London Day 2
(This is a part of a 7-day series about my trip to London.)
Date: February 12, 2008
Well, today was the big talk, and it actually went pretty well. There were a lot of famous people there (well, in the HCI research circles, anyway), and it was fantastic finally meeting some of them. I have to say that sometimes it's kind of surprising to finally meet these people to see what they really look like. Often, they're nothing like what you imagined. Two of the guys, named Christian Heath and Paul Luff were nothing like I imagined. I thought they'd both be very stuffy English guys, but they turned out to be pretty gregarious guys with big personalities and big voices. I kind of met them before in Banff at a previous conference, but I guess maybe they were a bit jetlagged at the time - they didn't really say much to me that time.
Breakfast was a little uneventful -- I just ate eggs sausage and toast, and I took photos of those, but as I said, it was nothing really spectacular. Heading out into London in the morning was pretty interesting -- the crowds were extremely intense. I couldn't believe the number of people who were out and about, heading to work. It was already 9am, which is what made it very weird, because the place was still completely packed! As it turns out though, people head into work up until 10am or so.
The talk itself went okay, but not as well as I'd hoped. The jokes I built in were received with only titters from the crowd, and I stumbled at a few places. Nothing terrible though -- some of the folks around me told me I did a good job, which was good to hear. Getting a chance to hear the other talks was very good though, I really enjoyed some of them.
By the end of the day (around 4 or 5pm), I was feeling really really jetlaggy. My body was starting to sweat at unreasonable times, and I was pretty much completely pooped. I excused myself, and headed back home. Unfortunately, the fish and chips place I'd spotted earlier in the day (and had planned to go for dinner) was closed, so I doubled back to some random steakhouse. There, I ate the "mixed grill", which had a sausage, a not-so-tasty chicken steak-thing, a not-so-tasty beef steak, a big hunk of bacon, some fries, and three onion rings. The onion rings and sausage were the best part of the dinner -- the other bits were not really that tasty. I actually didn't finish it because the chicken and steak were so bland. :P
It turns out that there are a lot of little places that sell sandwiches and other pastries and stuff, and this is where people grab their lunches. I'm going to try that today.
By the time I got home, it was around 7 or 8pm, and I knew I needed to stay awake to battle some jetlag. I watched two movies (Bourne Ultimatum and Idiocracy) and stayed up until about midnight or so. I really wish I hadn't watched Idiocracy -- I felt much stupider after watching the movie.
Tomorrow is a big day out on the town. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but it will involve a lot of wandering around on foot!
--tony
Date: February 12, 2008
Well, today was the big talk, and it actually went pretty well. There were a lot of famous people there (well, in the HCI research circles, anyway), and it was fantastic finally meeting some of them. I have to say that sometimes it's kind of surprising to finally meet these people to see what they really look like. Often, they're nothing like what you imagined. Two of the guys, named Christian Heath and Paul Luff were nothing like I imagined. I thought they'd both be very stuffy English guys, but they turned out to be pretty gregarious guys with big personalities and big voices. I kind of met them before in Banff at a previous conference, but I guess maybe they were a bit jetlagged at the time - they didn't really say much to me that time.
Breakfast was a little uneventful -- I just ate eggs sausage and toast, and I took photos of those, but as I said, it was nothing really spectacular. Heading out into London in the morning was pretty interesting -- the crowds were extremely intense. I couldn't believe the number of people who were out and about, heading to work. It was already 9am, which is what made it very weird, because the place was still completely packed! As it turns out though, people head into work up until 10am or so.
The talk itself went okay, but not as well as I'd hoped. The jokes I built in were received with only titters from the crowd, and I stumbled at a few places. Nothing terrible though -- some of the folks around me told me I did a good job, which was good to hear. Getting a chance to hear the other talks was very good though, I really enjoyed some of them.
By the end of the day (around 4 or 5pm), I was feeling really really jetlaggy. My body was starting to sweat at unreasonable times, and I was pretty much completely pooped. I excused myself, and headed back home. Unfortunately, the fish and chips place I'd spotted earlier in the day (and had planned to go for dinner) was closed, so I doubled back to some random steakhouse. There, I ate the "mixed grill", which had a sausage, a not-so-tasty chicken steak-thing, a not-so-tasty beef steak, a big hunk of bacon, some fries, and three onion rings. The onion rings and sausage were the best part of the dinner -- the other bits were not really that tasty. I actually didn't finish it because the chicken and steak were so bland. :P
It turns out that there are a lot of little places that sell sandwiches and other pastries and stuff, and this is where people grab their lunches. I'm going to try that today.
By the time I got home, it was around 7 or 8pm, and I knew I needed to stay awake to battle some jetlag. I watched two movies (Bourne Ultimatum and Idiocracy) and stayed up until about midnight or so. I really wish I hadn't watched Idiocracy -- I felt much stupider after watching the movie.
Tomorrow is a big day out on the town. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but it will involve a lot of wandering around on foot!
--tony
posted by tangaroo at 9:11 a.m.
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