I woke up Friday ready to head home. It had been a long week...very productive and some fun too. I met David for breakfast...we were on the same flight to Oslo (as was alot of the participants). The bus to the Tromso airport was precisely on time as was the flight. There are definitely some advantages to small airports when travelling! When I got to Oslo, I cruised through customs and did some shopping in duty free. I never had a chance to check out the capital of Norway...it certainly would have been interesting had I had a chance.
I got on the plane to Iceland and settled in next to two teenagers who were on their way to visit relatives in Minnesota. After a brief chat with them, I decided to settle in to watch a movie and zone out. I was watching "Duplicity" and after a few minutes, my chair started to shake, and I heard some screaming...I took of my head set and turned around and saw that a man was convulsing...he was having some kind of attack! The woman next to him was screaming for help....immediately four people came over and a couple of flight attendants. He appeared to be a man in his 70s (as did the woman with him). The people who were helping moved him off his chair (he was in the aisle) onto the floor. I soon found out that two of the guys were Emegency Medical Technicians (EMTs), another guy was in med school and a woman was a physical therapist. Meanwhile the flight attendants asked if there was a medical doctor on the plane....
He was unconscious but breathing...the flight attendants brought a medical kit and an oxygen tank. I felt helpless but between the teenagers next to me and the woman with the two little kids across the aisle I spent time calming them and assuring them it would be ok. As the volunteers continued to work on the man, we learned that his wife was a nurse and that he was taking heart medication.
The attendants came over and told the EMTs that they had two minutes to decide if we should turn around or continue on to Iceland. They said they were still evaluating him and would know soon. Once he got on the Oxygen, he woke up....he was definitely disoriented but apparently his blood pressure was stabilized....as was his pulse. They EMT's (who were clearly running the show) said that we could continue to Iceland.
The next thing they did was move him back into his seat....he started to have problems again and they realized he needed to stretch out...the flight was completely full...the guy who was in the window in his row, moved into the seat of one of the EMT's. then they stretched him out, with his head at the aisle end and his feet on the lap of his wife who took the window seat. The physical therapist, who seemed to have a calming effect on the man ordered a stretcher and ambulance for when we landed in Iceland. She switched seats with the guy across the aisle from the man. The EMT who was out of a seat took one of the extra Flight Attendant seats as we landed.
As I left the plane I thought about how often I had travelled and never saw anything like this.
When I got on the flight from Iceland to Boston, the physical therapist was on the same flight; she told me that when the man got off the plane he was evaluated, and they decided to send him along his next leg to Minnesota. I saw the EMT's in the airport as well...they said they thought it was some kind of cardiac event; if so they saved his life.
The next leg was uneventful (I finished Duplicity...it was just ok). I was very happy to be home safe and sound and have a nice quiet weekend at home with the family.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday
I knew I could not miss Erin's talk at 9am but I was very tempted to sleep in. I decided to set my alarm for 8:15 and see how I felt. But I got out of bed showered and headed down with plenty of time for the breakfast buffet.
Every year at this conference with have a key word. If you are presenting you have to try and work it in. Last year it was WIKI. This year it was Balkanization and Smartcards. I got it into my talk and Erin one-upped me by actually getting both into his slide deck. I was really impressed. But after his talk there was really only one more session that I was interested in followed by the closing plenary and the announcement of the location of the next conference. This is supposed to be a secret but its one of the worst kept secrets I've ever seen. There was more traditional Nordic entertainment and the announcement that next year's conference will be in (drum-roll) Turkey!
I decided to go for a walk and do some shopping after lunch. I loved one shop that was kind of a comic book/ gaming shop.
They had an authentic replica of the Sauron mask from Lord of the Rings. We walked around...went to a few shops and I did some more shopping. We passed Emmas, and I remembered that someone told me it was the best restaurant in Tromso and one of the top restaurants in Norway. I made a mention to David that we should go there and that was that.
