New House!

Ballard House

I'm moving!  Anna and I have just signed the lease for a house in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.  Check out the pictures.  There aren't many of upstairs, but there are three bedrooms so we'll have a proper guest room and everything.  We'll be moving in during June.

Google Madison

Bubbs sent this to me.  Now I can finally start recruiting all of those people I know in Madison. :-)

Bern and back

I'm finally recovered (only took 3 months) and realized I still hadn't told you about going to Bern.

The plan all along was that Bart was going to work for a week, then go on vacation for two, then finish up with another week of work.  So after the first week (and getting our luggage fixed) Bart took off for some fun in the Alps.  Unfortunately after three days I got a call from Bart and he told me he had an accident sledding and he had torn his knee up pretty bad and he would be heading home early.  I said I was sorry and let me know if I can do anything.

The next night after dinner I get a call from Bart.

Bart: I need you to do me a favor.

Me: Ok, what?

Bart: I need you to come to Bern.

Me: Umm, ok, why?

Bart: I need help changing trains in Bern since I can't lift my luggage.

Me: Ok.  I'll head to the train station and let you know when I can get there.

Bart: Thanks.

So I headed to the train station and started trying to decipher the Swiss train system.  Unfortunately the manned ticket booths were already closed, so I had to try to use the automated kiosks.   Now normally I'm a big fan of automation and not having to deal with other people, but the I'm using an automated system in its 4th language its not always that intuitive.  I finally managed to buy a round-trip ticket from Zurich to Bern that included use of the local transit in Bern.  So I only over purchased a little bit.  The ticket was 99CHF (or about 90USD) and the trip is about 125k  (77miles) each way, so thats not bad.  Also the trip was only about an hour each way and a train ran every half hour.

Called Bart and told him I'd be there in just over an hour and headed for the train.  I didn't understand the markings on the train and ended up sitting in First Class until the ticket taker came around and told me.  So I moved back to 2nd class, but it wasn't a big difference.  It was fun watching us pull away from the traffic on the highways so I'm sure we were going 80mph+.

We pulled into the station in Bern and I called Bart to find out which track he was on and it was just the next one over.  He had gotten someone to help him off his train from Interlakken.  It turned out that the train we were taking back to Zurich was on the same track he had just come in on.  So we waited about 20mins and got on that train and rode back to Zurich.

Once we were back in Zurich we had to decide which would be worse: making Bart walk further to catch a tram sooner or just waiting at a closer stop for the tram.  Bart thought he could make it so he headed out to the tram stop.  In retrospect we should have just waited at the closer stop.  He was in a lot of pain and moving pretty slow.

I got him back to the house in Zurich and he got cleaned up and waited for his cab to the airport.

So thats that.  The Bern train station was very nice.  I'm impressed with the Swiss train system.  It also seems like you could choose a lot worse places than Switzerland to injure yourself.  If this had been anywhere else I probably would have had to rent a car to go pick him up.

Back in Seattle

I'm back in Seattle and actually feeling pretty good. I passed out shortly after getting home and got a good nights sleep. More pictures and stories coming.

On My Way Home

I'm sitting in the Zurich airport way too early for my flight, but I was just sitting around the house waiting so now I'm at least waiting a bit closer to home. It will be something like 20 hours in transit for me, but thanks to time zones its only 12 on the clock. My flight from Heathrow to SFO takes off at 10am and lands at 1pm, but it is definitely not a 3 hour flight. I should be in Seattle around 6pm PST on the 20th. More tales of adventure once I've recovered.

Adventures with Bart part 1

One of the wheels fell off of Bart's luggage on his way to Zürich. Bart had looked up where the Samsonite repair shop in Zürich was and wanted me to come with. I've had a broken zipper on my bag for a long time and the big zipper finally broke on this trip so I figured it was probably time I got mine fixed as well.

So we hopped on the tram with our empty suitcases and started heading for the other side of town. Not that this will mean much to most of you, but we were staying at one end of the 11 tram line and this place was at the other end of the 13 tram line so it was probably a 45 min ride. About half way there some people with scanners get on the train. I figured they were the people who spot check that you have tickets so I started digging my ticket out. At the same Bart gets up and gets off of the train. It is now obvious that Bart has forgotten to get a new ticket so I debate for a second whether to just meet him at our destination or to get off as well. I decide it would probably be best to not lose the guy that knows where we are going so I get off the train as well.

We get Bart a new ticket from the machine and wait for the next train. This being Zürich it was only about a 7 minute wait (have I mentioned I love the public transport here). We finally get out to our stop and get off of the train. We look around and don't see anything that is obviously a luggage shop. We walk a block or so in each direction looking for it and I ask Bart where the guy said it was . He said it was 50 meters back from the tram stop, but we didn't see anything. So I ask what the address is, he didn't write it down. Ok, what is it called? Didn't write that down either. He figured he'd be able to recognize it from the sight from the tram stop.

Word of advice to companies, don't put your store/repair shop locater in a flash app. It makes it impossible to use them from a cell phone/blackberry. So Bart went hunting for some WiFi so he could look up the address and I was left on the street guarding the bags. I think we both got our share of weird looks in the process, but he eventually found an open network and was able to get the address.

