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Jul. 12th, 2004 08:02 amLast Wednesday I get a call from the boss--there's a researcher in San Francisco we need to start collaborating with, can my coworker D and I go visit? Now??
So Friday at 6:30 D and I are at the airport. This was not as bad a thing as it might be--I really like D, and 12 hours in his company was not irksome. Plus, he is in many ways my counterpart in the computer side of things, and the chance to sit and talk for an hour while waiting for the plane, another hour on the plane, and another hour while getting to the VA in SF, was a very good way to get somewhat up to speed with each other's side of the various projects we're both on.
9:30 found us in SF, 10:30 at the lab of the guy we were meeting, and from 11 to 2 we were in a crowded board room hearing presentation after presentation about what research they are doing (or want to do). At 2 we were bundled back into a taxi, given a roller-coaster ride through town picking up other airport passengers--San Francisco taxi drivers are CRAZY!--and deposited at the airport at 3. That gave us time to have a beer (or in D's case, a double whiskey) and decompress a bit before the 4 pm flight. And it gave the boss a chance to reach me as he was getting on a flight to DC, to find out what happened. I've got his number programmed to ring with a bombastic trumpet fanfare so I know who it is--D found this amusing.
We landed back home at 5:30, sat on the runway for half an hour (grrrr), and I was home hugging the hubby by a bit before 7 pm.
::phew:: Wotta day. Very very interesting research, too, and we got to hear about everything from the physics to the datamining aspects. Though their way of doing business led both D and me to suspect that these are not people who are used to collaborating; they are used to doing things *their* way, and are not interested in hearing feedback or dialog. So this could be interesting.
So Friday at 6:30 D and I are at the airport. This was not as bad a thing as it might be--I really like D, and 12 hours in his company was not irksome. Plus, he is in many ways my counterpart in the computer side of things, and the chance to sit and talk for an hour while waiting for the plane, another hour on the plane, and another hour while getting to the VA in SF, was a very good way to get somewhat up to speed with each other's side of the various projects we're both on.
9:30 found us in SF, 10:30 at the lab of the guy we were meeting, and from 11 to 2 we were in a crowded board room hearing presentation after presentation about what research they are doing (or want to do). At 2 we were bundled back into a taxi, given a roller-coaster ride through town picking up other airport passengers--San Francisco taxi drivers are CRAZY!--and deposited at the airport at 3. That gave us time to have a beer (or in D's case, a double whiskey) and decompress a bit before the 4 pm flight. And it gave the boss a chance to reach me as he was getting on a flight to DC, to find out what happened. I've got his number programmed to ring with a bombastic trumpet fanfare so I know who it is--D found this amusing.
We landed back home at 5:30, sat on the runway for half an hour (grrrr), and I was home hugging the hubby by a bit before 7 pm.
::phew:: Wotta day. Very very interesting research, too, and we got to hear about everything from the physics to the datamining aspects. Though their way of doing business led both D and me to suspect that these are not people who are used to collaborating; they are used to doing things *their* way, and are not interested in hearing feedback or dialog. So this could be interesting.
