Friday, November 21, 2003
Thursday, November 13, 2003
GD03, Day Three
Today is the day with all the talks I wanted to go to, and yes, today is a fruitful day in terms of things learned and things discovered.
The morning started with the two plenary talks. The first one is given by Jorg Peters on "Mid-Structures Linking Curved & Linear Geometry", which is actually about the work to create a tight polygonal (or polyhedral) bounding shape for various spline curves (or surfaces). This one, I didn't have any expectations (mostly I knew hardly anything related to this) but it was pleasant and I learned a few things from his talk.
The second, and the one I was most looking forwards to, is the one by Konrad Polthier. This talk will be a summary of recent work him and colleagues have done in the area of discrete differential geometry and related applications. The talk was as good as I have hoped, and I did manage to talk to Konrad afterwards and asked him a few work-related questions.
The morning symposium session is on surface mesh parameterizations. One application of this for the layperson is that this allows for effective texture mapping onto meshes -- but there are other uses too besides this. Anyways, I'll save the details of this session for the trip report I'll write at work, but it is safe to say I enjoyed this session the most, out of all the sessions so far. :)
By lunch time, Chris Ingram showed up and along with Steve and Ken, we went to lunch at the same cafe we went to yesterday. Today, though, the clam chowder was thin and disappointing. The barbecued pacific salmon sandwich was heavenly! Maybe tomorrow I'll go yet again. HA HA. After lunch we walked to the Pike Place Starbucks. Now, this is apparently the first store-front of Starbucks, anywhere. (There is some dispute whether this is truly the first Starbucks, ever, since rumour had it that the first Starbucks is really a trolley that was pushed around by the founder to sell coffee at bus stops and such. Who knows.) I bought a mug specially made for this store, with the traditional, R-rated, Starbucks logo, and some inscription to the effect of "This is mug from the very first Starbucks location."
We came back for the after lunch, and I went to the Mesh Generation session. This session was a bit of a hit and miss. Really, only half the talks were really applicable (I had expected a bit more) but it was fun nonetheless. The one surprisingly fun talk was the one given by Gerald Farin (yes, THE Gerald Farin, ha ha) on their work to compress triangular meshes by treating the vertices of a triangle strip as control points of a b-spline curve. The idea is very refreshing (it uses a completely different approach than other existing methods in this field.) It is work in progress, but already has promising results compared with currently best, published, results. There is one talk on improving QEM-based decimation of ultra-dense triangle meshes, and finally a PDE and distance field based mesh modelling scheme. I went to talk to the speaker of the latter talk, and eventually requested that he send me a copy of his dissertation when he has time.
I kinda sat around until banquet time, during which I met with a young fella by the name of Hassan Ugail, a researcher in the UK specializing in the use of PDE-surface modelling. I have to admit that I knew nothing of this field before, yet his overview of the field is terribly exciting. I think I'll look into it for fun, at least. Oh. How was the food at the banquet? Certainly not worth the money I paid for it. However, just part of the experience at these small conferences I think -- and to think that one gets to be in attendence of such collection of illuminaries in the field. :) Maybe it's worth the $50 bucks or whatever I paid. :)
Today is the day with all the talks I wanted to go to, and yes, today is a fruitful day in terms of things learned and things discovered.
The morning started with the two plenary talks. The first one is given by Jorg Peters on "Mid-Structures Linking Curved & Linear Geometry", which is actually about the work to create a tight polygonal (or polyhedral) bounding shape for various spline curves (or surfaces). This one, I didn't have any expectations (mostly I knew hardly anything related to this) but it was pleasant and I learned a few things from his talk.
The second, and the one I was most looking forwards to, is the one by Konrad Polthier. This talk will be a summary of recent work him and colleagues have done in the area of discrete differential geometry and related applications. The talk was as good as I have hoped, and I did manage to talk to Konrad afterwards and asked him a few work-related questions.
The morning symposium session is on surface mesh parameterizations. One application of this for the layperson is that this allows for effective texture mapping onto meshes -- but there are other uses too besides this. Anyways, I'll save the details of this session for the trip report I'll write at work, but it is safe to say I enjoyed this session the most, out of all the sessions so far. :)
By lunch time, Chris Ingram showed up and along with Steve and Ken, we went to lunch at the same cafe we went to yesterday. Today, though, the clam chowder was thin and disappointing. The barbecued pacific salmon sandwich was heavenly! Maybe tomorrow I'll go yet again. HA HA. After lunch we walked to the Pike Place Starbucks. Now, this is apparently the first store-front of Starbucks, anywhere. (There is some dispute whether this is truly the first Starbucks, ever, since rumour had it that the first Starbucks is really a trolley that was pushed around by the founder to sell coffee at bus stops and such. Who knows.) I bought a mug specially made for this store, with the traditional, R-rated, Starbucks logo, and some inscription to the effect of "This is mug from the very first Starbucks location."