When I got back I got ready for the annual Common Criteria Vendor Forum and the Common Criteria senior management team. I was expecting to do some talking but I wasn't expecting to be referenced by the senior guy from the US off the bat. Earlier Laura had said she wanted to be the Josh of her industry. Somehow with my propoosal I had become a leader and someone people wanted to work with. I can't wait to get back to the office and debrief with my own company about my successes.
After the meeting we agreed to meet and try to go to Emmas.
When we got there, we asked for dinner for five and she said fine as long as we were out of there by 7:30pm. Prices were OUTRAGEOUS....but the food and the company was amazing. I had the soup, lamb and then the server told us the chef had a special "cheesecake" that was off menu which she highly recommended. It wasn't an American style cheese-cake....honestly I can't
re
ally describe it other than it was outstanding! With a lovely COTES De Rhone before tip the bill was about $700 for 5 people. Luckily Eric and Erin decided to pick up the tab....as of course they were entertaining us.
When I got back to my room, Alan told me that the Norwegian version of The Amazing Race was filming the start of one outside our hotel at 10:30. But I was too focused on providing, you the faithful reader my update.
Every year at this conference with have a key word. If you are presenting you have to try and work it in. Last year it was WIKI. This year it was Balkanization and Smartcards. I got it into my talk and Erin one-upped me by actually getting both into his slide deck. I was really impressed. But after his talk there was really only one more session that I was interested in followed by the closing plenary and the announcement of the location of the next conference. This is supposed to be a secret but its one of the worst kept secrets I've ever seen. There was more traditional Nordic entertainment and the announcement that next year's conference will be in (drum-roll) Turkey!
I decided to go for a walk and do some shopping after lunch. I loved one shop that was kind of a comic book/ gaming shop.
They had an authentic replica of the Sauron mask from Lord of the Rings. We walked around...went to a few shops and I did some more shopping. We passed Emmas, and I remembered that someone told me it was the best restaurant in Tromso and one of the top restaurants in Norway. I made a mention to David that we should go there and that was that.When I got back I got ready for the annual Common Criteria Vendor Forum and the Common Criteria senior management team. I was expecting to do some talking but I wasn't expecting to be referenced by the senior guy from the US off the bat. Earlier Laura had said she wanted to be the Josh of her industry. Somehow with my propoosal I had become a leader and someone people wanted to work with. I can't wait to get back to the office and debrief with my own company about my successes.
After the meeting we agreed to meet and try to go to Emmas.
When we got there, we asked for dinner for five and she said fine as long as we were out of there by 7:30pm. Prices were OUTRAGEOUS....but the food and the company was amazing. I had the soup, lamb and then the server told us the chef had a special "cheesecake" that was off menu which she highly recommended. It wasn't an American style cheese-cake....honestly I can't
re
ally describe it other than it was outstanding! With a lovely COTES De Rhone before tip the bill was about $700 for 5 people. Luckily Eric and Erin decided to pick up the tab....as of course they were entertaining us. When I got back to my room, Alan told me that the Norwegian version of The Amazing Race was filming the start of one outside our hotel at 10:30. But I was too focused on providing, you the faithful reader my update.
Gala Dinner
David, Alan, Erin, Eric and I agreed to meet at 7 for beverages outside of the Rica Hall where the Gala Dinner was to take place. After much milling around, we were able to finally get into the room. It was setup banquet style with round tables. We tried to secure the table so that we could get three of our other friends to join, but we ended up with two guys from Europe and Roger from Microsoft. It turned out ok because the room was so loud that you couldn't hear the other side of the table. They started with the appetizer which was mild but quite tasty. Then they went to a short speech followed by the awarding of certificates. I was to receive three certs, one from Canada and two from the US. So Canada was 1st and they had definitely not worked out the logistics as hand shakes and photos were awkward and they must have told everybody that the award would just flash on the screen, and then they should just collect the cert and go down. On top of that, Bob from the Canadian scheme had just told me at lunch that he was sick and had gone to the hospital with some kind of virus....so I just wanted to rush to the bathroom to wash my hands. They cruised through the Canadian awards and we took a group shot (myself and the other Canadian recipients below the stage). 