Turns out we just hadn't gone quite far enough and that the repair shop was in what looked like an apartment building about two blocks down from where I had been standing.

So we ring the bell and get let into this guys workshop. It is in a basement apartment and is packed floor to ceiling with suitcases. He asks if we speak any German and I say I speak a little. I'm able to translate most of what he is saying, but pretty useless at coming up with any sentences of my own. Basically he didn't have the parts for Bart's bag, but he could put the wheel that fell off back on and it should be good enough to get him home. My bag wasn't a problem because he had the parts he needed. He told us he could have them ready about 3pm (it was about 12:15pm). This sounded good except Bart needed his bag today since he was leaving for his vacation in the morning and since it took us so long to get there we'd pretty much just have to hang out there until it was done.

So Bart asks if he could do it right now if he paid extra. The guy thinks about it and goes to talk to his wife. I think he had to make sure he could be late for lunch. He came back agreed to fix this bags right away. It was impressive watching him work. He didn't just screw the wheel back on and send us on our way. He disassembled the whole corner of the suitcase and fixed the wobbly legs. He pounded the metal part of the suitcase wheel flat again before he reattached the plastic part of the wheel. He cut off any stray threads and finally got the heat gun out to shrink up any of the fraying. The whole time carefully putting away any tool he was done working with.

My suitcase was an easier fix, he just had to replace a few of the zipper pulls. I was always curious how you did that. You take a tool and stretch the pull a bit and then slip it onto the zipper and clamp it down with some pliers. He also did something with some kind of paste and a lighter, but I'm not sure what exactly he was doing. He gave my bag the same treating for the frays and checked that the wheels were ok. He even noticed one of the zippers was on backwards and asked if I wanted it fixed. I said it was fine. Both bags together came to about 100CHF ($85) and Bart paid him with a nice tip.

So we headed back to the office with our newly fixed bags and everyone lived happily ever after.

Next time: Bart goes sledding and I get to go to Bern

Zurich

Where to start?

First apologizes for the lateness of this post. Its been a hectic week.

For those who don't know I'm in Zürich, Switzerland for two weeks for work. One of the products we support is developed here and we are visiting the developers.

I flew out of Seattle on the 8th only 9.5 hours after landing from my trip back to Wisconsin. My first flight was from Seattle down to San Francisco, then San Francisco to London, and finally London to Zürich. I had to take this circuitous route to get an affordable business class flight to Europe and to get there by Tuesday.

Seattle to San Francisco was uneventful however its turns out that you have to leave the secured area to change terminals in San Francisco so I had to go through security again to get into the international terminal. The international terminal is quite impressive. It is two stories and is quite spacious.

Flying business class is nice. You start with your own jet way onto the airplane and the seats are the same width as domestic first class seats and recline quite a ways with a foot rest that pops up too. We were served a nice dinner and then everyone pretty much went to sleep. I was having a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep, but I did manage an hour or so. During the flight there was a table with snacks on it that you could help your self to if you were hungry. Then about an hour before landing they served breakfast.

I arrived in London about 6 in the morning local time and had about two hours to make my connection to Zürich. I wasn't sure if this was going to be enough, but it turned out to be plenty even though I had to change terminals. However with another terminal change I had to go through security one more time. I checked in for my flight and headed for the gate. I found a departure board and it just said "Please Wait" for the gate next to my flight. So I waited a bit and it hadn't changed. After a half an hour or so I figured I must be in the wrong part of the terminals since there were only a few people around. So I wandered into the other half of the terminal and I found a departure board that had a sign saying the gates would be posted 30-40 minutes before departure. So I hung out in that part of the terminal which was pretty much a mall and waited for my gate to post. It got to be about 2 minutes before my flight was supposed to leave and they finally posted that it was going to be delayed 30 mins.

The gate for my flight was finally posted and about the half the people sitting around me all got up and headed for that gate. The boarding procedure is different there. They take your boarding pass and you wait in the gate until they till you to board then you go straight onto the plane. I had managed to get an exit row seat, but it turned out not to have any extra room. Luckily it was only an hour and 20 minute flight so it was tolerable.

Swiss air was nice. They did all of the announcements in German, French, Italian, and English. They also gave you a chocolate bar before you got off the plane :-)

Zürich Airport is nice and I had no problems at immigration. They just looked at my passport and sent me through. My bag came out and I headed through the custom door for "nothing to declare" and I was out. I headed down to the train station and started trying to decipher the schedules. The line for the ticket window was quite long so I just bought a Airport to City one way ticket (4CHF or about $3). I IM'd Bart on my blackberry and he told me which train to take and which stop to get off at and he met me at the station and showed me to the office.

I took about an hour to get myself collected and then we had some meetings before heading out for dinner. We went to a place called Zeughauskeller and I had some nice traditional Swiss food. Then we finally headed out to the house we were staying in. At this point I had had maybe 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours and hadn't had a shower in almost 36 hours. So I took a badly needed shower and went to bed.

So that sums up a very long day one. Feel free to post questions in the comments.

Safely in Zurich

International business class rules
Heathrow is weird
The new Google offices in Zürich have a lot of steps
I'll report more once I've slept