Getting ready to leave Calgary, the snow started falling, along with the temperature. Had to de-ice the plane prior to take-off.
Arrive in Seattle, and it's dry but overcast. Not bad. Definitely warmer.
Arrive in San Jose and it's like August in Calgary. Sunny, about 20C, just plain nice.
Cab driver tells us that there isn't anything exciting to do in San Jose, but that doesn't really bother me... Saw a bunch of freakin' PALM TREES from the air. It's nice out, sunny, and warm.
Top that off with the Cinco de Mayo celebration. Huge crowds of folks crammed into "downtown" San Jose. Live music, lotsa food. The roads into the conference center area were sealed to traffic, to the cab driver drops us about a kilometer from the hotel. We walk through the dense crowds of partiers, dragging our suitcases like a couple of lame tourists. Oh, well.
Get to the hotel. Damned nice hotel, the Fairmont San Jose. The room overlooks Cesar Chavez park, and I can see Adobe headquarters from here. Very cool.
Check the bags, try to check email (room has broadband, but it doesn't seem to like us). Change into something a little more summerish, and head out to explore the area. Lots of interesting stuff right near the hotel - a few museums (Tech, Art, and Quilting - ok, might pass on the Quilting Museum). Wandered around the Cinco de Mayo celebration for a while, and found a place to grab a bite - Peggy Sue's Diner. Not gut-wrenching food. Sat on the patio, which was nice...
Decided to head to the conference center and register for WWDC. This was easy, since we could follow the trail of Mac Geeks right to the Center. Met with King on the way, so he tagged along until we were registered. Lots of COOL free stuff for WWDC registrants (nice laptop bag, free software and CDs, t-shirt, chocolate CD with free download of InstallAnywhere, and an Orielly book...)
Went back to the room to drop off the loot, then headed out to find a nice bar/patio to hang out for a while. Ended up in the hotel lounge. Not bad, but full of damned Mac Geeks. Dragging their TiBooks around, surfing and stuff. Get a freaking life, folks.
Left the lounge after a beer and chat (settled for a Corona - does nobody carry Dos Equis around here?). Walked around downtown San Jose for a while - around the Theatre district, then back to the hotel/conference center area. Found an awesome pizzaria - Chicago Pizz'a - claims to be the best pizza in Santa Clara County. It was the best pizza I had in a LONG time.
Head back to the hotel so Mike can work on his paper. See on the news that there was some violence and conflict at the Cinco de Mayo festivities, right where we were. We didn't see any of that, though. LOTS of security and police around.
Went through the loot, tried the CDs out. Cool stuff. Most of it I had already downloaded, but it's nice to have atoms as well as bits. Reading through the WWDC brochures, and am very impressed by the quality and quantity of material. Nicely done, Apple! Mike is turning into a Convert after all...
That's it for now. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Director's Cut) is on...