The trip started out well enough... I few out Monday and got a cab from SFO (San Francisco International Airport) to the Parc 55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Since I had a video shoot up in Oregon on Thursday and Friday I was able to make the trip to San Francisco with only a little added to the company budget. I had received an invitation from the guys at TechSmith (the makers of Camtasia Studio -- software that we use a lot at work for producing online video content for our Symantec University online project). TechSmith was interested in my input on some new products. So much so that they spent Monday night talking with me and a few other people about what we wanted to see in some of their new products. They provided a wonderful dinner and also provided gifts to us as a "thank you" for our time. One of the gifts was a new iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle is VERY cool -- it's about the size of a book of matches, can clip onto anything, and holds a good amount of music. Perfect for when you're on the go and don't want to lug around a regular-size iPod... or for when you want to keep an iPod in your car without worrying about it getting stolen (the iPod Shuffle is so small that it can be hidden anywhere).
TechSmith also provided me with a floor pass to -- MacWorld!! One
of the biggest Macintosh conventions around. It was great to see
all the cool Mac development companies out there showcasing their
latest. Hog heaven for a die-hard Apple fan. Later that night the
TechSmitch guys invited me to a private dinner where I got to talk
with the head product manager and three of his developers. It was a
great experience, to say the least.
Unfortunately, I got some sort of bug while there and was... eh...
let's just say I was getting dehydrated. A lot.
Wednesday I packed up and headed off to the airport and flew into
the Eugene, OR airport. Got in my rental car and checked into the
hotel in Springfield. The great thing about this location is that
the hotel is just a three minute drive from the office. I stopped
by the office to check out the room location where I would be doing
the Thursday-Friday shoot. The Symantec office there is big. I
think the building is a half mile long. Here is a photo taken from
the second floor in the middle of the building looking west.
After checking out the room I headed over to the AT&T store
just a few miles away and did something I've wanted to do for some
time... I purchased an iPhone!! The phone was $399.00. But there's
no sales tax in Oregon, so that saved a good chunk of change. I've
been wanting to get an iPhone for a long time now, but Apple has a
deal with AT&T, so if you want an iPhone you have to switch to
AT&T. I had Verizon. I've been using a BlackBerry for a number
of years now and have loved it. But, the problem with Verizon is
that they don't have rollover minutes. So you have to get a phone
plan that covers the most minutes you'll ever use in a single month
-- otherwise, if you go over your minutes, they'll charge you $0.40
per minute.
I'll give you a breakdown. For most months I use about 300-400
minutes and about 250 text messages. There are, however, some
months (especially when I travel) that I'll use 1,800+ minutes and
500 text messages. So I had to get the 2,100 minute package from
Verizon, with 1,500 add-on text messages... and then I had to add
DATA access so I could get eMails with my BlackBerry. I dropped
down to the $30.00 DATA plan, which gives you limited DATA, but it
was cheaper than paying $50.00 for unlimited DATA. In all, I was
spending $160.00 per month to have phone, text, and limited data.
Not cool -- especially when I don't always use all those minutes...
they just go to waste (it's still cheaper than paying for overage
minutes, though). I felt like I was trapped. But, Verizon has
EXCELLENT service and really good customer support, so I really
didn't want to leave them.
But, then along comes the iPhone... something I really want. And
AT&T has rollover minutes. So, I got a 900 minute package, with
1,500 text messages and UNLIMITED DATA on my iPhone and I only pay
$80.00 per month. That's HALF the cost. And the cool thing is that
my eMail messages come up looking like real eMail messages
(complete with attachments, graphics, etc.) and I can surf the web
with a REAL web browser... seeing web pages exactly like I would if
I were home on my computer. And the service is pretty fast too. But
it's all UNLIMITED DATA!!! Very nice. The iPhone also has a
built-in camera, it has visual voicemail (so I can see all my
voicemail messages on the screen without having to call in to check
them -- I just click on a message and hit play... and it has
controls for pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. just like if you
were playing back an audio file on the internet). There are too
many cool things to say about the iPhone to list here, so I wont.
Although I'm sure I'll talk about it a lot in the future. So far
I've been VERY happy with it. My phone now operates just like my
Macintosh... wonderfully and with total ease. Check out this
introduction to the iPhone.
