Page 4
www.us-
tech.com
Tech-Op-ed March, 2015
SOUNDING OFF
By Walter Salm Editor
Are We There Yet? I
PC APEX. Our most important show, and much bigger than ever, was a major preoccupation for us the last week in February. The IPC APEX Show was outstanding and huge. That large convention hall was totally
filled with exhibitors from one end to the other, and I was very grateful for my rented electric scooter. When I first started to rent scooters for trade shows about seven years ago, I found that my productivity jumped consider- ably, and at the end of the day, I wasn’t nearly as exhausted as I had been previously. But my very first trade show using a scooter, at the David Stephens Con-
vention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, presented me with one rather amusing obstacle. When I rolled through the robotics pavilion, I was suddenly sur- rounded by three ambulatory robots, who regarded me very curiously, seemed to be holding me prisoner, and I swear they were trying to mate with me. I fi- nally managed to escape, and the scooter could move much faster than the ro- bots, so my getaway was assured. But getting there is not always the easiest thing to do. For the past sev-
eral years, I had been happy to traverse the 766 miles from Chico to San Diego on Amtrak. One daily train, the Coast Starlight, travels between Seat- tle and Los Angeles, and stops in Chico at 3:50 a.m. (if it’s on time). This re- quires getting up in the middle of the night, riding all day on a roomy, com- fortable coach, being treated to some breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, eating real food in a real dining car, changing trains in Los Angeles and final- ly arriving in San Diego a little after midnight. That’s 20 hours of steady trav- eling, including the hour layover in L.A., and at some point the train ride ceases to be fun. Arriving after midnight on Tuesday morning means a shortened night’s
sleep in the hotel, and no opportunity to pick up my rental electric scooter and take it to the U.S. Tech booth, and no opportunity to pick up my registration badge — unless of course I travel a day earlier. And that 20-hour trip always left me sleepless and exhausted, something I really didn’t need. So making the decision to fly became a no-brainer. No big deal, except
the fact that Chico lost its only scheduled airline flights last November when United Express/Airwest decided to shut down their three flights a day from CIC to SFO. So on to Sacramento by shuttle van, not a big problem. Because of my age and my bad knees, I always ask for a wheelchair at the airport, which not only saves wear and tear, it also qualifies me to receive Southwest Airlines’ “Pre-boarding pass” allowing me to pick any seat I want. But something strange happened at Sacramento; I boarded the wrong
plane! An airline employee took my pre-boarding pass, stamped it or shred- ded it or whatever they do with them, and then pushed my wheelchair down the ramp and onto the plane. Big mistake. It was the wrong plane, but it was still going to San Diego, and in fact I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I tried to get my checked bags two hours later. In retrospect, I could just as easily have ended up in Cleveland, or horror of horrors, Boston with all that snow!
This just proves once again that our airlines are far from perfect; in fact
they border on the dysfunctional. But two hours, plus two hours on the Shut- tle van still beats 20 hours. Not willing to let go of my most recent experience, after boarding my re-
turn flight, I waited until the plane had pushed back from the jetway, and I asked the stewardess, “This is the plane for Cleveland, isn’t it?” She looked shocked, and then I smiled and told her about my previous flight. I didn’t know how very lucky I was. The flight to Sacramento was trou- ble-free, as was my connection on the North Valley Shuttle. When I arrived
at my home office and fired up my computer, I discovered that the rest of the U.S. Tech crew — all flying together — had been delayed by mechanical prob- lems and were having a “nice” day waiting at San Francisco Airport instead of flying. They were finally able to catch a red eye back to Philadelphia at Midnight. After spending five days in the balmy California weather, I’m sure they would have loved to stay for a while, but the printer’s schedule usually trumps everything else. I’ve said many times that I am really thankful that we left New Jersey 12 years ago. That being said, we could really use some of that rain and snow right here, right now. r
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
By Jacob Fattal Publisher
I Think I’d Prefer Philadelphia
S
ometimes you get on a plane to escape. When we left for APEX, We were gladly escaping the horrifically cold and snowy weather in the Northeast and heading for the sunny climes of Southern California. It was a wel-
come relief from subzero weather and snowed-in streets and highways. While it was bad enough for us in the Philadelphia region, Boston really got slammed, and it’s a wonder that anyone managed to escape from new England to come to San Diego. They had to go outdoors. Brrr. They had to get to an air- port. They had to find a flight that hadn’t been canceled. In spite of these daunting obstacles, they came to the Show, and gladly soaked up the Califor- nia sunshine. After APEX ended, we had to face some new obstacles. Our return flight
developed mechanical problems, and we ended up spending an entire day waiting in San Francisco’s airport so we could get on a Red Eye at Midnight to go back to freezing Philly. I would like nothing better than to turn around and spend some more
time in warm, sunny California. I finally understand why the movie moguls of years past settled in the Golden State: it’s almost always sunny there, ide- al for filming movies. And I finally understand why our editor elected to set- tle there when he was finished with his gypsy-style wandering. What was really amazing was that more people at APEX were comment-
ing about the weather than about the Show — the incredible differences be- tween the East and West, especially after enduring one of the worst winters ever in the Northeast and the Midwest. Thousands of exhibitors and atten- dees reveled in the absolutely gorgeous weather that California has to offer so much of the time. Getting the March issue of U.S. Tech off to the printer was the top prior-
ity after APEX. Our next show is in China, but that’s more than a month away. Maybe by then, we will have thawed out a little bit. But even being warm will hardly prepare us for the incredibly horrific air pollution there. W. C. Fields probably had it right. His epitaph supposedly says, “On the whole, I think I’d pre- fer Philadelphia.” r
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104