4:35am --- A Day In The Life

3 O'clock In The Morning
I'm Getting Ready For Bed
It Came Without A Warning
--- Paul McCartney, Picasso's Last Words

I don't travel to Calgary often. Mornings aren't my best time. Toronto had lots of snow yesterday. I plowed the driveway before sleeping. Airport limos refused to take reservations for morning flights.

Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008 at 4:35am: I wake up after three hours of sleep, which is far too little. On a whim, I phone for a limo pickup at 5:30am and get one. At least I won't have the stress of driving. The limo arrives a few minutes early, right on schedule. The slow plows pass by my house just before we leave. Roads are plowed but slippery. We pass a bad accident in the leftmost lane just before the airport exit. Tow trucks. Ambulances. Fire trucks. I hope no one's seriously injured.

5:38am: I arrive at the airport. I tip the driver 34.61%. A tv crew is setting up. Maybe they'll be lucky. Flight delays and crowds make news.

5:51am: I'm through security. The lines were short but the metal detector beeped and I was searched manually. This included removing my shoes and overshoes, which were then xrayed. There was a chair to sit on. Good planning.

6:05am: At Gate 137. I printed my boarding pass at home last night and forgot to check for a gate change at the airport. Until I arrived at Gate 124 and see it's for a different flight. The extra walking is good exercise. It'd be great exercise if I were wide awake.

6:45am: The plane is leaving on time. Until the captain announces that de-icing and anti-icing will take 30 minutes. So we'll arrive late but aren't told by how long. We ignore the prerecorded safety reminders but I make a note of the nearest exit. There's an empty seat beside me and reasonable leg room. I'm comfortable. Unfortunately, I'm wearing a suit because I've got a meeting just after landing.

My seatmate lived north of Toronto in Barrie for four years. He's going to Bannf for a two day vacation before moving to Yellowknife for one year.

7:27am: We're airborne. The Airbus A320 will cruise at 34,000 ft. Canada's bilingual but not fully metric. In 1919, a plane powered by BMW's second-ever aircraft engine reached an altitude record of 32,013 feet. At least we've got a pressured, heated cabin.

8:25am: The refreshment service is over and the movie is starting. It's Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth The Golden Age. I'm not interested. A song plays in my head "They say it's the Golden Age. And gold is the reason for the wars we wage". It's New Years Day by U2.

I took a set of sealed headphones but see the earclip for the right ear is missing. That's okay. I would have brought my noise-canceling headphones if I really wanted to listen to anything. In the washroom, there's no hot water. At least there's water. Later I discover the other washroom has no water!?!

8:46am: I'll see if I can sleep for a while. I doze and wake up reasonably recharged. I've got new ideas and start revising material I'd previously prepared.

9:10am (Calgary time, i.e., 11:10am for my body): starting descent. We land 32 minutes late, which is a reasonable sacrifice for a properly de-iced plane.

9:51am: I'm in a limo heading to downtown Calgary. I submit this post and get ready for the official start of the business day.

Patterns: 14 Snow Plows and 122 Science Projects

This morning was snowy in Toronto. The radio created excitement about how bad the weather was. In truth, the weather wasn't that bad. The snow blower quickly cleared the driveway. Major streets were well-plowed. I drove downtown on bus routes.

On Dundas Street, I saw 14 snow plows in groups of 2-3 within 15 minutes. Luckily, they were going in the opposite direction. There were also five police cars on my route. Probably a coincidence.

What's Odd
Here's what's really odd. The plows weren't plowing. The snow was already removed. I'm guessing they were en route to plow side streets. The plows were were inadvertently affecting three groups

1. folks waiting in side streets
2. the traffic snailing behind them
3. the inquisitive (bloggers?!?) wondering what was going on
   

Fortunately, I got to all my meetings on time and so did the other attendees.

The Science Projects
We visited a grade 6-8 Science Fair at my son's school in the evening. With so many projects beside one another, patterns became easy to spot:

1. text fonts too small to read from a distance: with PowerPoint what looks big on a computer screen looks small when projected
   
2. weird colour combinations: too much creativity reduced readability
   
3. too much content: difficult to grasp the main message instantly
   
4. sea of sameness: looking for interesting differences
   
5. seeking out winners: endorsement by judges made those projects seem better than they perhaps were (placebo effect)
   
6. research done online: can your clients find you online?
7. varying attention to detail: some did/didn't put their heart into their work
8. conclusions hard to find: the conclusions didn't stand out even though they were generally where expected --- the bottom right hand quadrant
   

It's unfair to judge kids by the same standards as as our clients judge us. We can still learn lessons, though. Students have an advantage: they get marks and get guidance. Clients rarely tell us how we did and how to get better.