View from an Austin Hotel Room

[louisedennis]

The weekend before last, I flew out for a one day workshop on AI and Ethics as part of the American Assocation for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference. I will probably blog about that in more detail soon, but I've suddenly ended up on the radar of Liverpool University's Corporate Communications unit (I think because of my two appearances on

Comments

[fififolle]

The flats in Manchester have an atrium like that! But I am certain they are not as nice as that hotel!!
You certainly had a bit of an adventure. And you're famous! Excellent :D

[louisedennis]

I'm not sure appearing on Radio Merseyside twice exactly counts as fame, but given how surprisingly few scientists are actually prepared to talk to journalists, I think that definitely makes me a useful resource in the eyes of corporate comms.

[fififolle]

:D

[a_cubed]

Actually lots of scientists are willing to talk to journalists. They do it once, see the distortion of their work and views that happens and give up talking to journalists.

[a_cubed]

On the way back from the UK to Japan after a short Christmas visit my flight (with $DAUGHTER who is three and a half) from Manchester to Frankfurt was seriously delayed. Given that we'd got up at 4am (having stayed at an aiport hotel) to get the am flight, this was unpleasant. Our flight finally left Manchester after 11am. At Frankfurt there was a large queue at the airside Lufthansa service centre and they ordered (well, strongly requested) that all EU US and Canadian citizens go through the immigration and check in at the normal counter. I already knew we'd been re-booked onto an ANA flight in the evening (this was about 14;00). I should have realised that this wasn't sensible for me, but having been awake since 4am with about 4 hours sleep I wasn't at my best and complied with their instructions. That left me with lots of hand luggage and a tired $DAUGHTER looking at waiting until 17:00 when the ANA check-in desk re-opened. We had business class tickets so could use the lounge if we would only get our boarding asses. Luckily

[louisedennis]

I had pretty good internet at the airport, thanks to the ability of my phone to set up a personal hotspot. However, sadly, the last minute re-booking meant I had no reservation or confirmation number (in fact I didn't even initially know the airline - while exhibiting surprising competent and efficiency purchasing still managed to convey that air of mild disorganisation that characterises regular interactions) so online checkin was impossible. I emailed purchasing asking for a booking reference so I could check in but they said there was no option but to wait because of the time it took references to go through the online booking systems (I'm not sure if I entirely believe that but I was running out of steam by that point).

[wellinghall]

The St David's hotel in Cardiff has an atrium like that, and is very fine.

[morganfm]

*waves cheerfully* hello! welcome to the place I've lived my entire life. The even crazier thing is I went to (junior year) prom on the top floor of that hotel last year. Just thought I'd give a shoutout considering it is quite a marvelous coincidence :)

[louisedennis]

Wow! Someone actually in Austin!! Various people on Facebook were saying I should have dropped in to see them while they were around, but since one was in Houston and the other in Dallas I felt they were being a little optimistic about logistics.

This was my second visit to Austin and it seems like a really nice place. Though this time around I really was just in and out.

[morganfm]

Lol the funny thing about living in the middle of Texas is that since it's so big, hearing someone is in the state at all, much less near the middle, sounds like they're right next door. Anywhere else is oceans away, but if you're in Texas, you might as well stop by while you can hahaha ;)