We came back for the after lunch, and I went to the Mesh Generation session. This session was a bit of a hit and miss. Really, only half the talks were really applicable (I had expected a bit more) but it was fun nonetheless. The one surprisingly fun talk was the one given by Gerald Farin (yes, THE Gerald Farin, ha ha) on their work to compress triangular meshes by treating the vertices of a triangle strip as control points of a b-spline curve. The idea is very refreshing (it uses a completely different approach than other existing methods in this field.) It is work in progress, but already has promising results compared with currently best, published, results. There is one talk on improving QEM-based decimation of ultra-dense triangle meshes, and finally a PDE and distance field based mesh modelling scheme. I went to talk to the speaker of the latter talk, and eventually requested that he send me a copy of his dissertation when he has time.
I kinda sat around until banquet time, during which I met with a young fella by the name of Hassan Ugail, a researcher in the UK specializing in the use of PDE-surface modelling. I have to admit that I knew nothing of this field before, yet his overview of the field is terribly exciting. I think I'll look into it for fun, at least. Oh. How was the food at the banquet? Certainly not worth the money I paid for it. However, just part of the experience at these small conferences I think -- and to think that one gets to be in attendence of such collection of illuminaries in the field. :) Maybe it's worth the $50 bucks or whatever I paid. :)
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
GD03, Day Two
Woke up to attend the two plenary talks in the morning. The second one was one that I looked forward to since the speaker, Leif Kobbelt, is a very good speaker, and his topics are very interesting. The first talk given by Michael Leyton, however, was disappointing. The exit polls were dismal – it ranges from confusion to ridicule. Personally I think it wasn’t what he talked about was horrible – he wanted to use apply group theory to classify commonality in the generation of shape elements, and beyond. Arguably it was confusing. However, there was this thing about his tone or how he came across during the talk that was the issue. Reading the abstract one understands that he is very proud of his books, politely speaking. And since this is such a foreign subject to the audience in attendance, he had to spend a majority of his talk to explain the basic theory behind it before he can even get into simple applications. To me the talk itself was quite a drag, and I decided to skip the session he was involved in later in the day.
We went to a very nice café in the Pike Place Market that noon for lunch. It has a very nice view of the Elliot Bay, and the food was excellent. I had an albacore tuna sandwich, with an ice tea. The tea was made with some special blend of tea that was positively floral in smell and in taste – wonderful. The sandwich was also wonderful. On the way back we went under the elevated monorail in Seattle that travels between a mall and the Seattle Space Needle. Since it was sunny and not hazy at all, I managed to take a picture (or two) of the Space Needle. I missed the monorail though.
I waited until the 4:30 session, and attended the “Geometric Modeling using Point Samples” session. Can’t say there are many applications that I can think of immediately, but there I’ve identified a few older papers and basic techniques that I have to investigate further, later.
Dinner
I went to 727 Pine again for dinner. This time the maitra'd offered a menu called 25 for $25, which is a 3 course meal -- 2 appetizer choices, 3 main course choices, and 2 dessert choices. With each choice there is a pairing of wine, by the glass in addition to the price of $25. I took the offer, and ordered the smoke salmon appetizer, the kobe beef main dish, and the trio of sorbet as dessert.
The smoked salmon came, and what it is is a 3-layers of smoke salmon slides, with a dab of unsalted butter between the slices. The trimmed stack of salmon slices was placed on top of a bed of froth sauce, and topped with a salad made of fennel and watercrest. The froth sause was excellent, and the salad toppings was good. The salmon itself was ok -- nothing spectacular.
While I sipped the carbinet savignon, the kobe beef that was paired the wine came. This dish was a bit of a disapointment for me -- not that it wasn't tasty, but I thought the sauce was a bit overpowering, and I wasn't sure I can taste the beef. Or, it can just be me being used to a low-sodium diet at home with my folks.
The sorbet is quite good. The first taste immediately screams "freshly made" but I suppose anything but is a big no-no. :) All in all, I think the $25 price is fine for what I got. Those of you who are, by now, screaming at the screen for my lack of pictures -- the restaurant was way too dark for my dumbo Pentax OptioS to focus.. Doh.
Woke up to attend the two plenary talks in the morning. The second one was one that I looked forward to since the speaker, Leif Kobbelt, is a very good speaker, and his topics are very interesting. The first talk given by Michael Leyton, however, was disappointing. The exit polls were dismal – it ranges from confusion to ridicule. Personally I think it wasn’t what he talked about was horrible – he wanted to use apply group theory to classify commonality in the generation of shape elements, and beyond. Arguably it was confusing. However, there was this thing about his tone or how he came across during the talk that was the issue. Reading the abstract one understands that he is very proud of his books, politely speaking. And since this is such a foreign subject to the audience in attendance, he had to spend a majority of his talk to explain the basic theory behind it before he can even get into simple applications. To me the talk itself was quite a drag, and I decided to skip the session he was involved in later in the day.
We went to a very nice café in the Pike Place Market that noon for lunch. It has a very nice view of the Elliot Bay, and the food was excellent. I had an albacore tuna sandwich, with an ice tea. The tea was made with some special blend of tea that was positively floral in smell and in taste – wonderful. The sandwich was also wonderful. On the way back we went under the elevated monorail in Seattle that travels between a mall and the Seattle Space Needle. Since it was sunny and not hazy at all, I managed to take a picture (or two) of the Space Needle. I missed the monorail though.
I waited until the 4:30 session, and attended the “Geometric Modeling using Point Samples” session. Can’t say there are many applications that I can think of immediately, but there I’ve identified a few older papers and basic techniques that I have to investigate further, later.
