I’m writing tonight from a hotel room in Norfolk, VA… I’m here to attend the 2005 FAA Software DER conference. I’m not actually a DER yet, but have applied to be one and my company figured it would be good if I came and got some training.

So far the trip has been uneventful; flew from Cedar Rapids to Detroit and then on to Norfolk. I’d never been through Detroit before; it’s a pretty nice airport. The tunnel between Concourse B (where I landed) and Concourse A (where I needed to go to catch my next flight) was pretty wild; the tunnel walls/roof had funky psychedelic colors that semi-randomly changed… would’ve taken a picture if I hadn’t put the camera in my checked luggage… :-(

Got to Norfolk and was pleasantly surprised at my rental car; it’s a silver 2005 Ford Mustang. Pretty cool. Managed to find the hotel, the Marriott Waterfront hotel, very nice. It has a view that overlooks the Elizabeth River and just around the corner is an old battleship that’s part of a museum. I’ll have to take some pictures tomorrow.

It’s a little bit lonely and quiet right now. I haven’t met up with any of the others from Cedar Rapids yet; I’ll have to find them in the morning. So, I’m sitting in my hotel room, just finished ironing all the clothes I brought along, thinking it’s probably time to head to bed. Unfortunately, I’m still on central time, which means it only feels like 10:30 PM but the clock says 11:30. Oh well.

On the bright side, the web tells me that the Cubs came back to win in the 9th inning, 3-2. Go Cubbies!