complich8′s journal

We went to Phoenix this week, doing yet another node install.

Everyplace we go is different. Some places put all their stuff in datacenters and remote into it. Others put all their stuff in datacenters and have people come in to work directly on it. Still others stack 17U of server and storage equipment on shelves in an ancient round-hole rack too shallow to accommodate normal dell rails. Which is the situation we had here.

But other than an unexpectedly difficult hardware install, things went pretty well, with nice people on all fronts, and we ended up with a pretty favorable result overall. I’m fairly happy with how the work went.

Phoenix is … surprisingly non-hypoallergenic. Like, most desert cities there’s not enough flowering plants and grasses and flowering trees to load the air with pollen, but in Phoenix my allergies were on a little bit of a tear. We walked around downtown Scottsdale (sort of a northeast suburb of Phoenix), and I was surprised by just how much plant life they’d transplanted into what’s naturally a desert. Lots of sand and gravel and cacti, but also lots of people with big leafy trees and green lawns. That part wasn’t much fun.

When I left for Phoenix, the temp at Reagan was about 35F. When we landed, it was 85F at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Thursday was in the upper 80′s too. Other than the allergens, that place is some sort of crazy paradise in winter. Came back to 37 at Dulles… had some trouble adjusting.

Got a couple of decent pictures this trip, but most expose the limitations of my camera.. They’re up at the gallery.

Flight info: going out we flew on a 757-200. Seat width 17.1, pitch 32. Very uncomfortable. Flight attendant hit my knee with her cart while I was napping. Not enough leg room, not enough anything-else room either. The flight out was a bit over 5 hours. Coming back was on an Airbus A319. Width 18.0, pitch 31. Despite the smaller legroom, the inch of seat width made a big difference in comfort. It was a pretty decent trip back, with no knee-cracking or other related issues, and since we were heading east it was only about a 4 hour flight. The flight was pretty rough though, with about an hour of fairly significant shaking back and forth because of the turbulence, and it felt like the air was a bit thin, but it could have just been breathing troubles from the over-perfumed passenger a couple rows back. Seriously, why would you douse yourself with perfume knowing you’re about to get on a crowded airplane?

Phoenix was a nice place to visit … in November. Wouldn’t want to be there in July though…

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm and is filed under life and times, travelblogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.