Dinner
I went to 727 Pine again for dinner. This time the maitra'd offered a menu called 25 for $25, which is a 3 course meal -- 2 appetizer choices, 3 main course choices, and 2 dessert choices. With each choice there is a pairing of wine, by the glass in addition to the price of $25. I took the offer, and ordered the smoke salmon appetizer, the kobe beef main dish, and the trio of sorbet as dessert.
The smoked salmon came, and what it is is a 3-layers of smoke salmon slides, with a dab of unsalted butter between the slices. The trimmed stack of salmon slices was placed on top of a bed of froth sauce, and topped with a salad made of fennel and watercrest. The froth sause was excellent, and the salad toppings was good. The salmon itself was ok -- nothing spectacular.
While I sipped the carbinet savignon, the kobe beef that was paired the wine came. This dish was a bit of a disapointment for me -- not that it wasn't tasty, but I thought the sauce was a bit overpowering, and I wasn't sure I can taste the beef. Or, it can just be me being used to a low-sodium diet at home with my folks.
The sorbet is quite good. The first taste immediately screams "freshly made" but I suppose anything but is a big no-no. :) All in all, I think the $25 price is fine for what I got. Those of you who are, by now, screaming at the screen for my lack of pictures -- the restaurant was way too dark for my dumbo Pentax OptioS to focus.. Doh.
GD03, Day One, Dinner
According to ChowHound, Saito's is a good, consistent Japanese restaurant in Seattle. So I decided to try it. Around the corner of 2nd and Bell, it is but an at-most-20-minutes walk to the restaurant.
I arrived, and promptly asked for a seat at the sushi bar. I think Saito-san was around, but it was a junior sushi chef that greeted me at the bar. I cracked opened the menu, and ordered a sashimi dinner, an order each of o toro and amaebi, a la carte.
I give the sashimi dish an 85. The octopus is quite good, while the hamachi was very good. Both weren't all cooked and vinegared to death.. And the latter was quite fragrant and the oils spread in mouth even if I just put it on tongue.
The red clams are also very good.. I don't think I have had these clams fresh.. I always had them frozen. In fact many of the fishes on that dish are good. Even the daikon was cut extremely thin (indicating that whoever made it had very good knife skills.) The only bad thing was that there were 2 scales on one piece of the fish, which I thought was the weirdest.
The amaebi nigiri sushi was very good. Mind you this wasn't the smallish shrimp that I was used to, but in fact I got two relatively large shrimps! Whereas the body was served raw on the sushi (yummy, and seriously fragrant with the sweetness of shrimp throughout), the heads of the shrimps were deep fried tempura-style. That way, I get to enjoy the heads too -- the fat and some of the shrimp meat are tasty there.
The otoro was also very good.. as in, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth good. It was of a seriously pale-pink colour, and for around $10 USD, I got two large pieces of otoro, nigiri-sushi style. It was a bit sinewy, but that's ok.
Suffice to say, I left the place a happy guy. 2 out of 3 done! (Oysters is left)
According to ChowHound, Saito's is a good, consistent Japanese restaurant in Seattle. So I decided to try it. Around the corner of 2nd and Bell, it is but an at-most-20-minutes walk to the restaurant.
I arrived, and promptly asked for a seat at the sushi bar. I think Saito-san was around, but it was a junior sushi chef that greeted me at the bar. I cracked opened the menu, and ordered a sashimi dinner, an order each of o toro and amaebi, a la carte.
I give the sashimi dish an 85. The octopus is quite good, while the hamachi was very good. Both weren't all cooked and vinegared to death.. And the latter was quite fragrant and the oils spread in mouth even if I just put it on tongue.
The red clams are also very good.. I don't think I have had these clams fresh.. I always had them frozen. In fact many of the fishes on that dish are good. Even the daikon was cut extremely thin (indicating that whoever made it had very good knife skills.) The only bad thing was that there were 2 scales on one piece of the fish, which I thought was the weirdest.
The amaebi nigiri sushi was very good. Mind you this wasn't the smallish shrimp that I was used to, but in fact I got two relatively large shrimps! Whereas the body was served raw on the sushi (yummy, and seriously fragrant with the sweetness of shrimp throughout), the heads of the shrimps were deep fried tempura-style. That way, I get to enjoy the heads too -- the fat and some of the shrimp meat are tasty there.
The otoro was also very good.. as in, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth good. It was of a seriously pale-pink colour, and for around $10 USD, I got two large pieces of otoro, nigiri-sushi style. It was a bit sinewy, but that's ok.
Suffice to say, I left the place a happy guy. 2 out of 3 done! (Oysters is left)
Monday, November 10, 2003
GD03, Day One, Lunch and Afternoon
Steve and I walked to the Pike Place Market, which is also known as the fish market for some. It is right at the seashore, a few blocks down Pine Street from where the hotel is (Pine and 6th). After Steve got the spices, we toured the market a bit to check it out. The market itself is a multi-floor market, where it is basically groceries (fish, in particular) and also arts and crafts. Much like the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.
We found one of the original Starbucks stores, where they still use the old logo. The story behind the logo is that the original one is completely brown, and featured a white, whole-body picture of a mermaid, boobs and all. Then as the chain expanded, they had to "sanitize" the logo and so the new logo only zoomed into the mermaid's face. I'll include links to pictures soon.
