I had an incredibly interesting experience getting to Seattle this week. I flew out of Providence through Philadelphia. Apparently there was some smoke in one of the towers at PHL, so our flight was an hour delayed. I missed my connection by three minutes. I was absolutely amazed that after a one-hour, full ground stop, flights shortly afterward were leaving exactly on time. It was like anti-Aaron magic. I got to the gate and watched my plane back away. My luggage never would have made it but it would have been great for me to get here. US Airways told me, "Tough break. We can put you on a flight in the morning; have fun in Philly!" No hotel voucher, no meal voucher, nothing.

I finally got here yesterday morning. It only took me about 23 hours to get here.

After walking around in Seattle, I've come to the conclusion that there must be a market for a shirt like this:

Now I'm in the "consolation session" which was a great idea that PASS came up with when most MVPs were rejected from the insider sessions with the product group (a first, IIRC). It's a little quieter here than I expected but I imagine that (a) many MVPs knew far enough in advance to change their travel plans and (b) many others who had already booked travel signed up for pre-cons or photo walks or other activities instead.

Looking forward to catching up with all of my #sqlfamily.