Unfortunately after that, the rest of the schemes did not follow the same rules. 30 minutes later (after I had washed my hands thoroughly), the US scheme presented. They called me up and then realizing that their certs were not in the same order of the slides asked me to stay on the stage and wait for my award. I was behind the podium and had flashes of my dance earlier in the day....luckily I didn't have to wait long before they called me. I recieved my two awards and we took a couple of nice shots on the stage.
One hour later they finally served the main course, Fillet of Bambi...er Reindeer.
It was actually terrific, tasted a bit like bison. The Cloudberry dessert was also lovely. I didn't like the Cognac, but I had had enough wine....There was more Nordic entertainment...a singer and a sax...and a nice slide show about Tromso.
I headed up feeling great about the day. I decided I was done drinking, but wanted to see people so I went to the 4th Floor Skibsbroen Bar. I drank about a gallon of ice water while I talked to the guys from Australia and Canada. Then I ended up talking to Glenn from Microsoft for about two hours mostly about shop. By the time I got back to my room it was 1:52 am. I didn't fall asleep until 3.
Wednesday....my session
I was a bit wired and hopped out of bed around 5:45 am. I was anxious about my talk but the dry run had really helped my confidence. I had a big breakfast and headed off to some sessions. I have to say that the sessions were quite good...the best of the three conferences that I have attended for sure.
After the break, I headed to my presentation room to get ready. Earlier I had asked Ingrid (the Norwegian intern, with the go-go boots) to setup a 2nd microphone since we were presenting together. But when I got to the room, nothing was setup. So I ran out and grabbed her and she pulled in the Conference techies; they showed up with what looked liked coat hangers for the head; they actually were mikes....similar to what musical theatre uses. This meant we would be wireless and would be able to roam the stage....this would almost become a disaster as you'll read in a moment....
I started to get a little nervous as the time got closer and Eric still hadn't shown up. My talk was at 11:30 and by 11:25 as the previous presenter was wrapping up, Eric walked in.
So we had setup our presentation in that Eric would do the 1st half and I would do the 2nd. We had the largest room and a big crowd...but I was not nervous at all. The presenters did not provide clickers so we had to be at the laptop to flip the slides which was at the podium. So I "drove" while he talked and then we switched.
Let me pause to tell you a bit about the stage. It was a standard rectangle but the steps were cut into the stage right behind the podium, vs attached to the stage. This design is fine if you just stand behind the podium but isn't great if you are going to move about.
Once I started talking my adrenalin started to kick in as I knew my topic so well. I was roaming the stage and working the crowd. I was going back and forth across the stage and was trying to avoid blocking the screen. So I went behind Eric and almost fell down the stairs. I kept on rolling and then I did it again...this time it was much closer to a fall--I did a kind of pirouette . I told the crowd...I think I'll move over here...to the other side of the stage...that got a laugh from the crowd. Alan has filmed this whole presentation, so I hope to upload that portion when I get the chance.
After the talk so many people came up to us and congratulated us on our idea and wanted to work with us. I was told that my energy and enthusiasm stood out and was refreshing for a conference like this. I felt great and as if a big weight had been lifted from my shoulders. After lunch I headed up to my room to catch up on work and decompress. It was a very cold and rainy day and not terrific for exploring the island. I thought I would get out and walk about on Thursday.
After the break, I headed to my presentation room to get ready. Earlier I had asked Ingrid (the Norwegian intern, with the go-go boots) to setup a 2nd microphone since we were presenting together. But when I got to the room, nothing was setup. So I ran out and grabbed her and she pulled in the Conference techies; they showed up with what looked liked coat hangers for the head; they actually were mikes....similar to what musical theatre uses. This meant we would be wireless and would be able to roam the stage....this would almost become a disaster as you'll read in a moment....
I started to get a little nervous as the time got closer and Eric still hadn't shown up. My talk was at 11:30 and by 11:25 as the previous presenter was wrapping up, Eric walked in.
