Hello From Palm Springs

I have arrived safe and sound. The flight was uneventful (thank goodness) and the only remarkable things were:

1. I got to go through the new International terminal at YYC. It’s very nice. The new customs area is much improved.
2. My roommate Rex is from Edmonton and he was supposed to be on my flight, but his flight from Edmonton got delayed so he missed it.

I walked to the airport along this road:

It was three kilometers, but that was no great hardship. The warmth and sun was a real change from Calgary, where it’s gone all wintry again with cold and snow. It was -12 when I left.

I immediately got conscripted into a number of meetings: first I ran into Witt, who is a technical architect from Esri, and then I was invited to a presentation by Drew from Latitude Geographics on their plans for their main product, where Harold, Alex, Myron and others were. I then chatted with Alex Miller, Steven Myhill-Jones (President of Latitude) and then a long walking talk with Drew. Then I ran into Vince from Esri Australia (he is my counterpart there, more or less) and we talked at length and then had a meeting with Dave Wrazien, the lead of the Esri Solution Architecture group. So much for it just being a travel day. But I knew it would be like this. I have a responsibility to make and strengthen these global connections now, so I’d say I’m well on my way to accomplishing the mission.

Last night’s dinner was Italian with André, Sam, Kern and Rex. Now we’re ready for the first official day of the Developer Summit.