[WoW] Gauntlets of Malorne

We had our second Curator kill last Monday (first time, no deaths, despite bringing a character with no Karazhan experience along), and I managed to win the gloves token that dropped.

This is my first piece of raid tier armor ever. I am still a bit giddy about it.

Cupertino

I'm in Cupertino for a quick business trip for a few days.

Timing has been inconvenient. My flight left at 6:35am on Wednesday, so I had to wake up at 4:30 to get out to the airport--when I usually wake up at 9. My return flight is at 6:15am on Friday, so I'll have to wake up early for that too--but at least it's Pacific time.

Even though I could feel that I was getting progressively more crispy throughout the day, I managed to have a really good, productive meeting with the California folks. We didn't solve all our problems, but we came up with one clear, simple idea for handling the biggest of my problems that really seems very right.

I got together with Laura and Jeff in the evening for dinner. I was feeling petulant about having eaten nothing but airport food so far that day, so asked for a restaurant that would hit the edge of Apple's per diem. We ended up with a very nice dinner at the Faultline Brewing Company.

This trip has been full of minor vexations (some of which have been exacerbated by sleep deprivation, no doubt):
- My laptop is displaying battery problems that cause it to shut down suddenly and unexpectedly. It shut down with a battery charge of 30% yesterday, and at 60% today, neither time with a 'would you like to use my last few joules of energy to save your work?' suggestion.
- The car rental company was out of cars, and I had to wait for half an hour to get one.
- I couldn't figure out how to open the trunk of the rental car. (I ended up calling the roadside assistance number they provided. It took two iterations of "let me do some research and call you back.")
- I misread the price for my entree at dinner, and was too slow to handle the issue correctly when I discussed it with the waiter. (Honestly, given my petulant "spend the per diem" attitude, I would have been as happy or happier to pay the correct higher price than the erroneous lower price. I just had mistaken expectations, and didn't figure out that my expectations were wrong until the next day.)
- The first power outlet I tried in the hotel room didn't provide power.
- I forgot to bring a cable for my iPhone, so I can't charge it. I'm not using it as an iPod so I have lots of time for calls.
- I was given someone else's bill at breakfast, and didn't notice it until I had already paid. (I did notice it before leaving, and the manager and staff were smooth and helpful about correcting the error.)
- I visited Onsite Support because of my laptop battery issues, and found out that they are temporarily out of spare batteries until later this afternoon.
- My boss was to join us for a second meeting this afternoon, but he can't make it because of a missed connection.

It's hard for me to assess these rationally--I know that I'm still not in the best of moods. But it does seem like an above-usual number of minor inconveniences, even once I rule out the ones that arguably my fault.

Inauthentic

Two signs that Armadillo Willy's is not a truly authentic Texas barbecue experience (aside, of course, from the fact that it's in Silicon Valley):
- Free wireless internet access.
- Grey Poupon.
But the meat was tasty and the WiFi was convenient. I'm not castigating, I'm just... just sayin'.


I'm kind of tickled by the mental image of an upper-crust gentleman rolling down the limousine window and saying "Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?" to the cowboy riding alongside.