I remember it was only a few years ago that I enjoyed flying. Now
I have the dubious distinction of having only one flight that had no problems
- my honeymoon. My wife jokes that she's never flying with me again
after some of the trials we have faced on trips (see my website for some
tales). So it was with some reserve that I left for the short trip
from Houston to Dallas for the Microsoft Exchange & Collaboration 2000
(MEC2000) conference. Why the heck would I go there? Believe
it or not, I'm not (yet) full-time with VisorCentral and do most of my
writing in the evening. So start buying those banner ads so I can
work full-time :).
Dallas
is only an hour's flight from Houston, but I haven't been to Dallas since
my wife graduated from SMU. So, knowing I was going to have a lot
of downtime, I went with the following:
Visor Deluxe
@ctiveLink
Thincom
Stowaway
keyboard
Backup
module (just in case)
Extra AAA batteries
MiniJam
w/ earphones
Below you will find an account of my week in Dallas, and what I learned
for the next time I travel (Fall COMDEX).
Monday - Day 1
Ok, I have everything I think I need packed and ready to go. We
get to the airport with 20 minutes to go, and I say good-bye to Elexia
and get on my SWA flight. It's a 45 min flight with no problems(!),
so I pull up AvantGo and read some of the BBC news and Salon during the
trip.
After the flight to Love Field, I get into my Oldsmobile Alero rental
and try to find Maple Avenue where the Stoneleigh Hotel is. Tip:
don't listen to directions from car rental places. Tip 2: know the
area BEFORE you go somewhere. After driving on I-35 for a while,
I tried to exit and turn around on Maρana road. I then pull
out the @ctiveLink (while I'm pulled over) and try to get an idea of where
the Stoneleigh is. There was no U-turn (figures) and I wound up driving
on back roads before I got back to a freeway. Then as I drive I realize
that none of this is familiar. When I drove by Texas Stadium I knew
something was wrong. Turns out I got on Loop 12. Sigh.
So I eventually find the hotel (which is only a few miles from the airport)
and unpack. Looking at my list, can you guess what I forgot? -- the cable
for the Thincom. So I use the @ctiveLink to communicate with Elexia
and Marcus and let them know my phone number at the Stoneleigh. I
then take the shuttle to the Dallas convention center and take care of
registration, then come back to the hotel and get a bite to eat at the
Stoneleigh Pub (excellent hamburgers) across the street.
Marcus sends me a message and suggests that I get a SpringPort modem
since Xircom still hasn't sent me one. Great idea, so I pull out
the @ctiveLink and do a yellow page search for CompUSA. There are
several on Dallas Parkway, so $1.50 later in toll fees, I'm at the store
and buy the module.
Back at the hotel, I use Avantgo to connect to my web mail and take
care of things while watching the Bucs-Vikings game on MNF. The SpringPort
is very nice and I'll be reviewing that in the future.
Time for bed -- now if I can only get the hotel to get the room temperature
right.
Tue & Wed >>
