Photo by Robert Scoble, I’m near the center in pink.

Starting Wednesday night it was a mashup of meeting wonderful new people from all over the world, and spending time with some of the quality Seattleites that make me so happy to call this place home, despite the current summer downpour.

The talks were quite interesting and not exactly what I was expecting. It was more like TED than I thought it would be, and less technical. Probably my favourite talk was Eve Maler’s talk on feed-based Vendor Relationship Management (VRM). The ability to manage one’s own data in a dynamic and powerful way is something that’s certainly due, Eve had some great thoughts on how it might be accomplished.

There were many touching moments too, emphasizing the theme of “human circuitry”. Beth Kanter challenged us to use social media for good, and we raised enough money to send a Cambodian women to college in 90 minutes. Scott Maxwell, the Mars Rover Driver Team Lead, showed us the view of Earth from Mars. Turns out, Earth is tiny! But, he said, we should not look at it and say, “we’re insignificant” - we should look at it and say, “our problems are insignificant - and we have so much to explore and discover yet.”  Jon Malkin showed us innovative research on a “Vocal Joystick” that would assist those with limited motor skills by allowing them to command a computer or a robot with sounds. Seeing technology add to the human experience in such powerful ways was very moving.

And speaking of moving, another highlight was dancing on stage with Matt Harding: a truly silly but wonderful experience.

I took only about 45 pictures (one seen below), but there’s well over 1,500 up in the Flickr pool. Wow.

New friends: Steve Spalding, Duncan Riley, and Eric Rice at the Edgewater.

It makes me feel like I’m twelve years old, but I can’t help but have that magical mix of excitement for all that I’ve just experienced and the deep sadness that “camp” is over. The community was definitely the shining star of the event - everyone added to the conversation in such a genuine way. I miss my Gnomedex friends already, but at least I can say, we’ll always have Twitter. At least until the Fail Whale strikes again.

~ Cassie

P.S. Yes, there was a presentation on the history of the Lolcat. Yes, I made myself look very silly on YouTube (again) and got 10,000 views (yikes). And yes, we started that ridiculous rumor about the Adobe Yahoo acquisition. Epic.

Thanks to my friend Sam (via iLike) for passing this along.

UPDATE: If you have iTunes, you can download this and one other Jack Conte song for free from Stanford’s iTunesU page, as well as a bunch of other free tunes by some talented Stanford alumni.

My roommate brought a shirt to my attention that I should wear to Gnomedex (mostly because she’s convinced I’m going to a convention that’s literally all about gnomes), and we found a couple of other priceless punny tshirt gems:

“Gnomeland Security”
“To Gnome is to love me”
“Hanging with my Gnomies”

Puns aside, I’m really excited from Gnomedex. I believe I know at least two others going: Andrew Hyde and Bruce Henry, if you are attending please let me know.

Update! Marina Martin is going! Yay!

It’s also a bummer because I was supposed to start climbing this week forward on Tuesday and Thursday mornings early (like 6:30am early) at the Stone Gardens Gym in Ballard with Harmony.  But, seeing as I barely get up the stairs, I doubt I’ll be Spider-Man-ing up any walls soon.

Wow, two Marvel Comics references in one post.  Nice.

Saturday, I rode from my place to the University District to get some lights and a gear problem looked at.  I rode to Gasworks park to meet my friends Erica and Eva, and a bike festival was going on in the park. Not seriously, I took that as a good omen of my newly determined hardcore hobby.  Turns out, Eva just got a bike too, and needed a bike buddy!  Perfect.  After a bit, Erica went to go sailboating (as people are want to do in these parts) and Eva and I fetched her bike from Phinney Ridge and headed downtown to meet up with other friends for The Dark Knight at The Big Picture.  After that, I rode from Belltown to Justin’s place in lower Queen Anne, and even ran into (not literally) Andy along the way.  Biking is great!  All was well.  I was feeling really prepped for Monday’s commute.

So, along rolls Monday.  My ride into work is swell. I scoff at a hipster on a fixie along my way (internally, anyhow). I feel like a hardcore bike commuter.  I got up Pine Street!  Booyah!