So we had setup our presentation in that Eric would do the 1st half and I would do the 2nd. We had the largest room and a big crowd...but I was not nervous at all. The presenters did not provide clickers so we had to be at the laptop to flip the slides which was at the podium. So I "drove" while he talked and then we switched.
Let me pause to tell you a bit about the stage. It was a standard rectangle but the steps were cut into the stage right behind the podium, vs attached to the stage. This design is fine if you just stand behind the podium but isn't great if you are going to move about.
Once I started talking my adrenalin started to kick in as I knew my topic so well. I was roaming the stage and working the crowd. I was going back and forth across the stage and was trying to avoid blocking the screen. So I went behind Eric and almost fell down the stairs. I kept on rolling and then I did it again...this time it was much closer to a fall--I did a kind of pirouette . I told the crowd...I think I'll move over here...to the other side of the stage...that got a laugh from the crowd. Alan has filmed this whole presentation, so I hope to upload that portion when I get the chance.
After the talk so many people came up to us and congratulated us on our idea and wanted to work with us. I was told that my energy and enthusiasm stood out and was refreshing for a conference like this. I felt great and as if a big weight had been lifted from my shoulders. After lunch I headed up to my room to catch up on work and decompress. It was a very cold and rainy day and not terrific for exploring the island. I thought I would get out and walk about on Thursday.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday
So one quick strange wrap-up of Monday...when I got back to my room after our touring, I had a note on the desk:
"Hi there, I see you are a Stephen King fan. Cool! The Stand is awesome. Read it when I was 16... Kind regards, Rolf (the guy who did your room) ... aka Randall Flagg;)"
Should I be freaked out about this, or chalk this up to cultural differences? I don't want the cleaners looking at my stuff.
Anyhoo...on to Tuesday... I didn't have the greatest of sleeps (last nights dinner didn't sit very well), but I managed to get down to breakfast by 8am. The Opening Plenary didn't start until 9:30, luckily. After a nice breakfast of Porridge and hearing about one of the conference attendees hobby of training Police officers how to drive, I headed off to the conference. I must say that content wise, this was the best of the three that I've attended for the introductory sessions. Lunch was a very nicely prepared baked salmon with a dill sauce. I attended more sessions in the afternoon and Eric and I did a nice dry run of our talk tomorrow with a few of our friends here. The hotel doesn't have a business center (or a gym for that matter) so it was a bit challenging getting my presentation printed but they were REALLY nice about it. Also everybody speaks very good English.
Tonight was the 10th anniversary celebration so they announced in the morning sessions that they had a very special surprise planned for tonight but NO FOOD would be served so for "those of you who like to eat, be sure you are done by 8pm as the buses will leave promptly at that time. Eric and I had already arranged to do our dry run at 6pm just after the last session of the day was over so we knew it was going to be tight. By the time we sat down at "Steakers" (yes the restaurant that was closed last night) it was 6:45 and it seemed like 1/2 the conference had decided to eat at the same place. We told our server that we needed to be served fast and by 7:18 she showed up with our food. However by the time we got our check it was 7:52. We settled up and ran back to the hotel and I poked my head into the 1st bus and said, "How much time have I got?" He goes, 5 minutes. I ran up, grabbed my bag (cameras) and did a quick pit stop. I got back down and all 10 buses were GONE. It had been 3 minutes....but it was past 8! I was not the only person who missed the bus....so three of us grabbed a cab...and headed over to The Arctic Cathedral for the World Premiere of Du Dihtes -- Because of You.
The performance was commissioned by the organizers of the conference. The piece was divided into three parts: Berlin, Du Dihtes, and Because of You. The 1st part was a 4 part Jazz band. Then the sami yoik artist Lawra Somby did a "yoik" called "Du Dihtes" with the band.
In the final part, the InTuit Dance Company performed with students from Tromso Kulturskole a VERY modern dance. The students seemed to be in their early teens, but there were some parts that were very risque. They were very good and we were quite impressed.
