Together again...

The plane arrived a few minutes early last night, which was all to the good, because by the time we got home, it was nearly midnight. By the time everyone got settled down - chitchat dispensed with, presents distributed, trophies displayed, and life caught up with in general - it was nearly 1 am. I really missed Galina, and I'm really happy she's back. She looks good.

I woke a few minutes before 6 am and finished packing. I had packed my clothes last night before leaving for the airport to pick up Galina. This morning, I took care of last-minute hardware issues: computers, cables, batteries, books, CDs, and so on. As I really hate checking luggage, my task is to make sure I shove everything I need into two carry-on bags, while leaving enough "expansion room" for things I may acquire at the conference. I may not have left enough, but we'll see.

There is news that, perhaps, my Saturday afternoon presentation will be moved to Friday afternoon, where I will be immediately precede Patricia Newman and her talk on the role played by linguists in the ongoing disarmament discussions. If that turns out to be the case, I shall have to do a good job in my role of "opening act" and warm up the audience properly.

Off for the airport in 90 minutes.

Cheers...

In Walt Disney World...on business, natch!

I made it to Orlando okay. I lucked out on this trip with a straight flight on Continental. Normally, I'd be flying on Southwest through New Orleans, but since the ticket was bought way in advance, the cost was reasonable.

The flight was uneventful. I started reading Bruce Schneier's Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, and find it very readable so far. His use of humor and his deft turns of the phrase are pleasing. (He is also the first author I've read in quite a while whose vocabulary includes a number of words I well and truly do not know. That's a plus, in my view.)

I'm not tremendously impressed with the hotel so far. The public spaces seem cramped; I feel I am navigating through an anthill scaled up to human proportions. Maybe I'm also being influenced by the quick series of sticker shocks I've experienced. A haircut here costs $30; most entrees in the restaurant are around $20. After looking around for a bit, I yearn to return to the airport and look for relative bargains there.

Earlier, I went across the street to something called the "Disney Marketplace" and found an unusual McDonald's. What was unusual (besides the price; almost $6 for a regular-sized sandwich meal) was the layout of the place.

Have you ever noticed how almost all McDonald's restaurants look alike? How the fries are over to the left, for example? In my experience, you can go to a Golden Arches in New York or in San Francisco, and you can depend on a certain consistency, in the food and in the facility. It's what accounts for the franchise's success (you think what, people go for the good food?).

At this McD's, the order takers are out in front of the food-serving counter. You tell the order-taker what you want and pay, then move to the food-serving counter. After receiving your order, you get drinks and condiments over on the side, available on a self-serve basis. Desserts are served from a separate area, around the corner from the "main" food service area.. Napkins and salt and pepper shakers are on each table. It is pretty evident these folks are geared for high volume, but there is an even more acute sense of "impersonal," about this particular McDonald's.

I got caught in a rain shower on the way back to the hotel, which gave me an opportunity to wander through a number of stores to avoid getting wet (it didn't work...I got soaked anyway). Prices outside the hotel are outrageous, too, but I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, so I'll shut up on this theme, for now.

I met Walter Bacak and Anne Macfarlane earlier, when I checked in to pick up my conference stuff. It turned out that they never received (or misplaced) my conference sign-up, but that was easily remedied through the auspices of American Express. :^)

Anyway, it's time to go downstairs and see if there are any familiar faces around, and to find out whether the staff at the bar knows how to make martinis.

Cheers...