I’m writing this entry from the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, site of CSCW 2006, the annual ACM-sponsored conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Work. My trip here yesterday was interesting and complicated (of the 13 hours I spent en route, only 2.5 hours was in the air — I waited almost that long in the Calgary Airport for my colleagues from New York to arrive); we had hoped to drive up in daylight, but that was not the case. But even the small bits of the mountains I could see in the moonlight were spectacular.

This morning dawned too early, and I spent almost the entire day in a workshop on Trust in the Online Environment. But the view out every window here is wonderful — sadly, my camera can’t do it justice, but here’s a small sample. This is what I can see from the hotel room:

The workshop itself was very interesting, and I am hopeful that something useful (and publishable) will result.

After the workshop, we adjourned to one of the many restaurants here in the hotel, Castello, which appeared to have reasonable prices. Somehow, my bill ran to an unreasonable number, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. We had a Canadian wine, Tinhorn Creek 2004 Pinot Noir, which was pleasant enough that we ordered an additional bottle (there were six of us sharing it, so that’s not unreasonable), and which I would gladly have again, though preferably without the 200% hotel markup.

Tomorrow, I hope to do a little geocaching; I also need to work on my report on what I did this year at work. *sigh*

And then the conference begins for me again on Monday.

I barely got out of my chair today at work; I was nearly heads-down designing and coding enhancements for an upcoming project.  I didn’t even check my e-mail from noon till 5, which is almost unheard of.

But now I’m home, and the laptop is safely hidden away in my briefcase, at least until Sunday.  Good thing I have other computers.

Jeff’s at a party in Morgan Hill, and since he doesn’t drive yet, we had to schlep him.  So Diane and I took advantage of that to go to Rosy’s at the Beach, where she had Pepper-encrusted Salmon and I had Salmon Tacos.  We both enjoyed our meals; I’d go back cheerfully (in fact, we will be going back in a week and a half for my 30th service anniversary lunch, though that meal will probably be without beer or wine).

The con started today with a somewhat unusual opening ceremony — the first episode of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, in tribute to the late Frankie Thomas, followed by the usual silliness. Jeff missed it, since he and his friend were at Disneyland, where I think he might have had enough Disney for this trip. I say might have, rather than had, because at a party this evening, he showed interest when he heard that some other teens were going to Disney tomorrow — but only some interest.

We deviated from our Downtown Disney meal plan; breakfast was at Captain Kidd’s again; lunch was at California Pizza Place, which is a small pizza restaurant in a strip mall of small restaurants at the corner of Katella and Harbor, and was everything one would expect of a restaurant at that location (cheap, non-toxic, and fast); dinner was at the Grand China Restaurant on Chapman, which was an OK but not at all distinguished Chinese restaurant a mile or so away from here. The con restaurant guide is long on listings but short on judgements, so we’re on our own.

We spent a while in the huckster room/exhibit area after lunch, meeting friends, visiting the bid tables, and wandering. At one point, I found myself explaining the change in the Worldcon bid leadtime from two years to three and then back to two — if I’m not careful, I may find myself at the Business Meeting one of these days. But that wasn’t a danger today; instead, we went to “James T. Kirk: Threat or Menace”, which was enjoyable but deviated from the topic (and a good thing it did).
Here’s tonight’s party report:

Google party: lots of schwag, but the shiny Google pins were gone before we got there. They’d clearly raided the local Trader Joe’s, going for the dark chocolate as well as other goodies. They claimed to be interviewing, but everyone was welcome — and all attendees get free searches on Google.

Hollister in 2008: This was the bid party to hit, if for no other reason than my name on the wall of fame. Lots of Casa de Fruta goodies, not enough space for all the people.

KC in 2009: If you were hungry, this was the place — smoked meat and KC BBQ sauces, plus other goodies (Trader Joe’s struck again, too).

Denver in 2008: A nice selection of Colorado beers (after a very enjoyable High Tea during the afternoon), plenty of other goodies (including a chocolate fountain and ice cream floats), and the right date for Worldcon 2008. Recommended.

Chicago in 2008: Hot dogs, hotel info, and a letter from Da Mayor.

Columbus in 2008: Sam Adams, a sheet cake, good conversation, and a letter from the mayor.

Technorati tags: laconiv, lacon, worldcon, smoffing.