Wheels Recovered

I got a call this morning from the transmission shop telling me my vehicle was ready. I walked over and, just short of $2600 later, I had a working minivan again.

Based on what the shop manager said about what their warranty does and does not cover, even in retrospect, buying the lifetime warranty four years ago wouldn't have paid off, because he said it only covers parts, not labor, and labor was more than half the cost of the repair.

Now I need to concentrate on work for a while before finishing packing and heading off to ConStruction late this afternoon.

Ready for ConStruction

We got down to the hotel without incident (carpool lanes good) and moved into the hotel. The internet is free, but it's wired only. Theoretically there is wireless in the lobby, but I couldn't get my machine to connect to it. This means Cheryl and I have to take turns using the internet connection. If we'd known about this, we could have brought the little hub with us and split the connection. Actually, we managed to forget several small things, and are contemplating making a quick trip back up to Fremont late tonight when it can be done quickly on account of there being no traffic.

Having moved in and checked our respective e-mail, blogs, etc., we popped across the street to Chipotle for dinner, then walked a mile or so to help burn a little bit of the burritos before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the pre-con reception. In a few minutes, we'll head on down for dessert and socializing.

ConStruction Mixer

We had a decent turn out for the ConStruction opening night mixer. The promised dessert service unexpectedly morphed into a light hors d'oerves and cookies service, but I thought it was okay. Chris Garcia called one platter "dessert shrimp." I took a few photos and put them on my Flickr account. I think the one of Chris (for TAFF) Garcia turned out particularly well. (Remember, TAFF voting closes in only a week! Remember to vote!)

Cheryl and I did decide to pop back up to Fremont to collect a few things we forgot, mainly because we could go to the apartment and back in less than an hour at this time of night. One thing we couldn't find is the small ethernet hub so we could share the wired connection here in the hotel room. I think I must have put it in the storage locker in the last fit of cleaning around here. Oh, well, we'll survive having to take turns.