Off to Denver

Today I'm flying out to Denver, CO for a meeting tomorrow at CableLabs. I'll be flying home Wednesday.

Last night I went through my laptop bag to make sure I don't have any dangerous contraband, like my multitools. Grrrr. Since I can't stand being without at least a pocketknife for more than a day, my Victorinox SwissTool RS, Pioneer Farmer, and my Benchmade Griptilian were placed in a bag which I'll check.

I wonder how many checked bags can be attributed to the stupid ban on pocketknives? I can carry pointed scissors in my carry on bag, as long as the blades are less than 4 inches (~10 cm) in length. So why can't I carry a Swiss Army Knife?

In the aftermath of 9/11, who thinks that it would be possible to hijack an airliner with a knife? The would-be hijacker would get beaten to a pulp by the other passengers.

It's security theater plain and simple.

Homeward bound

I'm killing time in Denver International Airport (DEN). I got here well ahead of time so I could check my bag and clear security. A little while ago I learned my flight is delayed at least an hour and 45 minutes. It's probably due to the weather in Philadelphia. I'd much rather wait in the terminal than onboard the plane.

DEN has WiFi provided by AT&T for $7.95 per day, which is reasonable. Even if I don't get reimbursed by my employer I can deduct it from my taxes, so while I'd rather have free WiFi, I'm not complaining. It's reasonably fast and I've been able to check both my work and personal email without any problems, along with a bit of web surfing. I even managed to snag an electrical outlet so I can recharge my laptop.

Edit: My flight is now delayed until 15:05 Denver time. Yay.

CableLabs Conference

I've been in Denver, CO since Sunday attending the CableLabs Winter '07 conference. It's been interesting seeing what's coming down the pike for the cable industry. Things like mobile video, higher Internet access speeds, and VOIP. A lot of the time has been devoted to the back end stuff that customers never see but is critical for providing services. I've also spent time talking with several vendors about their products to see whether they'd be of interest to my employer.

Tomorrow I fly home. The weather forecast for Philly is calling for snow, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that we won't be delayed.

Heading to Denver Tomorrow

I am flying to Denver tomorrow to attend the CableLabs Winter 2007 Conference this week. I'll be flying home Wednesday.

While packing tonight I had to sanitize my laptop bag, which I carry on, to avoid getting flagged as a terrorists. The items I normally carry which I had to remove include my Gerber Multiplier, Victorinox CyberTool 41 SAK, and a lighter. All but the lighter got put in the duffle which I'll be checking; you can no longer take lighters or matches on airplanes in the US. But for the fact that you can no longer take pocket knives on airplanes, I wouldn't have check any luggage.

I also carry things like Afrin, a tube of Neutrogena hand lotion, Visine, and Purell in my laptop bag. Those have to go into a one quart Ziploc bag.

Stupid fracking TSA regulations.

Back From Chicago

The SCTE conference wrapped up yesterday morning. Overall, I think it was very worthwhile to attend.

My flight wasn't until 4:10 Chicago time but hotel checkout was noon, so I wound up getting to O'Hare with plenty of time to spare. I made it through the TSA gauntlet without having to submit to the anal probe, then wandered around looking to find somewhere to grab lunch. I would up getting some McDreck and camping out at a relatively quiet gate.

O'Hare doesn't have free wifi but I had enough time to occupy that I deemed it worthwhile to buy access from Boingo; $6.95 for a 24 hour period. I used it for an hour or so, enough to check email and a couple of forums. The speed ranged from OK to dreadful, probably depending upon how many people were trying to use the connection simultaneously. That, or someone was downloading some massive PowerPoint presentation.

After awhile at my gate, I began to wonder if I was at the correct gate. There weren't any updates on the board behind the counter, and I saw that the monitors operated by United showed that my US Air flight was departing from a different gate. After going to that gate I found that the stamp on my boarding pass was correct. I ran into a few other people who did the same thing. I subsequently spoke to a US Air rep, they know about the problem, and United refuses to correct it. This is emblematic of the "customer last" attitude of US airlines. If United won't fix it then someone at US Air needs to go up the food chain at O'Hare and get them to kick United in the butt.

Once in the air things went a lot more smoothly. Even though we were late in boarding and taking off, we had enough of a tailwind that we made up enough time to actually arrive early. Even better, once we debarked I got my bag in about 15 minutes, a record for Philadelphia, where up until know it has usually taken nearly an hour.