(Warning: graphic description of DOOM)

Ride home: not so much.  Down on Westlake I attempt crossing the SLUT tracks (South Lake Union Trolley, for those not in Seattle) and totally biff it into the street.  TOTALLY BIFF IT.  FIRST DAY.  OMG.  A hipster on a fixie comes to my rescue.  IRONY.  I peel myself off the pavement and into the timely #17 bus (Patron Saint of all Wonderful Bus Lines). The pain… oh the pain… like a good geek, I twitter to keep my mind off the stinging as oxygen starts hitting raw areas on my legs.  Noticing high heeled girls on the bus giving me looks, my attention is brought to the fact that blood is making two little paths down my leg from my knee.  The pain. Off the bus. Pain. Up the hill. Pain. Limp into the condo. Pain.  Gingerly, I peel my clothes off and lower myself into the tub, then realize that my left leg is lacerated in several places on my thigh, and my knee looks like a large peeled blood grapefruit (but with real blood). I also sport a huge oval grease mark intersecting with the deepest part of the wound on my left knee.  My right leg looks like it has gills.  There’s more bruises starting to show up than unknown relatives after a lottery win.

I pour that stinging anti-bacteria stuff all over, and hold back on crying like a baby.  I nearly loose it when I realize I have to dig the grease out of my knee unless I want an impromptu involuntary tattoo. This was the really painful part, especially because it seemed to take forever. I clean a sharp pair of scissors and scrape as much of the grease out of my wound as I can stand to, then sit in the tub, whimpering a bit.  My kitty meows and tries to comfort me from the edge, fearing water yet very obviously concerned. Oh yeah, I’m a hardcore biker.  Riiiight.  I’m also Barack Obama.

Can’t wait for Day 5 - but I think I’m wearing pants instead of shorts tomorrow.

MORAL(s) OF THE STORY:

1.) The SLUT is a cruel mistress, and not to be trusted.  If you must cross the tracks, try to hit it at a ninety degree angle exactly.  I was close, but not close enough, and my tire got lodged in the track.  Newtonian physics does the rest.

2.) Always carry change for the bus. Don’t leave home without it.

3.) Like Han Solo says, “Don’t get cocky, kid!”

4.) Don’t judge the hipster on the fixie. They don’t all hit drivers with U-locks in the back of the head.

I bought a roundtrip U.S. Airways ticket from Seattle to Phoenix over the Independence Day weekend. My roundtrip ticket was $235, and I was ecstatic to see my friend Connie who lives there.

Sadly, I missed my SEA to PHX flight, but before I did I called U.S. Airways to reschedule my flight. I told the lady at U.S. Airways that I needed to schedule a later flight to PHX, and she said for a $100 rescheduling fee I could go later in the day. I was fine with that, it was my own fault I was rescheduling, no problem. She said the next flight would be 13 hours later. I did some quick math - that would be 1/6th of my precious time with Connie. Time I could not waste. I told the lady on the phone that I would book a one way flight with another airline down to PHX, because I wanted to get down there that morning. She was understanding, and quite pleasant, and all in all it was a fine phone call. But, the U.S. Airways attendant at this point failed to mention some important policies.

So, I booked a one way down to Phoenix, flew in only an hour and a half later than originally planned, and had a wonderful weekend with my friend. Then came the trouble.

At the end of my weekend in Phoenix, I called U.S. Airways again on my way to the airport. I tried to confirm my flight on the phone, and lo and behold - this lady from U.S. Airways informs me I no longer have a ticket to Seattle. They canceled my ticket home. Without letting me know, without contacting me, they took what I had paid for and left me stranded in the desert. I asked her why they canceled the ticket I had paid for without notice. She said, well, I should have called to let them know I was taking a one way on another airline to Phoenix. I said, I did. I called on Friday morning before my original flight out, and the U.S. Airlines representative I talked to didn’t said it was fine when I ran the one-way ticket idea by her.

This lady had no sympathy however (she made that obvious). My ticket was canceled, I was stuck in Phoenix. She told me it would be $150 to reschedule PLUS $147 additional because the ticket cost had gone up. I clarified with her that it would cost me another $297 dollars to get on the seat I had already bought, the seat which was originally one half of my $235 roundtrip ticket, the seat which I had not canceled and in fact had called the airline about before I even started my trip. Yes, she insisted, it would be $297.

In my mind, I quickly realized that 1.) U.S. Airways had failed me as a customer, 2.) I could fly one-way home to Seattle for cheaper than $297. So I said to her, “No thank you, I think I’d prefer to just find a flight home with another airline.” And then the coup de grâce: instead of saying “Thanks for donating $235 to U.S. Airways, I’m sorry I could not help you but have a nice day,” this lady hung up on me! She hung up on me! I have never been so rudely treated by any customer service representative in my life. I was not yelling at her, I accepted the policy though I was frustrated, I simply told her I didn’t want to give them another three hundred dollars and she hung up on me.

