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Well, I'm here

PDC (and OOPSLA, which also runs this week) had a run-in with mother nature, and mother nature is ahead. Fires in California shut down the LA regional FAA office. FAA Regional offices control large amounts of airspace around a region, handling all flights once they've left the airspace local to the airport.

This meant that nothing was leaving airports on the way to LAX. Our 12PM flight left at about 4:10, and we were all grateful, since most of the people in our group didn't make it at all. Anders wasn't able to get down here to present at OOPSLA, though he's expected to get here sometime today.

The fires have also imparte a slight tinge of woodsmoke in the air, lending a "summer camp" feeling to the whole city, and noticeably worsening the already viscous LA air.

I'm staying in the Westin 'Bonaventure' (literally, "We are sorry that we can't offer you the queen size bed we promised you, but we can offer you a room without a minibar"), with interior architecture designed by the same guy that built the "marble ramp"(link) toys that I (I mean "my daughter") enjoy so much. The lobby has big supports under the towers, with spiral ramps around them going up and down. Sounds like a good idea except a) you can only get to certain levels with the elevators and b) the food court (good idea in concept) is spread out around the entire perimeter, and you can't actually see what the other restaurants are like, so you have to walk all the way around to find out what there is and then continue the walk back to the one you want. Given the quality of the cuisine, perhaps that's a benefit.

I went in this morning, got my registration stuff, and stopped by the keynote for a few minutes. I was happy to see that, despite any travel problems, the room was *packed*. I couldn't stay for very long, as I had to leave for a series of customer meetings that the C# team was holding.