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Archive of posts tagged seattle

downtown visits

at night from the highway, downtown seattle presents quite a variety of lights and shapes. obviously, as any other deer caught in the headlights, first chance i got i drove into it. no map, no gps and no idea how to get out of it. got the right exit, too bad i forgot to get off the secondary freeway which lead me straight into the port of seattle. found my way back to downtown, however it’s safe to say that it’s ‘good from far, far from good’.

thursday evening though, i couldn’t resist but visit again; don’t ask why. however, this time the prime objective was to visit a club. electronica music, three rooms, what more would one need. james lavelle was there for a gig, thus the night seemed promising. he didn’t disappoint. hard beats, crazy transitions. great night overall. i definitely recommend seeing him if one ever has the chance.

day two

wednesday, day two started at 6am. guess that’s quite a consistency. first things first, get a coffee brewed. i pick up one of the two cups that were placed with the coffee machine only to find it dirty of coffee. i was expecting the place to have been cleaned prior to me getting in. good thing i picked that cup to get some water.

7:30am, the conference registration was set to begin followed by the continental breakfast (fruits and bagels) that was promised. i’d ask where’s the meat? however, nobody would probably be listening. excitement was sort of building up, hoping the wireless is set up. turn on my laptop after i grabbed a baggle and some watermelon and there’s a wireless connection available with the name “conference…”. too bad it required a user name and password. next stop, registration desk to obtain the required information. keep in mind, last conference i was at complimentary wireless was offered. the answer “internet, we didn’t arrange that”. left speechless, returned to finish my buttered baggle and to pack my laptop.

the presentations started quite shortly after. quite impressive amount of work and information being presented. they were tailored for occupational hygienists. at first i was quite impressed, only to remember i’m actually at an occupational hygiene conference. presentations are done for the day and it’s onto downtown seattle for some sight seeing.

seattle conference part I

so it’s tuesday, the 14th of october, and decided to drive down to the conference to which i’m also presenting at. furthermore, decided to stay at the hotel where the conference is being held. good choice, in hind sight, really ‘good’ choice. i guess it will save me traveling time in the morning. the hotel itself is the hilton at seatac. overall the drive was great, fast and to some extent short. less than 2 hours once we passed the us/canada boarder. besides the ‘drivers’ on the road, with their american cars and high beams, all went quite well. overall, i do like the american roads, wide and open.

we get to the hotel, the usual customer service. i was informed that the requested room was available, a smoking king size bed. get the key, park the car for which one must pay a few per day. what happened to complimentary parking? guess they somehow forgot that part of customer service. almost every hotel has no-pay parking for their guests. you can only get into it with the room key, so why pay an extra fee. i guess they’ll charge for whatever they can get, given you can’t park anywhere on the street. i get to the room, a smoking room that is. the first thing i see is a sign saying ‘please do not smoke’. is this a commercial? or are they serious. i guess i didn’t quite get the ‘smoking’ room statement. there’s a phone in the room, so i used it. well, problem solved within 2 minutes. get a different room, a smoking one this time. it has two beds? i guess that shouldn’t be a problem, i only have to flip a coin about which one i’m gonna sleep in tonight.

the internet, the other complimentary thing most hotels offer, at least in the lobby. keep in mind, this hotel has conference centers which are rented on a regular basis. most people at conferences need internet. i guess i’m missing the point again, why offer it free when you can charge. i guess tomorrow i’m looking for a starbucks, at least they decided to offer free wireless again.