Okay, so webwoman (the lovely wife) and I have been camped out at the US Grant for a whole day now. And, since many of you are going to be here soon or wish that you could be, I thought I would take the time to write up some observations. So, in no particular order, here they are...

The General Location

The location is nice! It's right downtown. Those who were nonplussed at last year's somewhat less-than-downtown location in Chicago will be very pleased. We are two blocks down from City Hall, a few blocks away from "the Gaslamp District" (the San Diego version of what many cities call "old town"). Right across the street is the rather touristy (if unprofitable) Planet Hollywood, and a few blocks down is the local Hard Rock Cafe outlet (suitable for souvenirs for surly teenagers, for example), and so on... there will be many attractions for we Summiteers when the conference is not happening. There is a movie theater not far, there is a "legitimate" theater not far, and many restaurants in "Little Italy" which is next to the Gaslamp District. Speaking of these, they are noteworthy for two reasons: they each seem to have outside tables (which are very nice in the pleasantly warm San Diego evenings), and they each have a pretty female "barker" who tries to lure you into their restaurant. Some of the restaurants have live music. There is a Brazilian Steak House just down the street that has an all-you-can-eat dinner of meat, meat, and more meat (for $20-$24). There's an Indian place that looks pretty good just two blocks away; they advertise Tandoori cooking. For the thrifty among us, there is a Rite-Aid right next to the US Grant. It has lots of items like water and soda and other food items. It also has lots of homeless people milling nearby, so if that sort of thing is unusual to you, then brace yourself and pretend you're from the Big City and charge right on through the metal detector. (Closed circuit to Dennis Little: the Rite Aid does seem to have your weird flavor of Coke.) Speaking of water and soda, the rooms have a "mini bar" with the normal super-expensive prices for smaller-than-normal cans. But, you can empty it out and have the "staff" come get the stuff for you -- then you can put all your own stuff in there. One last thing: Starbucks is a block and a half away, thank God!

The rooms

The rooms are nice! They look like a hotel room, but a few things are noteworthy. There are barely enough electrical outlets for the lamps and clock, so bring a power strip if you have more than your laptop to plug in. Even with ours, there are just enough. The local Earthlink number is 331 0143, and there's a 75 cent charge per call from the room. Typical, I suppose. And, the good news for those blessed with Mr. Rick O'Shay (the wireless Ricochet modems from Metricom) is that they do work, and they work great. We still haven't figured out how to get it to work at full speed on a Mac, but otherwise it works great. Back to the rooms... The windows are odd. You can open them and get some fresh air! It shows the age of the hotel, I guess. And, there's another thing: while the "thin" drapes cover the windows in their entirety, the thick drapes do not -- it took me a while to figure out that way up there at the top of the windows are the roller style of blinds. The rooms have lamps, but no overhead lights. You switch the lamps on individually, so have fun if you check in at night. Our room (a "garden variety" $150 room) has a small couch, a separate chair, a coffee table, and a separate small table and chair suitable for working with the computer. There are three phones, including the one in the bathroom. The bathrooms are nice and big! But, the shower pressure is "normal" for hotels, which is to say weak. The local television lineup is adequate, with CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, your normal "first run Hollywood movies" and hotel porno, discreetly billed of course. There are a ton of Spanish language stations!

The Rest of the Hotel

The hotel lobby is nice! There are lots of chairs for clandestine conversations, a piano, and nice surroundings. There's a bar, a grill, a bagel shop, and a gift shop. The staff is super-friendly and will go out of their way to help. Parking is $15 per day -- gotta love that hotel lifestyle.

Who's here already?

We saw Laurent Ribardière and Asmae Benkirane from 4D SA last night -- they came a couple of days early to enjoy the sights. We saw Jim Staples, Doris Beaulieu, and Kent Wilbur this afternoon; they are busily preparing for the conference. Brendan Coveney is rumored to be arriving tonight!

The surrounding area

We went to the Zoo today. It was rad. We went through the Panda line twice. If you decide to go, be warned: October is "kids are free" month, and the school busses from Tijuana come early and stay all day. Today when we went, it was "everybody gets in free" day, which made for a very crowded Zoo. The animals are more lively in the morning than in the afternoon when they mostly sleep, so go early and leave early. (http://www.sandiegozoo.org/)

More to come!

It feels like this Summit this year is going to be especially fun -- so come prepared!