Now, I manage a tech support team - which is basically geeky customer service. I know customer service, and I know you never hang up on a customer. I saw neither end of my flight, and the lady hung up on me. Way to pour salt in my wound, U.S. Airways.

Luckily, a friend at Alaska Airlines saved my life and put me on a delightful flight home to sunny Seattle. I’m sharing this rant because I wanted to warn my friends about this policy, this airline’s lack of care for their customers, and because I’ve sent them a note regarding the debacle and used my blog to stage my rough draft.

I’m still trying to process all the photographs taken that weekend, but I’ll toss them online shortly. I learned a few things this weekend: 1.) US Airways is in cohorts with Beelzebub (this is foreshadowing to a long, ranty post of its own), 2.) this country is even more massive and beautiful than I tend to usually appreciate, and 3.) Connie is a really important part of my life.  I hate missing people that you just click with, that type of person who you could just hang out with for days on end.  Connie’s always been like that for me, and even as we change I find we’re always encouraging of who we actually are - it’s easy to be myself around her.  I’m lucky to have such good friends.

Things are going really well with the Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteering.  My “Little” is really fun to hang out with, she’s very smart and full of energy.  It’s also encouraging me to go on some fun little adventures.  For example, on Saturday we’re helping to restore a creek in Juanita while learning about the environment.

Also, on a bit of an overdue whim I’ve decided that over Independence Day I’ll be headed to hot, hot Arizona to visit my dear friend Connie. That’s fewer than two weeks away! It will be great just to have some quality one on one time like the good old days, but as a bonus we also have some fun plans: we’re going to the July 4th Tempe Town Festival, and then we’re going camping in the Grand Canyon. Camping in the Grand Canyon - how awesome is that?   Pretty awesome.  I am super excited for camping with Connie. I miss her.

But most of all, because stuff like this can be found on the street and end up in your Flickr friend’s photostream:

If can haz
Originally uploaded by Jamison

Sidenote:  I’m traveling right now, but in Spokane, Washington, not in the valley.  Just being in the hotel room here kind of reminded me of my last trip to San Francisco.  I’ll be back in Seattle on Saturday evening.

Saturday morning I sort of randomly went canoeing with Kevin, a fellow BrightKite beta user who I ran into last week at Indy. I had a great time and have never seen more turtles, check this out:

Crazy, eh? I love exploring the area via canoe, in fact I think the highlight of our morning paddling adventure was attempting to find a way through the reeds. It was pretty hilarious, especially when the going got tough and we nearly tried walking across some not-so-stable marshy “land” that turned out to be not so much “land” as a floating mass of vegetation.

Later on Saturday, I spent time with the girls at Gasworks Park for Elise’s bachelorette and went to a spa with Melissa for her birthday, so it was a very relaxing day. Saturday night Danielle and I went to the Ladytron concert, which was a blast, albeit a bit smelly in the mosh pit. I got some great pictures, so it was worth enduring. :-)

Sunday was our once-a-month family day, during which my nuclear family hangs out together. I always look forward to this, and Sunday was no exception. We enjoyed lunch at my place and a beautiful day at Woodland Park Zoo, but mostly we just enjoyed each other’s company.

Sunday night the usual crew and I went swing dancing, and the DJ was playing some rockabilly stuff that was rather jumping. Kevin dropped in as well and proved to be a really fun swing lead. But, we all had to get up early, for the next morning the crew and I (plus Bryan and Dustin) went hiking. We tried the Snow Lake trail off exit 52 on I-90 for a while, but as it was named appropriately we soon found things to be very, very cold and wet. We abandoned that trail and took the Rattlesnake Ledge trail - one of my favourites - and went further on it than I have before. Rattlesnake has some absolutely stunning views. I have to mention that the entire weekend had nothing but beautiful weather.

Weekends like this just make you love life. I feel really lucky.

Oh, and this is not related to last weekend, but I’m really excited about it, so it’s going in the blog anyway: I just got a call from Big Brothers/Big Sisters. It looks like they have matched me with a “little”; I’m really excited. I’ll be meeting her and her mother on the 10th. She’s 7 years old, and I’ve been told very bright and friendly. I’ve know what it’s like to be a real-life big sister, but Harmony is only a year and a half younger than me. We’re so close in age, it’s great - we’re best friends. But I’m a little nervous about how to be a mentor and friend to one so much younger than me. My excitement outweighs my nervousness though, I’m really looking forward to meeting and getting to know her.