We then decided it is time for lunch. After checking out umpteen restaurants Steve found Ivar's, and he exclaimed, "Oh, there's Ivars! [The search is] done!" We went for the fish-n-chips part of the Ivar's store, mostly because by that time we are tired, and I had previously proclaimed, "At this point, I can settle for fish-n-chips" when Steve asked what kind of "seafood" I really wanted. So I was glad that we found a place that Steve, who I guess knew a thing or two about Seattle, was happy to have found. I ordered the 4 piece Halibut and chips, the salmon chowder, and a coke. We then proceeded to sit "outside" -- benches and tables under a sheet-metal roof -- where we get to stare at seagulls and pigeons, and had a very nice view of the bay. To tell the truth, only the first 2 of the 4 pieces of fish were tasty -- the other ones were overcooked in the fryer, I think. However, the tartar sauce was excellent, and I have never tasted chowder so unique (well it was salmon chowder, as I've metioned) and it's quite good! So I was a happy guy, nonetheless.
It was all cloudy and overcast today, but Steve mentioned that this was "exceptional weather". In fact, since it didn't rain today. It was in fact a very good day for us to have ventured out of the hotel and did some site-seeing and shopping.
After we returned, I attended the session called Engineering Challenges in Geometric Modeling, where various folks discussed current challenges faced by CAD/CAM users, what things they cannot do, and what things are worth the time to investigate into.
Steve and I walked to the Pike Place Market, which is also known as the fish market for some. It is right at the seashore, a few blocks down Pine Street from where the hotel is (Pine and 6th). After Steve got the spices, we toured the market a bit to check it out. The market itself is a multi-floor market, where it is basically groceries (fish, in particular) and also arts and crafts. Much like the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.
We found one of the original Starbucks stores, where they still use the old logo. The story behind the logo is that the original one is completely brown, and featured a white, whole-body picture of a mermaid, boobs and all. Then as the chain expanded, they had to "sanitize" the logo and so the new logo only zoomed into the mermaid's face. I'll include links to pictures soon.
We then decided it is time for lunch. After checking out umpteen restaurants Steve found Ivar's, and he exclaimed, "Oh, there's Ivars! [The search is] done!" We went for the fish-n-chips part of the Ivar's store, mostly because by that time we are tired, and I had previously proclaimed, "At this point, I can settle for fish-n-chips" when Steve asked what kind of "seafood" I really wanted. So I was glad that we found a place that Steve, who I guess knew a thing or two about Seattle, was happy to have found. I ordered the 4 piece Halibut and chips, the salmon chowder, and a coke. We then proceeded to sit "outside" -- benches and tables under a sheet-metal roof -- where we get to stare at seagulls and pigeons, and had a very nice view of the bay. To tell the truth, only the first 2 of the 4 pieces of fish were tasty -- the other ones were overcooked in the fryer, I think. However, the tartar sauce was excellent, and I have never tasted chowder so unique (well it was salmon chowder, as I've metioned) and it's quite good! So I was a happy guy, nonetheless.
It was all cloudy and overcast today, but Steve mentioned that this was "exceptional weather". In fact, since it didn't rain today. It was in fact a very good day for us to have ventured out of the hotel and did some site-seeing and shopping.
After we returned, I attended the session called Engineering Challenges in Geometric Modeling, where various folks discussed current challenges faced by CAD/CAM users, what things they cannot do, and what things are worth the time to investigate into.
GD03, Day One, Morning
Woke up just in time to attend the invited talks, and didn’t even have time for breakfast. The first one was by a guy from the Boeing Math group, Tom Grandine, about their efforts in geometry generation, and its role in aircraft design. The talk was very interesting for me as a person not too familiar with the aircraft design, this talk gave a bit of insight on how aircrafts go form design to product. The second talk was by one of the guys behind level sets, Stanley Osher. The talk was a blur, because he was trying to give an overview of his favorite subject by skimming through 3 sets of old presentation slides prepared for different aspects/applications of the level-set idea. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing that an invited speaker didn't prepare a new set of slides for his or her plenary talk.
I found out that I can have breakfast at the Starbucks on the ground floor -- I think that is where I'll go for chow in the morning for the rest of this trip, instead of the expensive breakfast I had yesterday.
After the plenary talks, I met up with Steve in the foyer. He decided to go to the Pike Place Market during the morning Mini Symposium session to pick up Craig's spices. After checking the scheduled topics, I decided to join him. It’s a good day to go because it’s not supposed to rain today. We’ll see.
Woke up just in time to attend the invited talks, and didn’t even have time for breakfast. The first one was by a guy from the Boeing Math group, Tom Grandine, about their efforts in geometry generation, and its role in aircraft design. The talk was very interesting for me as a person not too familiar with the aircraft design, this talk gave a bit of insight on how aircrafts go form design to product. The second talk was by one of the guys behind level sets, Stanley Osher. The talk was a blur, because he was trying to give an overview of his favorite subject by skimming through 3 sets of old presentation slides prepared for different aspects/applications of the level-set idea. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing that an invited speaker didn't prepare a new set of slides for his or her plenary talk.
