We finished the ISO standards committee meeting that I sponsored a bit before noon on Saturday, then some medical stuff got in the way of this post.  I’ll probably write about that tomorrow or Friday.

I was freaking out most of the week worried that everything would go well, in part because my hearing aids give me hardly anything but distortion when trying to listen to amplified sounds, so I spent most days working from home via Zoom.  That was OK because I have a box that I can plug into the headphone jack on my laptop that generates a bluetooth signal that feeds my hearing aids and gives me good enough quality to understand human speech.  I did check into the hotel Sunday night to help with the setup and to make sure I’d be there for the Monday morning plenary, and again Friday night to help with packing up and to be there for the Saturday plenary.

I guess I needn’t have worried so much because I got quite a few very nice thank-you notes from several movers and shakers on the committee.  Herb Sutter, the WG21 Convenor (the ISO word for chairperson), has a better post about the meeting than I could write on his own blog.  There’s a really good summary of the meeting at the beginning if anybody is wondering how this ISO committee works.  After that, it gets pretty technical and maybe not of much interest to folks who aren’t computer programmers.

I was fortunate to be able to give the committee a bit of payback for everything I’ve gotten from it over the years, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to do that again.

The next face-to-face meeting will be in Wrocław, Poland; and I’ve written about that already with a link to one possible itinerary.  We’ll see whether I’m able to attend.  All the trains I’d ride in the U.S. except the trains between New York and Boston have checked baggage service, all the stations where I’d be changing trains have red cap service (help with luggage), and I get wheelchair assistance at airports*; but I’d be lugging my luggage around on all the European trains.  A lot depends on whether I can get wheelchair assistance from the Frankfurt airport’s terminal two to the airport’s regional train station in terminal one.  The bus from terminal two to terminal one, which I’ve used before, would probably be a major hassle given my current mobility issues.  We’ll see…

Update:  2024-07-06:  I’ve found that I can indeed get wheelchair assistance between the two terminals in Frankfurt.

*I’ve found out that wheelchair assistance at airports gives me license to cut in line at security, immigration, and the boarding gates.  I’m not sure I deserve that; but I guess it makes sense to allow the folks pushing the wheelchairs to spend less time with me and so serve more customers.