Yeah, it happened that I missed my flight from LA to Indy. I arrived 8hrs late, don’t ask why ;). Anyway, they explained me that I would have to purchase a new ticket *argh* – I thought that I would never ever fly with Northwest. I discussed for 45 minutes with the clerk and she was pretty much under pressure (the queue behind me got longer and longer and people started complaining). Finally, she gave me a place on the waiting list to a flight to Detroit for free. And I made it into the airplane (again, don’t ask how :)). I had only a half seat (there was an incredibly fat (later sweaty and even later smelly) guy next to me that occupied the other half of my seat. It was probably the worst flight I ever had (4.5 hrs on that “half” seat with *full* body contact), but I was very happy to be in that plane! The plane arrived late (a connection flight to Indy was already waiting), and I did the same thing there. I discussed with them until they assigned me tha last free seat for free (hey, what’s the point to fly with a free seat if you could make a potential customer happy :)). But yeah, I forgot about my luggage … it was only checked to Detroit (I realized that later *g*). Again, discussions at the baggage reclaim office :). They did at least agree to transfer it to Indy that I could pick it up the next day (there was no way to convince them to send it home to me for free :)). But I got a car and gas is nearly for free here … so I picked it up. Generally, it was a very interesting experience, how you can fly for free if you are determined enough (I did not make it into the direct flight from LA to Indy, the guy at the desk (Larry) was very very well trained and impressed me a lot, but I had a nice conversation with him, and the next flight worked out).

And I did still have some time to celebrate my birthday.

I just had to go for a swim. The conference ended at 5:30 today, so I had some time to go down to the beach (10 mins walking). It was really nice, and I was nearly alone. I did even manage to swim in the Pacific (the water was *freaking* cold) – for 2 minutes :). I guess it was less than 10 degrees Celsius.

Yeah, after eating all the fat-cakes and muffins and bagels and more unhealthy stuff, I had to go for a run. I used the break between the sessions and the banquet to go for a beach run. It was great! I beat the beach *yeah*. I ran from the beginning (3rd street) all the way down to the end of the beach (okok, let’s say the end of this segment) at 54th street. It’s about 8km (5 miles) one way on google maps. It was really cool – 1hr running at a paradise-like beach with perfect temperature (chilly wind). And I was even the fastest runner out there (I passed everybody and nobody passed me). It was getting very very hard at the end though. Anyway, I can barely walk now but it was totally worth it!

Some first impressions from my trip to the west coast.
My ride to the airport (yeah, the driver carries my bag – he literally pulled it out of my hand *g*).

the inside (huh):

The weather in Long Beach was pretty cold (about 16 Celsius, Bloomington was about 27 Celsius *argh*). Anyway, it was a sunny and nice day, and my rental car (Pontiac) is neat (I’m now proud member of the Emerald club – thanks to IU):

Ok, I should have printed a map :-(. They did *not* have a map of Long Beach at the Los Angeles Airport :-(. So I tried to find the hotel on my own. That was a clear desaster, but I think I found the place where several scenes for Terminator I were shot:

It looks extremely similar, I nearly went down to test the race track :).

Anyway, I found the hotel finally. It’s pretty far away from the conference, but it’s really nice (incl. free wireless) and the hotel + rental car is *much* cheaper than the conference hotel!

My first talk on Monday went *really* nice and the room was completely packed and we had interesting questions/discussions :). I’m looking forward to my second talk on Friday!