I found out that I can have breakfast at the Starbucks on the ground floor -- I think that is where I'll go for chow in the morning for the rest of this trip, instead of the expensive breakfast I had yesterday.
After the plenary talks, I met up with Steve in the foyer. He decided to go to the Pike Place Market during the morning Mini Symposium session to pick up Craig's spices. After checking the scheduled topics, I decided to join him. It’s a good day to go because it’s not supposed to rain today. We’ll see.
GD03 Day Zero
Woke up way too early, at 6am PST. Had tones of time to explore the room some more. Took a nice shower, and then realized that there is this big tub-to-ceiling mirror in the washroom that offers the most unflattering view of oneself -- a gentle reminder that I should go to the gym tonight on the 4th floor.
I walked into the 727 Pine restaurant downstairs to have breakfast. For $12 USD I had the "Forager's Mushroom omelet". The mushrooms are very nice, and I even got a healthy serving of fresh goat cheese inside the omelet too. However, the egg itself was disappointing.
Morning session was ok. Some useful information, but mostly the stuff goes over my head: too much math. The Luncheon was interesting. Met with one of the conference organizers (Mike Neamtu), a person who used to work with Alias, Robert Blomgren, and also Tor Dokken, one of the speakers in the morning session.
The afternoon session was a bit more interesting. It was on meshless field simulations, and it involves heavily the idea of approximate distance fields.
Met up with Steve when he was setting up his poster in the foyer, and invited him to come visit my room so he can check emails and such. Chatted a bit.
In the poster reception, I had some professionally done gravlax, tasty!
Met Ken Sloan(link) apparently a faculty member in U(wash) when Steve was a student there. He explained his views on why there should not have been a proceedings for this conference, and that was an interesting point, (elaborate) and though I do not agree 100% it was interesting nonetheless.
We had dinner at Von’s (link) and they serve very nice angus beef roast. Tastiest roast I have had, and the price is reasonable given that it is angus beef.
Finally got to watch “The Transporter” starring Shu Qi. The movie itself was horrible.. and it didn’t have too much of the car-chase scenes I was looking for.. oh well. At least the guy fought well (i.e. very good kung-fu choreography).
Woke up way too early, at 6am PST. Had tones of time to explore the room some more. Took a nice shower, and then realized that there is this big tub-to-ceiling mirror in the washroom that offers the most unflattering view of oneself -- a gentle reminder that I should go to the gym tonight on the 4th floor.
I walked into the 727 Pine restaurant downstairs to have breakfast. For $12 USD I had the "Forager's Mushroom omelet". The mushrooms are very nice, and I even got a healthy serving of fresh goat cheese inside the omelet too. However, the egg itself was disappointing.
Morning session was ok. Some useful information, but mostly the stuff goes over my head: too much math. The Luncheon was interesting. Met with one of the conference organizers (Mike Neamtu), a person who used to work with Alias, Robert Blomgren, and also Tor Dokken, one of the speakers in the morning session.
The afternoon session was a bit more interesting. It was on meshless field simulations, and it involves heavily the idea of approximate distance fields.
Met up with Steve when he was setting up his poster in the foyer, and invited him to come visit my room so he can check emails and such. Chatted a bit.
In the poster reception, I had some professionally done gravlax, tasty!
Met Ken Sloan(link) apparently a faculty member in U(wash) when Steve was a student there. He explained his views on why there should not have been a proceedings for this conference, and that was an interesting point, (elaborate) and though I do not agree 100% it was interesting nonetheless.
We had dinner at Von’s (link) and they serve very nice angus beef roast. Tastiest roast I have had, and the price is reasonable given that it is angus beef.
Finally got to watch “The Transporter” starring Shu Qi. The movie itself was horrible.. and it didn’t have too much of the car-chase scenes I was looking for.. oh well. At least the guy fought well (i.e. very good kung-fu choreography).
Sunday, November 09, 2003
The Shuttle and the Hotel
So after we got off the plane, Steve proceeded to get his luggage, while I went to find the shuttle bus stand. We found the one for Gray Line, which is the one that was mentioned to me by the lady from the hotel with whom I have talked to this morning. However, this one was unlit, and so we walked along the side of the terminal until we came to a second stand, where the booth was open. We purchased our ticket (round trip shuttle fare = $14 USD) and we waited until the shuttle arrived. During all this time Steve mentioned his plans to take the metro bus, and there are two different routes he can take.
At this point I have to mention that I am amazed at how many sign are around the place. Signs everywhere!
"Bus stop 300 feet ahead."
"Wrong way to C gate"
"This way to luggage"
"Do not [do whatever they didn't want you do to]"
In fact, it is then I realized why Americans say that when they drive up to Canada they noticed how bad the signage on Canadian Highways are. :) It's true.. Here at least there are many signs, way more then there are in say, Pearson Airport.
Anyways, the shuttle finally came at 8:50pm (right on time), and we are on our way. The bus stopped at a few other hotels before arriving at the Grand Seattle Hyatt. Oh well, by the time I arrived at my hotel room it was close to 9:40pm. Wow, speaking of my hotel room. It is expensive. Whew. It is like $139 USD per night -- *and* this is supposed to be the conference rate. Holy. I hope my boss doesn't freak out.
