Solipsism Gradient

So here I am at the South Airport Travelodge. Had lots of catching up to do, including on sleep, but from now on all should be well. The weather’s nice, sunny but with cold winds, around 18 Celsius. The free WiFi connection is excellent, I downloaded a large file yesterday at around 160 KB/s; 3 to 4 times what I get at home on my 512ADSL line. The hotel is just a walk away from BART and a huge supermarket/grocery, highly recommended!

The trip wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped but in the end, all is well. The first plane from Belo Horizonte to São Paulo was over 90 minutes late. In São Paulo I had to switch airports – from Congonhas (which is downtown) to Guarulhos (which is in a neighboring city) – and I mistakenly thought the airline’s van would do the transfer. After losing over half an hour in talking to several people I caught the regular bus, then spent an anxious time locked in downtown traffic. But later on it went better and I came in only 10 minutes after check-in had started.

The layover at Chicago was just over an hour. The queues at immigration were long but proceeded smoothly, no great hassles that I could see, and no extra procedures beyond fingerprinting. Amazingly, the United terminal still has very few electrical outlets – one or none per gate – and no WiFi at all. I saw several other people with laptops, so they should do something about that.

In San Francisco Airport they have a prominent charge-up station with Ethernet connections, but I didn’t stay to check the price. WiFi access starts at $6 an hour, quite expensive. The architectural changes since my last visit in 2000 are surprising and, in the case of the BART station, very useful.

Later in the morning I’ll go off into the city to do some shopping; I look forward to my first visit to a real Apple Store. More later…

Well, here I am at Belo Horizonte’s airport in Confins (CFG), testing out their WiFi access. There’re quite a lot of plans and providers to choose from, I found one that gives an one-time 24-hour trial access at zero cost. Strangely enough, they printed out a bank payment form for R$0,00… then they said, sorry, the maximum number of users has been reached… but the login worked anyway.

The plane’s late and I’ll have 3 or 4 hours layover at São Paulo airport, so I’ll seize the opportunity to do some work.

I got notice that my iMac G5 20″ has shipped! I look forward to getting my hands on it, which should happen on Sunday. Special thanks to Patti Miller of Apple’s US/Canada ADC hardware purchase program who helped me past some snags with my order!

More later as it happens!

I’ll be off to WWDC next Thursday, so the countdown has begun. I’m starting to make a pile of stuff to pack, double-checking reservations, getting my passport and spare dollar bills out from the proper archaeological layers on my desk, and setting up my trusty old iBook (600Mhz) for the trip.

A surprising number of people have expressed interest in getting together with me; I have more dinner invitations than evenings! A far cry from most of my previous WWDCs, when I knew almost no one, and worse, no one knew me. The last one I went to, in 2000, already was better, when I met several people I already knew from either MacHack or from the WASTE development list, the only place I was active at the time.

So far my schedule looks like this. I arrive at SFO International at 09:28 on Friday, June 3rd. I’ll be staying for 3 days at the San Francisco South Airport Travelodge; inexpensive, conveniently located near the airport and near a BART station, and with free WiFi in the rooms. The phone# is (650)697-7373.

Sunday afternoon I’ll be at the Moscone Center to do my early check-in, to avoid the crowds on Monday. On previous occasions they had a special get-together for international attendees; let’s see if they do it this time.

Monday at 10:00 is the SteveNote, and I’ll be checking into the The Mosser just a few blocks from Moscone. The phone there is (415)986-4400; I hear they have Internet access, but it’s paid separately. I should have access at the conference anyway, so that won’t be a problem.

Monday from 12:00 to 14:00 I’ll be at the MacSB list’s meetup, I think no definite place is set yet. In the evening, starting around 19:00, I’ll be at the Weblogger’s Dinner. As Monday June 6th is also my birthday (I’m turning 0x36) a good time should be guaranteed!

I’ll update this later with info on the other days. I’ll continue at the Mosser until the morning of the 11th, when I’ll probably be switching back to the Travelodge until I leave at 13:55 on the 13th.

If you, gentle reader, want to arrange a meeting, please e-mail me (click the e-mail button below this post) or watch for me on AIM (rainerbrockerhoff@mac.com). More as it happens!

Now some real news. Contrary to my own expectations, I’ll be able to make it to the US this year, after all. But it’ll be to WWDC, Apple’s worldwide developer’s conference, at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, from June 6 to 10.

I’ll actually fly into SFO early on June 2nd and leave on the 13th. So there’ll be time to meet with people, drive a little around the Bay Area, and visit the bookstores. It’s been 5 years since my last visit! So if you’re in SF during that time, feel free to set up a meeting.

Following a suggestion from Dori Smith (thanks Dori!), I’ve made reservations at the Mosser Hotel, where I’ll be splitting the room with HyperJeff, my co-author in a forthcoming ADHOC paper. Buzz Andersen of SciFiHiFi is setting up a Weblogger Dinner on June 6 and I’m attending. It’ll be my birthday too, so there’s a good excuse for partying!

Further details later…

WWDC ADHOC

As I’ve mentioned before, I won’t be able to make it to MacHack this year… however, I strongly recommend this year’s conference for anybody interested in programming for the Mac.

MacHack #18: Unstoppable will be held from June 19-21, 2003, in Dearborn, Michigan. The official theme is the Spinning Pizza of Death . Have a look at the contents; I’ve never seen so many papers and sessions, all very interesting. This will certainly be a conference to remember.

For the first time, MacHack will happen before Apple’s WWDC, which will begin immediately afterwards: June 23-27 in San Francisco. In other circumstances, this close juxtaposition would make it possible for me to attend both conferences; let’s hope they do it again that way next year…