Tone Parsons

It’s my first day in “bean town”.

Other than the fact that there seems to be a hella lot of trash in the gutters, it seems like a nice place.

The hotel has clean rooms, but the food totally sucks.  I had a steak last night that was absolutely the most flavorless 14oz piece of beef I’ve ever had in my life.  Tonight’s dinner wasn’t much better.

Goal for tomorrow: find someplace else to eat.

I’ve been having problems with dial-up to work, so my manager told me to go a head and pay for the “high speed” wireless connection they offer at the hotel.  Sure… wireless isn’t quite as spiffy as a hard wired drop, but apparently, they’re having issues with it at the hotel tonight, so it’s free.

Free is damn good!

So the cam is up for now.  You may or may not see me in my room, as I’m probobly going to wander off down town to see if there’s a bar that doesn’t charge $5 for a beer and has more than two bored business travelers in it.

One nice thing about my location: China Town is 2 blocks away!  I’m thinking that Chinese food is most definately on the menu for tomorrow.

My first day with the client went well.  We got the application and web servers set up with little fuss.  The database server, on the other hand, is proving to be an absolute bitch.  There are a few patches we need that are apparently difficult to find (thank you, Oracle, for making a website that requires a PHD in DBA to navigate!).

I still haven’t taken any pictures, but the minute I do, BAM! Up to the website they go!

Oh… and for those who aren’t keeping track, my forum (damaged people) is just shy of 20,000 posts.  I pitty the fool who takes the honor of post #20,000 away from me (because I’ll just delete their post and replace it with my own) 🙂

After much turmoil, I have arrived in Boston.

I got to the airport last yesterday at 5:20 am.  My flight was booked to depart at 7:00, and I wanted plenty of time to get checked in, stroll through security, and get some coffee.

Plenty of time is exactly what I got.

Due to a massive snow storm in Minneapolis, our flight was delayed.  First for an hour, then for an additional hour and a half.  We finally got off the ground around 9:30.

Of course, this mean that I was going to miss my connecting flight, so I called the travel office and had them book a second flight for me.   Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything in first class so I had to book coach.

The flight from Spokane to Minneapolis was fairly uneventful.  They served a wonderful meal of rasin bran with a blueberry muffin and a banana (um… yuk!).

Once I hit Minneapolis (around 3pm their time), I had to to the typical “Minneapolis Sprint”.  For those who’ve never experienced the airport there… it’s OMG XBOX HUGE!!  Since it’s a major hub for flyers, it has hundreds of gates, and the concourses are seperated by long distances.  I had to move my feet to catch my next flight (scheduled at 4pm).

Once I found my gate, I got in line to check in.  The woman running the counter was incredibly cool and found me a first class seat.  The flight to Boston left right on time.

Boston itself I haven’t seen much of yet.  I’m in the middle of down town and am surrounded by very tall buildings.  Hopefully I’ll get to see some of it when I leave to visit the client (which is in about 15 minutes).

Oh… and the hotel that said it had high speed access in every room, well…. it doesn’t.  I have a modem port.  *sigh*  I guess this means the webcam may be limited (if I can get my IT department to fix my username/password connection to work).

More to come….

I spent the last few days trying to track down a new pair of shoes.

I’m not big on shopping. Before I head out, I know what I want, where to find it, and how much it’s going to cost me. I don’t like suprises.

Unfortunately, I had my heart set on one particular pair: Dr. Marten’s 8053ZDFM, size 13 US (12 UK).

The shoes were easy to find, if I didn’t care about the size. But there’s no point in buying shoes that don’t fit, so I was forced to drive all over damn town. After hitting two malls and half a dozen shoe stores, I finally found them at Nordstrom’s (for $89.99). Not only were they the only ones who had them in my size, they were also the only store that was giving away free stuff with a purchase (I got a Dr. Marten’s hat).

Sure… a post about shoes, from a man… seems kinda lame.  But damn it… I really wanted these shoes!

I’m trying to get ready for the trip to Boston.

I fly out on Monday morning and I still have a few things to do. I’m missing one software package (the BEA Weblogic), but I’ve been promised that It’ll be there today. I hope so… or I’ll have nothing to do once I get there.

I did pull up a google map of where I’m staying and where I need to be (to set up the servers). Fortunately, they’re very close to each other (about 6 blocks), so I can walk. Renting a car in Boston isn’t my idea of fun (the traffic is insane, and it’s very hard to find parking).

I also took the guided tour of the hotel, the Double Tree Downtown. It looks swanky and stuffs (click for a larger view)

They also have an indoor sports facility and workout room, but I’ll be too busy drinking beer and smoking cigarettes to check them out (priorities are important!)

I’ll be posting lots and lots of pictures while I’m there (they have high speed internet in the room) and will probably bring the webcam too (because I’m all narcissistic and stuff).