So after we got off the plane, Steve proceeded to get his luggage, while I went to find the shuttle bus stand. We found the one for Gray Line, which is the one that was mentioned to me by the lady from the hotel with whom I have talked to this morning. However, this one was unlit, and so we walked along the side of the terminal until we came to a second stand, where the booth was open. We purchased our ticket (round trip shuttle fare = $14 USD) and we waited until the shuttle arrived. During all this time Steve mentioned his plans to take the metro bus, and there are two different routes he can take.
At this point I have to mention that I am amazed at how many sign are around the place. Signs everywhere!
"Bus stop 300 feet ahead."
"Wrong way to C gate"
"This way to luggage"
"Do not [do whatever they didn't want you do to]"
In fact, it is then I realized why Americans say that when they drive up to Canada they noticed how bad the signage on Canadian Highways are. :) It's true.. Here at least there are many signs, way more then there are in say, Pearson Airport.
Anyways, the shuttle finally came at 8:50pm (right on time), and we are on our way. The bus stopped at a few other hotels before arriving at the Grand Seattle Hyatt. Oh well, by the time I arrived at my hotel room it was close to 9:40pm. Wow, speaking of my hotel room. It is expensive. Whew. It is like $139 USD per night -- *and* this is supposed to be the conference rate. Holy. I hope my boss doesn't freak out.
Pearson
I haven’t been to the US since Aug 2001, so I didn’t know what to expect at the airport check-in and the US customs. I do know that I am supposed to present my electronic devices for inspection, including having to turn on each and every piece of equipment to prove that they are in working order, and not something else in disguise. This time around I manage to get a company laptop loaned to me for the duration of the trip. I’ll tell the story of the laptop later.
So, I got to the terminal, and headed to the Express Check-in. This is the first time I bought an e-ticket from Air Canada so I didn’t know what to expect. I fed my Aeroplan card into the machine, and it then asked for more identifications. Hmm – one of the options for “additional identification” was a credit card so that is what I fed the machine next. It thought for a while and asked for more identification. What?! That was the visa I bought the tickets with! The only option presented to me was the booking confirmation number. I took out my itinerary, and discovered (of course) that none of the numbers is called “booking confirmation”. Finally I discovered the right one, and the rest of the process of automated check-in went without a hitch. Sigh. I thought, “This is going to a fun day”.
As I proceeded to the restricted area, a lady seated at the door asked if I have got a pink form. Turns out that was the form that I should fill out to prove that I have non of the SARS symptoms. The US custom agent was friendly enough – but I think they are required not to smile and speak with a deadpan tone.
Now comes the dreaded part – the x-ray machine. I mentally rehearsed my plan for turning on the machines I have on me: my laptop, my digital camera, my PDA, etc. I told them that my shoulder bag contains the equipment, and they told me to take them out and pass them through the x-ray machine separately. Sure. Past the x-ray machines they go. Operator #1 signals to operator #2 and #3; conveyer belt that feeds the x-ray beast stops. Fingers extends and points to the screen. “Oh no,” I thought, “That’s great. What did I pack that’s not to their liking?” Then, nothing, the belt restarts and all my stuff passes through.
Next came my turn to go through the metal-detecting doorframe. Today I was wearing my North Face convertible camping pants, equipped with a nylon belt that featured a plastic belt buckle. Hence, this is one of the very few times that I go through the doorframe without causing a beep. Excellent. Henceforth this pair of pants will be the pants of choice when I have to go on a trip! Ha Ha.
Now comes the turn-on-machines part. The lady asks for my permission to take a look at my laptop shoulder bag. Sure – as if I had a choice. No! You may not look at my bag at all. Ha. Hmm. So she dons latex gloves and proceeds to feel around in all the compartments of the bag. The other lady opens my laptop, but instead of turning it on, she takes this “wand” with a fabric tip, and proceeds to wipe it on the insides of the laptop. It donned on me that this is probably some sort of chemical sniffer, looking for chemical residue on the laptop. Cool. After the wiping is done, the computer purred its satisfaction, and the ladies let me go. At this point it is 4:30pm, about 1.5 hours from my flight, which means there are tonnes of time left. I get to sit at Gate P until the boarding call.
