• Up early; collected my stuff and headed to the office for half a day’s work.
  • Said goodbyes to my coworkers and caught another shuttle to the airport.
  • Short flight back to Pittsburgh, where I was met by an approaching storm. Unlike last time this happened, they were able to get our bags off the plane and I got to my car ahead of the storm.
  • Driving home was a bit of a challenge, as I was arriving during rush hour and there was a Pirates game this evening. I had to take a roundabout route through McKees Rocks and the North Side to get home in any reasonable amount of time. I barely beat the storm which was stalking me all the way home.
  • Home. Very happy to see Emily and the cats again. We ordered some sushi and hibachi and settled in for the evening.

  • Up early, caught the shuttle to the airport.
  • Long wait at the check-in desk. Looks like the self-check-in machines were broken, but in such a way that each person got to try to check-in twice before being sent to the desk to have it done manually.
  • Got myself checked in and made my way to the gate. Lots of other UDS folks also heading to Frankfurt. Talked to a few of them. Sat next to one of the other OEM team members on the plane.
  • This time the connection through Frankfurt airport went smoothly. I did have to head out and find the US Airways check-in desk to grab my remaining boarding passes but I had plenty of time and made it to my gate without incident.
  • On the plane back to the States I sat next to one of the gentlemen from Monday’s Frankfurt Airport Support Group. We caught up a bit and soon after we took off he was fast asleep.
  • Finally caught the end of Green Hornet. The movie itself was OK but it seems like Seth Rogen’s style of comedy didn’t really fit the character or tone of the movie. It just felt off. Also watched a documentary on rice that led to a nice 40-minute nap and another on personal flying vehicles that I actually found fascinating. Also watched the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz vehicle Knight and Day which was surprisingly entertaining.
  • Arrived in Philadelphia and waited an hour in line to go through immigration, then through customs and another half an hour to get back through security for my flight to Pittsburgh. Once again no hiccups but I was in no mood to stand in line all evening.
  • Landed in Pittsburgh just ahead of a thunderstorm. Unfortunately they can’t unload baggage from an airplane during a lightning storm so about three planefuls of people had to sit at baggage claim for an hour and a half before we could collect our things and head home. Emily showed no end of patience and even had a granola bar and a bottle of pop waiting for me in the car when she picked me up. Have I mentioned that I am a very lucky man?
  • We drove home through some heavy rain. Unpacked and passed right the hell out.

Knowing full well that writing is one of my many shortcomings while at the same time one of the skills a great programmer should posses I’ve decided to start a little exercise to make myself write at least a little every day. The inspiration for this exercise comes from Michael Meeks and his daily bullet-point summaries.

  • Awakened around 5:00 AM by a loud, booming thunderstorm. While I am a big fan of thunderstorms I would appreciate it if from now on Mother Nature was more respectful of my sleep schedule.
  • Bus stop wait was lovely. Humid but warm. Arrived at work, broke my fast with a stale bagel and some coffee. Plowed through email.
  • Received info from a customer about a possible cause of a bug in the driver I wrote for them. This was immensely helpful in (finally) fixing this bug. Sent a patch.
  • Lunch at Chinatown Inn. Delicious and speedy as always.
  • Began packaging work for another customer. This looks simple, which means it probably isn’t.
  • Received word that the patch mentioned earlier did not work as well on the customer’s board as mine (supposedly they are identical). This is one for tomorrow.
  • Home then to the gym.
  • Home again, sore, and practiced for my guitar lesson tomorrow. Still haven’t gotten over the whole “do homework only the night before it’s due” thing. At this point I feel it’s a hopeless cause.