I'm actually running low on my breakfast stash / emergency
rations
. I was really tempted to eat breakfast as Tresca,
but I just can't rationalize spending the money when I know I'm
going to be fed in 90 minutes, anyway.
I got some Earl Gray tea, and headed over to the first session.
I had already decided that I was going to attend the Guru Is In: Security Is Broken session.
This session had a pretty high attendance; I clearly wasn't the only one who wanted to attend this session. I opted to sit on the floor in the back of the room, next to the AC outlet.
During the morning break, I stayed in the back of the Guru Is In room while I filled out the Usenix survey/evaluation.
When I finally peeked my head out, I saw that assorted muffins were available. I scarfed two, and then headed back for the next Guru session.
I attended the Guru Is In: UNIX/Linux and Active Directory Interoperability session.
I went back to my room to charge my laptop while I pondered lunch options.
Since today would be my last opportunity, I decided to eat lunch at the hotel's sushi bar. (It's Monday through Friday only, and I'll almost certainly be going out for dinner tonight.)
The menu had all the typical items on it, plus one or two
rarities (such as the vegetarian natto maki). I ordered some
nigirizushi a la carte, plus some temakizushi (I asked the chef
to pick).
This was all excellent quality fish, particularly the slamon. I though the sushi rice could've used just a little bit more sweetness, though.
It took me a while to get my check, because my sushi chef was having difficulty getting a server's attention. (He was upset about this, and spoke to a manager.)
I noticed that his name (as listed on the menu) was Japanese, so at the conclusion of my meal, I said 「ごちそうさまでした」. He replied 「はい、どうも。また。」 without hesitation. Excellent.
I went back to my room, collected my laptop, and headed over to the next seession.
The session that I (and pretty much everyone else, it seems) decided to attend was the Invited Talks: Warehouse-scale Computers session.
The reason why it was so popular is because the presenter was from Google, and was talking about Google's datacenters.
The afternoon break. Gooey brownies and soft drinks were available.
The last sesion was the Crossing the Digital Divide: The Latest Efforts from One Laptop per Child plenary closing session.
I actually wound up sticking around after the plenary closing session for a while, poking at one of the OLPC laptops. (I included some of the pictures I took in my notes, if you want to check them out.)
After the plenary session, I headed back to my room, plugged in my laptop to charge, and tried to decide where I wanted to go for dinner.
I briefly considered going to Sushi Express or Amarin again, but what I really wanted was to sample some more Mexican cuisine. Since I had already been to Mexicali Grill, I opted for Pedro's Restaurant & Cantina.
Well, that's it for Usenix for this year. All my time from now through Monday morning is my own.
You can go to the overview of my Santa Clara blog.