Shortly after boarding the plane, I got to my seat and was reading the En Route magazine (link?) when someone called out my name. Turned out it was Steve Mann, a professor back at the CGL at Waterloo. Wow. I really didn’t expect to meet anyone I knew at this conference, and here I am, not even in Seattle yet, and already found one! We chatted about things, and found out a few more things about the conference, and how I can get from the SEA-TAC airport to the hotel. But I think I’ll still take the shuttle, since it goes directly to my hotel, and the company’s paying for it. :)
The Laptop
I got the idea to borrow a company laptop when Tyatt and I were discussing choices of bed-and-breakfast places in Vancouver. Back then we were sure we are able to get a place that has a computer for us to use – thought almost all the places we’ve found offered free use of high-speed internet access. Finally last Monday I called up the company’s department responsible for such things and requested the loaner laptop, and on Friday I got it. However, they let me have an older model (a PII 266), which wasn’t a problem, but it has no network card, which is a big problem. How the heck am I supposed to use my free high speed internet access at the B&B and my hotel room? I was so psyched about my free in-room internet access at the hotel (link) that this turn of events was quite deflating. But at least they set the laptop up so that I can dial back to the company via a modem and check work email that way. Then again, would they pay me back for the long distance calls when I dial in? I guess I’ll find out next week. :)
Back in my house, I was chatting with Tyatt and lamenting on the laptop when she, ever resourceful, suggested that I check out Future Shop (link) to see if I can buy some PCMCIA card for the laptop, at least for the duration of the trip (ok I am evil). She then forwarded a link to a wonderful, tiny device, the Linksys USB network “card” (link). It’s not really a card – it looked more like the now-commonplace USB Flash drives (or the so-called key-chain hard drives). So today I went and bought one. Tried it, and (after a few snafus with the driver installation) the network thingy worked like a charm. Wonderful. So now the circle is complete. :)
Then I also discovered that there is only one battery (out of two), that the battery drains REAL fast, and there are at least 3 things that are already broken on the laptop – such as the latch that keeps the screen secured when the laptop is closed. I guess the laptop had seen better days. Oh well, as long as I can use it (like I am now, on the plane, writing this long blog), I am a happy guy. Welcome to my first business trip!
I haven’t been to the US since Aug 2001, so I didn’t know what to expect at the airport check-in and the US customs. I do know that I am supposed to present my electronic devices for inspection, including having to turn on each and every piece of equipment to prove that they are in working order, and not something else in disguise. This time around I manage to get a company laptop loaned to me for the duration of the trip. I’ll tell the story of the laptop later.
So, I got to the terminal, and headed to the Express Check-in. This is the first time I bought an e-ticket from Air Canada so I didn’t know what to expect. I fed my Aeroplan card into the machine, and it then asked for more identifications. Hmm – one of the options for “additional identification” was a credit card so that is what I fed the machine next. It thought for a while and asked for more identification. What?! That was the visa I bought the tickets with! The only option presented to me was the booking confirmation number. I took out my itinerary, and discovered (of course) that none of the numbers is called “booking confirmation”. Finally I discovered the right one, and the rest of the process of automated check-in went without a hitch. Sigh. I thought, “This is going to a fun day”.
As I proceeded to the restricted area, a lady seated at the door asked if I have got a pink form. Turns out that was the form that I should fill out to prove that I have non of the SARS symptoms. The US custom agent was friendly enough – but I think they are required not to smile and speak with a deadpan tone.
Now comes the dreaded part – the x-ray machine. I mentally rehearsed my plan for turning on the machines I have on me: my laptop, my digital camera, my PDA, etc. I told them that my shoulder bag contains the equipment, and they told me to take them out and pass them through the x-ray machine separately. Sure. Past the x-ray machines they go. Operator #1 signals to operator #2 and #3; conveyer belt that feeds the x-ray beast stops. Fingers extends and points to the screen. “Oh no,” I thought, “That’s great. What did I pack that’s not to their liking?” Then, nothing, the belt restarts and all my stuff passes through.
Next came my turn to go through the metal-detecting doorframe. Today I was wearing my North Face convertible camping pants, equipped with a nylon belt that featured a plastic belt buckle. Hence, this is one of the very few times that I go through the doorframe without causing a beep. Excellent. Henceforth this pair of pants will be the pants of choice when I have to go on a trip! Ha Ha.
Now comes the turn-on-machines part. The lady asks for my permission to take a look at my laptop shoulder bag. Sure – as if I had a choice. No! You may not look at my bag at all. Ha. Hmm. So she dons latex gloves and proceeds to feel around in all the compartments of the bag. The other lady opens my laptop, but instead of turning it on, she takes this “wand” with a fabric tip, and proceeds to wipe it on the insides of the laptop. It donned on me that this is probably some sort of chemical sniffer, looking for chemical residue on the laptop. Cool. After the wiping is done, the computer purred its satisfaction, and the ladies let me go. At this point it is 4:30pm, about 1.5 hours from my flight, which means there are tonnes of time left. I get to sit at Gate P until the boarding call.
Shortly after boarding the plane, I got to my seat and was reading the En Route magazine (link?) when someone called out my name. Turned out it was Steve Mann, a professor back at the CGL at Waterloo. Wow. I really didn’t expect to meet anyone I knew at this conference, and here I am, not even in Seattle yet, and already found one! We chatted about things, and found out a few more things about the conference, and how I can get from the SEA-TAC airport to the hotel. But I think I’ll still take the shuttle, since it goes directly to my hotel, and the company’s paying for it. :)
The Laptop
I got the idea to borrow a company laptop when Tyatt and I were discussing choices of bed-and-breakfast places in Vancouver. Back then we were sure we are able to get a place that has a computer for us to use – thought almost all the places we’ve found offered free use of high-speed internet access. Finally last Monday I called up the company’s department responsible for such things and requested the loaner laptop, and on Friday I got it. However, they let me have an older model (a PII 266), which wasn’t a problem, but it has no network card, which is a big problem. How the heck am I supposed to use my free high speed internet access at the B&B and my hotel room? I was so psyched about my free in-room internet access at the hotel (link) that this turn of events was quite deflating. But at least they set the laptop up so that I can dial back to the company via a modem and check work email that way. Then again, would they pay me back for the long distance calls when I dial in? I guess I’ll find out next week. :)
Back in my house, I was chatting with Tyatt and lamenting on the laptop when she, ever resourceful, suggested that I check out Future Shop (link) to see if I can buy some PCMCIA card for the laptop, at least for the duration of the trip (ok I am evil). She then forwarded a link to a wonderful, tiny device, the Linksys USB network “card” (link). It’s not really a card – it looked more like the now-commonplace USB Flash drives (or the so-called key-chain hard drives). So today I went and bought one. Tried it, and (after a few snafus with the driver installation) the network thingy worked like a charm. Wonderful. So now the circle is complete. :)
Then I also discovered that there is only one battery (out of two), that the battery drains REAL fast, and there are at least 3 things that are already broken on the laptop – such as the latch that keeps the screen secured when the laptop is closed. I guess the laptop had seen better days. Oh well, as long as I can use it (like I am now, on the plane, writing this long blog), I am a happy guy. Welcome to my first business trip!
