I went to New York..
Sep. 28th, 2013 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theducks.. and I got was a DuckDuckGo Tshirt.
Well, that and two Arduinos.
Let's take a few steps back.
Last year, I almost impulsively went to NYC for MakerFaire NYC. NYC and the Bay Area are the two big ones, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
erikarn was going to be at the NYC one last year. Like, it was 8PM and I was looking at a 11PM flight for $cheap$
I didn't go last year, in the end, but I decided afterwards that I regretted that decision, so this year, I went, leaving poorlizbyrd home alone. I've been doing a fair bit of evening and weekend work for customers, and so had a bit of extra leave built up, so I took off last Wednesday night, and spent Thursday->Sunday in NYC. I was pretty happy I went :)
On wednesday, when getting the MacBook Air ready to take, it was clear that it wasn't dissipating heat properly, probably because I'd got the heatsink kinda loose when fixing it a few months earlier, and it probably displaced some heatsink paste or something. Anyway, so I decided to go get some more from the local computer store, and replace it. From leaving for the car, to rebooting the fixed computer, took 20 minutes total. I'm impressed by that.
On the thursday, I arrived in early from an overnight flight. It was a Cathay Pacific flight that was HKG-YVR-JFK. Because it was only stopping over in Vancouver, people continuing on to JFK had to get off the plane and get hand searched, since they didn't go through customs. Also because of that, it is essentially the only flight from Vancouver to the US that doesn't clear US Customs in Vancouver. I had had a bit of a nap on the plane, which was good, so after the dreary welcome of US Customs, I decided to rent a car and go driving around Long Island. Awesome place. Saw some nice seaside towns.
I dropped the car back in the afternoon, and caught the train to my hotel in Manhattan (Days Hotel on 94th). Nice enough, but still really expensive, but it was nice to get a place to change out of clothes I'd had on for almost 24 hours, and settle in for the night. Had a good night's sleep, then went to the WTC memorial on Thursday morning. Was in line behind a farmer from Newdigate, Western Australia. Of course. Then headed up to Central Park, and had a wander through there for a few hours, before heading back to the hotel to charge my phone (important things in life, of course). I headed out around 5 to meet up with TofuCousin Janet to see a TofuCousin of hers' movie at an indie film festival in TriBeCa. After the movie, we went out to dinner and had a good chat. We saw her briefly at her wedding here in Vancouver back in May, but understandably, she was a little busy then, so it was really good to talk with her 1 on 1.
Saturday morning, I headed out to Corona NY (Flushing?) for the Maker Faire! Met up witherikarn and his girlfriend, as well as another friend from Australia, who I'd originally met in California at WWDC, back in 2007. Hung out with combinations of that group for the day, while looking at cool stuff from various makers. Lots of boring FDM 3D printers, but Formlabs was there with their STL printer, which is AMAZING. I wants one I does ;) Heading out after the day there, Adrian and girlfriend Ally and I went to dinner at an amazing steakhouse in Manhattan called Quality Meats.
Had brunch on Sunday with Janet and her husband, and a friend of theirs and his wife and kids. Gluten-free waffles with maple syrup and bacon. Sooo good. Janet gave me a shirt she'd got from DuckDuckGo after writing this opinion piece on CNN. Yay duck shirts. Went back to Maker Faire for the afternoon, then out to the airport again, and back to Vancouver.
I think I'll try to make Maker Faire Bay Area next year though.
Well, that and two Arduinos.
Let's take a few steps back.
Last year, I almost impulsively went to NYC for MakerFaire NYC. NYC and the Bay Area are the two big ones, and
erikarn was going to be at the NYC one last year. Like, it was 8PM and I was looking at a 11PM flight for $cheap$I didn't go last year, in the end, but I decided afterwards that I regretted that decision, so this year, I went, leaving poor
lizbyrd home alone. I've been doing a fair bit of evening and weekend work for customers, and so had a bit of extra leave built up, so I took off last Wednesday night, and spent Thursday->Sunday in NYC. I was pretty happy I went :)On wednesday, when getting the MacBook Air ready to take, it was clear that it wasn't dissipating heat properly, probably because I'd got the heatsink kinda loose when fixing it a few months earlier, and it probably displaced some heatsink paste or something. Anyway, so I decided to go get some more from the local computer store, and replace it. From leaving for the car, to rebooting the fixed computer, took 20 minutes total. I'm impressed by that.
On the thursday, I arrived in early from an overnight flight. It was a Cathay Pacific flight that was HKG-YVR-JFK. Because it was only stopping over in Vancouver, people continuing on to JFK had to get off the plane and get hand searched, since they didn't go through customs. Also because of that, it is essentially the only flight from Vancouver to the US that doesn't clear US Customs in Vancouver. I had had a bit of a nap on the plane, which was good, so after the dreary welcome of US Customs, I decided to rent a car and go driving around Long Island. Awesome place. Saw some nice seaside towns.
I dropped the car back in the afternoon, and caught the train to my hotel in Manhattan (Days Hotel on 94th). Nice enough, but still really expensive, but it was nice to get a place to change out of clothes I'd had on for almost 24 hours, and settle in for the night. Had a good night's sleep, then went to the WTC memorial on Thursday morning. Was in line behind a farmer from Newdigate, Western Australia. Of course. Then headed up to Central Park, and had a wander through there for a few hours, before heading back to the hotel to charge my phone (important things in life, of course). I headed out around 5 to meet up with TofuCousin Janet to see a TofuCousin of hers' movie at an indie film festival in TriBeCa. After the movie, we went out to dinner and had a good chat. We saw her briefly at her wedding here in Vancouver back in May, but understandably, she was a little busy then, so it was really good to talk with her 1 on 1.
Saturday morning, I headed out to Corona NY (Flushing?) for the Maker Faire! Met up with
erikarn and his girlfriend, as well as another friend from Australia, who I'd originally met in California at WWDC, back in 2007. Hung out with combinations of that group for the day, while looking at cool stuff from various makers. Lots of boring FDM 3D printers, but Formlabs was there with their STL printer, which is AMAZING. I wants one I does ;) Heading out after the day there, Adrian and girlfriend Ally and I went to dinner at an amazing steakhouse in Manhattan called Quality Meats.Had brunch on Sunday with Janet and her husband, and a friend of theirs and his wife and kids. Gluten-free waffles with maple syrup and bacon. Sooo good. Janet gave me a shirt she'd got from DuckDuckGo after writing this opinion piece on CNN. Yay duck shirts. Went back to Maker Faire for the afternoon, then out to the airport again, and back to Vancouver.
I think I'll try to make Maker Faire Bay Area next year though.
