Airlines can be amazing. On Friday night, the Chicago to Des Moines flight I was on backed out of the gate and stopped a few moments later. We sat for about five or so minutes before the Captain announced that a “little person” had left something of “significant value” in the terminal and “beyond all hope” it had been found. He asked the passengers to be patient while the ground crew drove out to the plane to pass the valuable through the cockpit window and thanked us for our patience noting that we would be equally grateful had it been “you” — I agree with him. About ten minutes later a flight attendant walked proudly to the back of the plane and handed a toy to a “little person” in the very last row of the plane. It was a moment that should have been accompanied by a chorus of applause.

I’m far more relaxed about my travel today. Unlike Friday when my Toronto to Chicago flight was delayed which put pressure on me to make my Des Moines connection, today’s flight out of Des Moines left fifteen minutes early (I think we were one of three planes at the airport). We landed similarly early so I felt comfortable knowing that I would have three and a half hours to chill in O’Hare. It turns out that my Vancouver flight is delayed by almost an hour.

Anyone want to meet for dinner?

I’ll be in Toronto and Vancouver later this month. During both stops, I will be attending geek dinners/podcast meetups.

• Toronto Geek Dinner/Podcast Meetup (RSVP in Facebook)
  Thursday, November 15th at 6:30pm
  Imperial Public Library (54 Dundas Street E)

• Vancouver Geek Dinner/Podcast Meetup (RSVP in Upcoming)
  Monday, November 19th at 6:00pm
  Steamworks Brewing Co., Gastown location (375 Water Street)

Please be sure to RSVP so that the organizers can arrange sufficient space at the venues. Both events are open to everyone so, even if you find out about this gathering at the last minute, show up.

Tod Maffin’s email came out earlier today: a last minute social media meet-and-greet with Jeremiah Owyang (formerly of PodTech, soon to be with Forrester) would be held this evening in a Vancouver lounge.

As it turned out, the lounge was booked for a private event. Thankfully, us social media types are very adaptable. We ended up talking about the web and digital toys (like Andrei’s Sony Ericcson phone that scans and reads business cards) at Milestones in Yaletown.

By this time tomorrow night, I’ll have attended three new media/social media events in three nights. What’s particularly nice is that I’ve made new friends (Tatsuya Nakagawa, Rachel Newton, Vern Baker, Chuck LeDuc and Andrei Iancu) that I will have the opportunity to connect with, again, tomorrow night. It was also great to hang out with Derek Miller (not because he was my ride).

I am taking advantage of a work trip to Vancouver to organize a meetup of podcasters, podcast listeners and the podcast curious. The event will take place 7:00pmPT Sunday, September 23 at the Steamworks Brewing Co. Gastown location (375 Water Street) — makers of great beer including their Nirvana Nut Brown Ale.

Please RSVP so that we can warn Steamworks about our numbers.

The event is open to everyone so, even if you find out about this gathering at the last minute, show up.

I’ve been waiting about twenty-four years for this. The Police are kicking off their sold-out world tour tonight in Vancouver. Last night they played a dress rehearsal for 4,000 people and by all accounts, they proved themselves a force to be reckoned with now as much as they ever were.

While I’ve seen Sting and Stewart Copeland live (not on the same stage), I’ve never seen The Police. I’m anxiously awaiting my chance to see them in Montreal.

Photo: Kris Krug (see his Police photos here) — Great photos, Kris! Thanks!

I have been struggling to upload files from my hotel room in Vancouver. I have been on the phone with tech support on four occassions and they constantly point me to Internet Frog to do speed tests which typically come out indicating better than 2Mbps download rates and roughly 115Kbps upload rates. That still doesn’t explain why I’ve never exceeded 4Kbps, and typically achieve only 1Kbps, upload rates — even at midnight when the tech support team claims I am the only person actively using the service.

Can you imagine it taking over an hour to upload a 6Mb file on a dial-up connection?

TC Lions Pub may have the biggest beer pitchers in Canada. We had to cancel the second pitcher when we discovered that the server wasn’t kidding when he said “one gallon pitchers”.

There was a great crowd at last night’s Vancouver Podcast Meetup. I’ll see if I can remember names and URLs… Sean Carruthers (labrats.tv), Derek K. Miller (Penmachine and others), Jeffish (Swimming Upstream), Rebecca and John Bollwitt (RadioZoom and others), Professor and Doctor (Foreskin Radio), Fraser (Little Buzzers), Becky, James Clendenan, Dave (Vancouver’s Weekly Underground), and Johnny Johnny (Tiki Bar TV).

Congratulations (and thanks) to John and Rebecca, a Podcasting couple so dedicated to their passion that they spent their first wedding anniversary helping us polish off the pitcher.

I have arrived in Vancouver — my first time here! It’s raining.

I have a beautiful waterfront view complete with Stanley Park and the site of sea planes taking off. However, it comes at a cost of $13.95/day for Internet access!!!

I will be in Vancouver later this month and have organized a Podcast meetup to take place at 8:00pmPT at TC Lions Pub.  The reservation is under Mark and Podcasters.   Please RSVP.

It’s like a wild case of deja vu.  Last year around this time I was getting ready for a possible work-related trip to Vancouver.  That trip was delayed and delayed until it finally fell through.  This time, I actually have tickets booked.  I’ll be leaving PodCamp Toronto early on the February 25th to catch my flight and I’ll be in Vancouver at 4:30pmPT.

Anyone interested in a meetup in the evening of February 25th?