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Trip to Seattle!
So the plans are set. The company will sponsor my trip to Seattle for the SIAM Conference on Geometric Design & Computing, held at the luxurious Grand Hyatt Seattle. I'll be going on the 8th of November.
I think this will be the first trip that I'll try to make daily entries on my trip here! Boy did I regret not starting this blog earlier when Tyatt and I were on our JKH trip. Doh, that would have been a blast.. Instead we tried to write trip journals.. And I think we are still stuck on the entry on the 9th of Dec, 2002. Ha ha ha... Really sad too, because this is the one trip that was to countries that are so wired, where computers were available at all these place (every train station we've been to had terminals for dirt cheap access fees!) Sigh..
I hope I get to borrow a laptop to go.. but I am sure there will be free terminals at the conference for me to type in entries.
So the plans are set. The company will sponsor my trip to Seattle for the SIAM Conference on Geometric Design & Computing, held at the luxurious Grand Hyatt Seattle. I'll be going on the 8th of November.
I think this will be the first trip that I'll try to make daily entries on my trip here! Boy did I regret not starting this blog earlier when Tyatt and I were on our JKH trip. Doh, that would have been a blast.. Instead we tried to write trip journals.. And I think we are still stuck on the entry on the 9th of Dec, 2002. Ha ha ha... Really sad too, because this is the one trip that was to countries that are so wired, where computers were available at all these place (every train station we've been to had terminals for dirt cheap access fees!) Sigh..
I hope I get to borrow a laptop to go.. but I am sure there will be free terminals at the conference for me to type in entries.
At the gym
So Marco joined the club. It's good that he's also into cardio, so I have a partner on the elliptical cardio machine so I won't think of quitting every 5 minutes on it. We stuck to the plan and worked out for 30 minutes. I think I am getting the hang of it, so it's not so painful after 15 minutes. The ankle doesn't bother me anymore, though I get a hint of it whenI push. I think the pain will go away soon.
So Marco joined the club. It's good that he's also into cardio, so I have a partner on the elliptical cardio machine so I won't think of quitting every 5 minutes on it. We stuck to the plan and worked out for 30 minutes. I think I am getting the hang of it, so it's not so painful after 15 minutes. The ankle doesn't bother me anymore, though I get a hint of it whenI push. I think the pain will go away soon.
Gravlax, take two
My second batch of gravlax was ready this morning (after having spent 1.5 days in the fridge) and this time it is more successful. I actually followed the recipe this time and so the amount of salt and sugar is just right I think. And I didn't go nuts with the dill this time -- I didn't use the stems and went easy with the leaves -- and so the fish flavour is still there mostly. And all the oils are still in the flesh, so when I cut it into slices they are gleaming and shiny! Very appealing. Yum.. Though, I can taste that the side of the fish touching the marinade is saltier than the skin side, so I wonder if next time I should pack both sides with the marinade.
I also bought some capers. This is a small jar, $3 CAD, and are capers packed with rock salt. To use, I washed them under running water, and soaked them in some more water overnight in a bowl. This way they are not so salty when I eat them with my gravlax.
I think if/when Marco's party comes along and it's a potluck, I'll make 1.5lb of this stuff.
Oh.. also turns out this way to curing fish can also be applied to other types of fish. For example, there are recipes for curing halibut here and here.
My second batch of gravlax was ready this morning (after having spent 1.5 days in the fridge) and this time it is more successful. I actually followed the recipe this time and so the amount of salt and sugar is just right I think. And I didn't go nuts with the dill this time -- I didn't use the stems and went easy with the leaves -- and so the fish flavour is still there mostly. And all the oils are still in the flesh, so when I cut it into slices they are gleaming and shiny! Very appealing. Yum.. Though, I can taste that the side of the fish touching the marinade is saltier than the skin side, so I wonder if next time I should pack both sides with the marinade.
I also bought some capers. This is a small jar, $3 CAD, and are capers packed with rock salt. To use, I washed them under running water, and soaked them in some more water overnight in a bowl. This way they are not so salty when I eat them with my gravlax.
I think if/when Marco's party comes along and it's a potluck, I'll make 1.5lb of this stuff.
Oh.. also turns out this way to curing fish can also be applied to other types of fish. For example, there are recipes for curing halibut here and here.
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