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2023-06-12:

Today begins the real reason for the trip:  attending a meeting of the ISO standards committee for the C++ programming language.  I’ve been given clear instructions that I’m not supposed to write anything about the meeting itself until after it ends on Saturday, so my daily posts will be mostly about the hotel and the area around it.  I’ll have a single post on Saturday or Sunday night giving a feel for the kinds of issues we discuss.

07:30+3:

A very nice breakfast buffet is included in my hotel accommodation…eggs, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, sweet rolls…the usual stuff.  One thing I like about traveling to Europe is having baked beans for breakfast which is unheard of in the U.S.

10:15:

Last night, I had stupidly tried to use a US-style power strip; when I turned it on, I fried it; and the outlet that I plugged my computer into quit working as well.  I reported that to the front desk on my way to the meeting this morning; and I was worried that I had damaged the hotel’s electrical system in some serious way.  I went back to my room at the morning break to find that the outlet was working again.  I guess all I did was blow a fuse.  (*whew*)

Towards the end of the morning session, I was starting to nod off.  That happened to me during the last meeting in Issaquah as well…I guess I’m getting too old for this; and I left about half an hour early and went back to my room for a quick nap.

12:30:

The meeting hosts, chaos and VMWare, are graciously providing a buffet lunch to all the participants.

I didn’t see anything in the agendas for the various subgroups about which I might have something interesting to say, so I just went back to my room, took an after-lunch nap, and finally got caught up with my FtB reading.

I’m happy to have learned of the deaths of several horrible people, Pat Robertson, Silvio Berlusconi, the Unabomber, and James Watt.  I also learned that Boris Johnson is resiging as an MP.  So far, so good.  Now if we could just get rid of Putin, Kissinger, the Sacklers, you know the list…

19:00:

That was about all I could handle today, and I didn’t want an adventure, so I went to a pizza shop across the street for a slice.  When it came time to pay, they wouldn’t take my credit card…it was cash only which I didn’t have.  Fortunately, there was a cash machine just a few meters away, so I was able to pay what I owed.