Willem's Planet

My flight out from San Francisco to Seattle on Thursday night was not bad.  President Obama interfered with our travel plans with his arrival into San Francisco, though.  There was a ground stop in place for two hours.

Here’s a ‘dash cam’ picture from of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at night, as I drove across it at 1 am on Monday morning.   (The ‘dash cam’ is my iPhone, running Google Maps as I drive.  I just pressed a buttons to take the picture).

I made my way to San Diego airport early evening, but it was past midnight by the time we arrived at San Francisco airport.

A rainstorm with high winds had battered the city all evening. ‘High winds on bridge’ flashed a sign on I-80 still, by the time around 1 am as I was driving by.  But hey : no snarled-up California freeway traffic at those wee hours in the morning.

On Saturday I went my first little league ‘football’ game (the term football being loosely used, since it is played by 6-year olds!) on Saturday.   My nephew was one of the little tykes running around on the field under the guidance of two coaches.  It is flag football, so there is no tackling.  The pursuer rips a flapping velcro ribbon from his opponent’s waistband,  and is a ‘tackle’.

Later in the day my brother and I made it out to the beach late afternoon, and then went for a beer at a local microbrewery.

 

Friday night’s flight out of San Francisco to San Diego to visit my brother turned into a belary-eyed midnight/ early morning affair.  The incoming airplane was several hours late, so it was midnight by the time we stepped on board, and 2 am when we arrived in San Diego.

 

 

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, headin’ for the trains
Feelin’ nearly faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained
Took us all the way to New Orleans

I took my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana
And was blowing sad while Bobby sang the blues
With them windshield wipers slappin’ time and
Bobby clappin’ hands we finally sang up all the songs
That driver knew

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free
Feeling good was easy Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
Feeling good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee

From the coal mines of Kentucky to the California sun
Bobby shared the secrets of my soul
Standing right beside me Lord through everything I done
Every night she kept me from the cold

Then somewhere near Salinas Lord, I let her slip away
Looking for the home I hope she’ll find
And I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday
Holding Bobby’s body next to mine

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’ left is all she left for me
Feelin’ good was easy Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
Buddy that was good enough for me
Good enough for me and Bobby McGee

The words are from Kris Kristofferson’s 1969 song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, of course.  I loved the song ever since I was in high school, and I love the melancholic Kristofferson rendition.   Man!  Got to listen to that song again, I thought today, as the California sun sat high in the clouds, as my colleague and I made our way down on Highway 101 to Salinas. (We are holding a workshop with some of our target users.  They are getting tablets with which to manage their work in the field, and it is very important that we get their feedback).

 

I went to the dentist in Seattle downtown this morning, then home to pick up my suitcase and to catch the taxi out to the airport.   We were not directly impacted here on the West coast by the massive snowstorm in the Northeast, but our departure from Seattle was delayed by 90 minutes, nonetheless.  Two bolts were found to be missing from one of the wings (!) and it took time to track down the exact right parts in the warehouse to fix it.    It was 4 pm by the time I left San Francisco airport in my rental car, and of course then traffic through the city to get to the Bay Bridge is everywhere.  I should have taken BART (the train), but I had conference calls to dial into and the train is so noisy, that that would not have worked.  Ah well.  I made it in to work at 5.45 pm just to say hello to everyone before we wrapped it up and went to the hotel.