Napless in Naperville

(Because it was the best headline I could come up with that alliterated with "Naperville," that's why.)

Although I was ready to go right to sleep when I came back to the hotel from the office this evening around 7 PM, I inexplicably got "second wind" and now find myself awake and not wanting to be here at 1 AM. That's because I'm supposed to be in the office for an 8 AM conference call, although as I've not technically yet received the invitation for it (the host forgot), it probably won't make a lot of difference if I'm not there.

Addicted to Broadband

Although this hotel has wireless internet, and although the connection speed to the hotel's network here in the room is maximum most of the time, it appears that the hotel's connection to the rest of the world is a narrow straw compared to the large pipe that is our DSL connection back home in Fremont. Rugby matches that I download in maybe 20 minutes at home are reporting a projected 20 hour download time before aborting entirely. Live streaming of the Cricket World Cup matches is doubtful at best. It shows how accustomed we've become to having a fast, reliable, broadband connection to how much we complain when it's not available.

Timing

To my astonishment, despite having had only about four hours' sleep, I woke up just before the alarm, even though that was only 4 AM California time. Even more astonishing to me was that I was able to get fed, showered, and dressed within an hour.

Cheryl is going into Chicago today, so I'll drop her off at the train station on my way to my office. The Metra commuter rail system here has some express inbound trains that put Caltrain's "Baby Bullet" expresses in a bad light. Imagine a Caltrain run that originating at San Jose, stopping at Santa Clara and Mountain View, then running non-stop to San Francisco 3rd & King. But OTOH, Cheryl doesn't necessarily want or need to catch that express train, because, particularly as it is now snowing, having an extra 40-plus minutes on the train, warm and dry, with a book she's enjoying reading, isn't such a bad thing.

Go Sharks!

[No Sharks icons in the library, I'm afraid.]

The bandwidth in the hotel room isn't up to streaming video, but was able to handle audio, so I got to listen to the San Jose Sharks - Nashville Predators opening game of the Stanley Cup NHL hockey playoffs this evening. (I had to borrow Cheryl's computer, as mine suddenly decided there was no wireless connection anymore. I think the wireless card may be giving out on me.)

The Sharks gave up a big lead and ended up letting Nashville tie it up with only seconds left in the game and send it to overtime, but after an inconclusive first OT period, won the game in the second OT. Hooray for the Sharks!

Hooray for the NHL, too, for offering the audio feed for free, in contrast to the streaming audio deal over on MLB.com, where you have to buy the whole season if you want to listen to even one game, except that games in your home market are blacked out. I might buy a few games while I'm here in Chicago if they weren't too expensive, but why should I pay for a service that I'm unlikely to be able to access (or need) for the rest of the season. Unlike some of my co-workers, who are so recognized by the staff over at the Wyndham that the manager greets them by name and gives them comp suite upgrades, I don't travel enough to justify it.

(And yes, I know I'll be in Japan for much of September, but I don't see myself hunting around for an internet connection at odd hours in order to listen to Giants baseball games. Besides, if they keep playing like this first week of the season, I don't know if I'll want to listen to the games anyway.)