Life has been busy of late. Between spending time in four different countries over the course of 3 weeks (on two different continents), and trying to keep up with work/school, things have been a little hectic. The two days I spent in SJC and MTV/SFO were very nice. The weather is always nice in California. Nothing exciting, but always nice. It was even better catching up with old friends in the area, and take a nice drive through SFO in the middle of the night. Got a couple of nice pics of one of the bridges. Not even much to complain about with respect to the flight, everything largely went smoothly, except for one of the interviews. It sorta went sideways. Afterwards I was thinking that I was being stupid, I should have just rotated (literally!) the problem 90 degrees, and pretty much everything would have come out much easier and nicer. Oh well, at least the others seemed to go very very well.

After spending one day back at home, I went on vacation. Very much needed vacation. A few observations about LGW and area. The tube sucks. Unless you enjoy being a tunnel rat. I mean, how do you survive working in a city that makes you travel upwards of two hours a day to and from work, and does not provide cell access to it’s most often used public transit system? And to top it all off, it’s bloody expensive! Completely nuts. Oh yeah, why would people living on a rock in the north atlantic not realize they need home building material beyond brick? How about some insulation? Ok, ok, enough complaining.

There were two highlights of the trip. There was a one day excursion from LHR to ZRH for two more interviews, and a quick coffee with my sister. The weather in .ch was much nicer, and the interviews went fairly well (I think). The people at the office were very friendly, and all seemed interested in having me show up and work for them. I suppose all I can do at this point is wait and see if I get an offer. The other highlight was meeting a very dear and important friend of mine that I have not seem for more than one day in the last 15 years. We ended up spending quite a bit of time together, catching up, talking, laughing, and relaxing. It was still very comfortable, even after not seeing each other for 15 years.

I suppose the question is, why is it that some people (a few?) in your life end up always being there? I mean, you don’t feel uncomfortable, you just know each other, and you can enjoy the time being spent, even if nothing is being done or said. I am definitely looking forward to spending more time in the future.