incidents. Only Google Mail managed to fool me for a while - that Autopilot feature looked so nice...
Maybe the fact that I have spent the weekend in Santa Monica and Pasadena area, visiting Paul and Jeff, made me feel better. The visit to Huntington Library and first-time walk through the Chinese garden were especially pleasant. Nice walk by the Ocean from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier was also quite refreshing. Life can be good!