I decided to walk back over the bridge to Tromso with Alan and David. We stopped for an Aquavit and a Mack...then headed back to te hotel for a night-cap. I hung with my Brit friends again...some of the same folks that I partied with last year. We chatted about work stuff mixed in with observations about the country and the town. Its 1:35 am and I should be getting ready for bed but I must write for my readers! Maybe tomorrow I'll try and upload a short snippet vid from the entertainment! Good Night!
"Hi there, I see you are a Stephen King fan. Cool! The Stand is awesome. Read it when I was 16... Kind regards, Rolf (the guy who did your room) ... aka Randall Flagg;)"
Should I be freaked out about this, or chalk this up to cultural differences? I don't want the cleaners looking at my stuff.
Anyhoo...on to Tuesday... I didn't have the greatest of sleeps (last nights dinner didn't sit very well), but I managed to get down to breakfast by 8am. The Opening Plenary didn't start until 9:30, luckily. After a nice breakfast of Porridge and hearing about one of the conference attendees hobby of training Police officers how to drive, I headed off to the conference. I must say that content wise, this was the best of the three that I've attended for the introductory sessions. Lunch was a very nicely prepared baked salmon with a dill sauce. I attended more sessions in the afternoon and Eric and I did a nice dry run of our talk tomorrow with a few of our friends here. The hotel doesn't have a business center (or a gym for that matter) so it was a bit challenging getting my presentation printed but they were REALLY nice about it. Also everybody speaks very good English.
Tonight was the 10th anniversary celebration so they announced in the morning sessions that they had a very special surprise planned for tonight but NO FOOD would be served so for "those of you who like to eat, be sure you are done by 8pm as the buses will leave promptly at that time. Eric and I had already arranged to do our dry run at 6pm just after the last session of the day was over so we knew it was going to be tight. By the time we sat down at "Steakers" (yes the restaurant that was closed last night) it was 6:45 and it seemed like 1/2 the conference had decided to eat at the same place. We told our server that we needed to be served fast and by 7:18 she showed up with our food. However by the time we got our check it was 7:52. We settled up and ran back to the hotel and I poked my head into the 1st bus and said, "How much time have I got?" He goes, 5 minutes. I ran up, grabbed my bag (cameras) and did a quick pit stop. I got back down and all 10 buses were GONE. It had been 3 minutes....but it was past 8! I was not the only person who missed the bus....so three of us grabbed a cab...and headed over to The Arctic Cathedral for the World Premiere of Du Dihtes -- Because of You.
The performance was commissioned by the organizers of the conference. The piece was divided into three parts: Berlin, Du Dihtes, and Because of You. The 1st part was a 4 part Jazz band. Then the sami yoik artist Lawra Somby did a "yoik" called "Du Dihtes" with the band.
In the final part, the InTuit Dance Company performed with students from Tromso Kulturskole a VERY modern dance. The students seemed to be in their early teens, but there were some parts that were very risque. They were very good and we were quite impressed.
I decided to walk back over the bridge to Tromso with Alan and David. We stopped for an Aquavit and a Mack...then headed back to te hotel for a night-cap. I hung with my Brit friends again...some of the same folks that I partied with last year. We chatted about work stuff mixed in with observations about the country and the town. Its 1:35 am and I should be getting ready for bed but I must write for my readers! Maybe tomorrow I'll try and upload a short snippet vid from the entertainment! Good Night!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday night
After working and spending time on my blog and facebook, around 6:30 I headed down to meet people for dinner (David and his co-worker Alan as well as Erin and Eric). We decided to stay decidedly local and go to dinner at the Steak place across the dock. Unfortunately for us, it was closed. As you can see from the pic on the right, if I had just looked out my window, I would have been able to tell that!! It seems like we are the only visitors in town. From what Eric researched, summer tourist season is June-August. Winter tourist season is December-March. Nobody bothers with September, apparently because it RAINS all the time and is basically miserable!
So than Eric took us on a circular tour of the downtown area in search of the restaurant called Godfather. We had walked by there earlier in the day and it was...CLOSED of course. The big attraction being it had a Mural on the wall of Pacino and the word Godfather.