I spent the rest of the night on iChatAV with Clarajane... video
chatting is much better than just talking on the phone. :) Gotta
love that Apple technology.
Still, though... I was feeling worse and worse... and by this point
I wasn't eating well at all. Didn't really feel like eating. So, I
went to bed. I woke up the next morning still feeling like crud,
but I went to the office and put in a full day of video shooting. I
ran into a Symantec friend from Florida and he asked me to dinner
with his team, so I accepted. That night I went to dinner at this
place (can't remember the name offhand) and had THE best
fish/potato/combo thing I've ever had in my life. It was to die
for. I'm not sure how they did it, but they took fish, layered
mashed potatoes on it and then some sort of crust on top --
amazing.
Towards the end of dinner, however, I was really starting to feel
'off'. Maybe it was not eating for two days, maybe it was a lack of
water in my system, maybe it was too much coffee, or maybe it was
the sudden intake of food that did it... either way I headed back
to the hotel. When I got there I hauled some equipment into the
room and sat down for a bit... but when I quickly stood up the rush
made me feel dizzy and I started feeling light-headed. The next
thing I remember I woke up from what I thought was sleep... until I
realized I was on the tile floor in a huge pool of blood. I was
dazed. I made my way up and looked in the nearest mirror and was
horrified -- I looked like something out of the creep show. Blood
was everywhere and was hanging off my hair, eyebrows, everything. I
wasn't sure what had happened. I almost took a photo, but it was
even too gross for me, so I didn't.
I started to clean myself up and fortunately discovered that it was
just a gash in my forehead -- and, as you may know, any cut on you
forehead will bleed like crazy. There's just a lot of blood up
there. It was about this time that I started to vomit
uncontrollably. This went on for a while. Fortunately, I was able
to make it to either the sink or the toilet for most of the
mess.
Then I started the cleanup. I just couldn't see leaving this kind
of a mess for anyone to clean up. Besides, it looked like someone
was murdered in that room so I didn't want to get questioned by the
cops, so I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. I tossed my clothes
in the trash as they were drenched in blood (I later pulled them
out, as I didn't want the maids to find blood-soaked clothes...
again, don't need to be questioned by the cops -- HA!).
I called Clarajane and let her in on what had happened. She seemed
okay, but she did freak out a bit. I can't blame her. I got some
band aids and created some butterfly stitches which held up pretty
well. I spent the rest of the night pretty much staying up and
watching TV just trying to rest. I even too the time to take this
wonderful photo (using my new iPhone, of course)...
It's no so obvious here, as the swelling and discoloration hadn't
settled in fully... but by the next morning I was black and blue,
like I had been in a boxing match. My lip got HUGE and my nose
wiggled in places it never should have. The cut in these photos
doesn't look so bad... so you can see why I wasn't as worried as
everyone else who heard about it. I must have hit something on the
way down to the floor... or maybe I just fell directly on my face.
I'm not sure -- I was passed out when I was falling (fortunately).
It really didn't hurt as much as you would expect. It was sore for
days later, and the areas under my eyes look like I do drugs right
now... but everything else is healing very well and I feel great
right now. :)
Anyway... just another week-in-the-life, I suppose.
Regardless, we still had two standards: Shane and The Waz. And we were visited by what appears to soon be considered 'regulars', Casey & Shali.
Rather than our typical BW3s (Buffalo Wild Wings) or L3A (Los 3 Amigos) we decided to do Guadalahara. Their food is very tasty, even if it is a bit pricy. The margaritas are pretty good too, although they're a poor value (very expensive). Still, it was a good evening and a relaxing way to kick off the Sabbath.
Go HERE to check out the event.
For now, I'll simply post a link to some of my wedding photos. I received an eMail from the photographer today, and he's mailed the DVD data discs off (which include the video files as well as the high-resolution JPEG wedding photos). We've already received the 5x7 proofs (almost 900 of them) and they're all gorgeous! I can't wait to get my hands on the high resolution images so I can post them and also create wedding books with them. Hopefully I'll get them in time to create some books and slide shows before our Thanksgiving trip up north to Columbia, Missouri.
