And we're off again... First omen of uncertainty: when checking in at a self service terminal I had to enter the first three letters of my country of residence: Luxembourg couldn't be found. Picked up Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked' and the sequel 'Son of a Witch' about the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz'. Hope those paperbacks sustain me through 16h of flying. Next stops: Atlanta and Paris. [View Full Entry]

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Last day in LA, so went down to Venice Beach to see the famous boardwalk. After that I did some shopping; managed to pick up an autographed copy of Neil Gaiman's latest book. Yay. In the evening Rachel was so kind to give me a tour of the Grove, Rodeo Dr (where all the stars shop) and Beverly Hills (BIG houses) After that it was an eery ride back to San Diego where I'll be taking the flight back home tomorrow. [View Full Entry]

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Some random observations: - the cars here are oversized; an Audi A4 is considered medium to small - you see everything driving on the roads here; vehicles that belong in museums, scrap yards, battlefields... - Americans are very courteous drivers but... - there is something like a LA second: a LA second takes less time than a regular second and is measured as the amount of time it takes for the drivers behind you to start blaring their car horns when you are first in the lane and when the light just switched to green. I swear to god, I think [View Full Entry]

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After my hearty and filling pancake breakfast I set off to visit the first of my three destinations. The Getty Center The Getty Center. I was a bit wary since the bulk of it is a museum and I tend to have the attention span of a butterfly overdosed on caffeine in museums but it turned out quite different. First of all, the Getty Center is awesome; it's located on the top of a mountain and you have to take a little tram to reach the top. The Getty Center itself is an impressive building, snow white against a blue sky [View Full Entry]

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La Jolla La Jolla or the jewel is a bathing site in the North-West of San Diego. Visited it briefly in the morning and was greeted by the salty smell of the Pacific Ocean. Surfing in November - not bloody fair. Los Angeles After visiting La Jolla, I meandered to Los Angeles (the GPS unit and me not getting along). First impressions: - it's huge - rush hour any time of day After refreshing in the hotel, I had a little stroll along Santa Monica beach - unfortunately too late to catch the sunset, had dinner, bounced around in the local [View Full Entry]

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So picking up where we left yesterday - in the end I was so knackered I just slept in one go to 11 AM. Then I head off to downtown to the Gas Lamp Quarter. Very charming neighbourhood. Got a California wrap as lunch. After that to Balboa Park which is *huge*. So I settled visiting the surroundings of Casa del Prado. Once again sunny weather, lots of people out and about and some minor attractions. Got my palms read as well and I must say that the guy is either the best people reader ever or I have to wear [View Full Entry]

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Started off with my first evening and day in San Diego! Picked up the huge car at the airport and drove to my host in San Diego. He dragged me straightaway to some clubs. Lots of fun, lots of drinking and a massive hangover to boot. Saturday was spent on some walking and viewing local political activism; there was a huge rally (15000 people) against proposition 8 known as the ban on gay marriage. It was absolutely splendid weather, the people were hyped so I observed a bit. Sadly my camera's battery ran out pretty soon so the photo coverage is [View Full Entry]

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Just overheard someone ordering a 'decaf double small latte' - I'm not a coffee expert but how can such a thing even exist? [View Full Entry]

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Since I received a comment asking me what in fact I'm doing here, I'll elaborate a bit on that. I received the opportunity to attend LISA'08 also know as the Large Installation System Administration conference. It's a one week conference in sunny California during which you can meet fellow sysadmins from all over the globe and attend training sessions by people who actually wrote the software. It's very interesting and I recommend it if you can get a company to sponsor you. I'll try to post some pictures today to provide a glimpse into the [View Full Entry]

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- not enough powerstrips to feed all the laptops - no free WiFi in hotel room; breakfast not included; overpriced breakfast at one of hotel restaurants - odd afternoon break snack: a pretzel with mustard [View Full Entry]

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