Twenty minutes later we showed up at Godfather and someone says, "that's not the Godfather that's Scarface. I looked again and realized that of course, they had done a picture of the actor who played Michael Corleone....as he appeared in the movie Scarface. As usual service was piss poor, but my Pasta Bolognese was pretty good.Tomorrow is the start of the conference. I'm really looking forward to it.
READERS...let me know how I'm doing...post a COMMENT!
Monday
I slept for about 9 hours...clearly dead to the world. I typically get about 6.5 hours when I'm home. I felt really refreshed though when I woke (to my alarm) and I called Eric. We headed downstairs for breakfast.
A bit about my hotel...its definitely not a luxury full service hotel...a huge step down from last year's conference. It will be very interesting to see how they do the conference itself since it really doesn't appear big enough to handle everything.
At any rate the breakfast buffet was pretty good....some strange things on the menu...like what I thought looked like potatoes but turned out to be potato shaped sausages. At least it was included in the hotel price!
We first decided to check out the cable car ride. The Mountain Cable Car ("Fjellheisen") is a 5 minute ride. Its 420 meters to the top of Storsteinen (literally, "the Big Rock"). The mountain station (which burned to the ground in the 1980s, but was later rebuilt) offers some pretty cool views of the city and the surrounding sounds, fjords and islands. We had a good time chatting wiht the guy who worked there. He gave us free coffee and was happy to tell us about life on the Island.
After that we took the cable car back down and decided to go to the Polaria (basically a small Aquarium). They claim that they have the only captive bearded seals in the world.
They were bigger than any I had seen and did some very cool tricks. There was also an IMAX like film about the fjords and the Arctic. We grabbed some lunch at a small Gyro shop and than headed around town for some shopping. Everything is pretty pricey in Tromso. There is a 25% sales tax but interestingly books are exempt. I guess reading must be a real problem up here. It makes for expensive dining...especially liquor. A beer was about $12 never mind any thing hard. While we were walking around we bumped into a gaggle of kids being walked around. They were literally roped together...very cute.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Long weekend
I'm writing this on Sunday night. I feel like this was just one long day....starting Saturday afternoon when Amy took me to to Logan. The flight on British Airways should have been just fine, but I was a bit wired, and sitting in coach, tightly pressed against a big guy next to me I just could not get comfortable. So I watched a couple of movies (Angels and Demons and Fargo) and the time went by pretty quickly. My ticket to Norway was like a separate flight....I had to find the "Transfer Station" at Heathrow which wasn't easy....flights from Heathrow to Oslo and Oslo to Tromso were better in that I was able to sleep through both of them. After leaving for the airport at 3pm EST on Saturday, I landed on Tromso just after 2pm on Sunday.
Flying in to the island I noticed the incredible landscape; in reminded me of Connemara, Ireland. There are literally 100s of islands around the area. Of course it was cloudy and rainy....probably about 50. Prices are insane....for lunch I had an individual pizza and a beer for $50!! Tonight Sushi and a beer for $!00.
Tomorrow I'm not sure what we will do; whale watching may not be possible given the weather.
Flying in to the island I noticed the incredible landscape; in reminded me of Connemara, Ireland. There are literally 100s of islands around the area. Of course it was cloudy and rainy....probably about 50. Prices are insane....for lunch I had an individual pizza and a beer for $50!! Tonight Sushi and a beer for $!00.
Tomorrow I'm not sure what we will do; whale watching may not be possible given the weather.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
At Logan
Third year in a row going to this conference -- 2nd year presenting. The weather is expected to be lousy....rain every day. But Tromso is supposed to be the Paris of the North....I'll be the judge of that! I've been on British Airlines before...but it was Biz Class. It will be interesting to see what Coach is like. Also a little stress due to the fact that I don't have my boarding pass for my next leg...I guess the next Airline is not a partner of BA, so I have to find something called the transfer station...they assured me my luggage will be ok.
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