Days One and Two

Sunday, Sept 28, 10:00 pm local.

Well, I've now been in Glasgow for over 24 hours. I'm going to try to post a bit each day to chronicle the trip and give basic details.

Here's what has transpired thus far...

• Wednesday, 8pm - a day of media hosting in McGregor ends without a bang- test postponed until next day.
• Thursday, 10pm - finally get free of media when test completes, head home to crash after a LONG couple of weeks of work stuff.
• Friday, 9am - realized I forgot my box of business cards on my desk in McGregor. Since I was working from home, and didn't want to drive an hour, emailed Gerald (our wonderful Shipping/Receiving guy) to ship them to me. He was driving into Waco anyways, so we agreed to meet.
• Friday, 2pm - leave Eddy for DFW with Devon driving. (We'd seen so little of each other lately, he agreed to take off work early and drive me. :) Make it to Hillsboro before I remember I was supposed to meet Gerald. Whoops! Hope FedEx can get them to me!
• Friday, 4:45 pm - dropped at DFW, no lines, no problems... just 3 hours to kill. Had a last bit of mexican food before boarding.

• Saturday, 10:45 am local (4:45am Central - minus 6 hours for future reference) - finally get to land after circling London Heathrow for 30 minutes waiting for fog to clear. Sort of figure out my way through the airport and switching airline process (weird), flight delayed from 1pm to 3pm.
• Saturday, 3pm - get to the gate only to find out I can't board because I somehow missed their biometric scanning machine. Run across airport to try to get the picture and make the flight... but don't. Wind up in line for a new flight for 45 minutes- put on standby, so begin praying. Run into Emily (SpaceX Mktg Director). She missed the picture booth, too. At least my experience wasn't a full loss as I was able to help her.
• Saturday, 5:20pm- got a seat on the flight, luckily. Board and fall asleep.
• Saturday, 8pm - realize my luggage didn't make it. :( Will be delivered next day. Airline gives me a pack with an XL tshirt, toothbrush, etc. Get cab to hotel.
• Saturday 8:30pm - arrive at hotel after an interesting cab ride with a very helpful cabbie (that we could barely understand) - he said he'd been drinking Red Bull energy drinks, thus was talking quickly.
• Saturday, 9pm - FOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD. A great fillet to be specific. (28 pounds, roughly $58- figured it would average out since the last food I bought was before leaving.)
• Saturday, 11 pm- SLEEEEEEEP!

• Sunday, 10am - wake up, Emily calls - agree to meet at 11:30 downstairs. Wound up having to take the stairs down 17 flights because the elevators were evidently overwhelmed and wouldn't come to my floor.
• Sunday, 12pm - catch the double-decker city bus tour- hopped on and off several times, including at one spot to shop (in case my luggage didn't make it). The ride was a bit chilly, but made it pretty well with just my pashmina shawl. Weather is in the 40s-50s, with drizzle every now and then, but a lot of pretty blue skies. City is beautiful with lots of beautiful old buildings and green parks. We wandered into a little bookshop and asked for a lunch recommendation which guided us to this cute little area down a cobblestone path. Lunch was tasty and very local. People watching from the top deck of the bus in interesting. :) - will post pictures as soon as I find the cable to my card reader.
• Sunday, 5:30pm- get back to my room to find my luggage! Woohoo- after 36 hours in the same clothes, I get to change!
• Sunday, 7pm - meet Jonathan and Emily for dinner downstairs- had the "hot plate" which is a buffet. Best part is that its got tons of dessert- we helped ourselves to a selection of each- apple tart (so yummy), key lime cheesecake, and chocoloate mouse cake. Jonathan - who had the fillet, not the "hot plate", stole both mine and Emily's chocolate cake.

It's now 10:20pm and I'm in my room. Attempted some work, but had issues with connection to our server. Tonight is a slumber party for us because the launch of Flight 4 is scheduled to launch between midnight and 5am Glasgow. As I did last time, I will be posting live updates under the webcast for those that tune in late or walk away- which means, Emily and I are staying up till the wee hours. Fun fun! Conference begins at noon tomorrow... maybe I'll be up by then.

All in all, the city is quite lovely- everything has gone very well since I got to the hotel. Great room, the Scots are very nice, and the food is not bad (so long as I avoid the "haggis" which is a traditional Scottish dish (blood sausage) typically served with chicken). We are trying to plan a longer excursion to the countryside for Friday... really hope we can do this. :)