Back from SF

Sorry for the delay - I was exhausted and slept almost 10 hours straight ina deep coma once I got home....

Thank you all for birthday wishes both here, by e-mail and on Facebook.

I think I lost my fear of flying this week. Perhaps it was some magic in the little yellow pills that my wife gave me to take 30 minutes before take-off- but could the effect really last for 7-8 hours over two flights in each direction? Perhaps it was the nice, clear weather and prefectly executed flights. Perhaps it was my excitement about the trip itself. Perhaps it was cool people I sat with: a Siemens guy (who is telecommuting, i.e., he is the Raleigh office for the company) who was reading the latest Bob Woodward book and we talked about Tesla and Edison, about physicis and about science and math education; or the IBM guy who designs educational and classroom software which I am ineterested in; or the National High School Rodeo Barrel-Racing Champion who was coming back home to Napa from her Texas college with a great rodeo program, just to pick up her family and horses and go competing to Wyoming, Montana and rest of the West for the summer.

The last leg of the journey home was delayed by about an hour so I joined the mile-high club....no, not in that way! I celebrated my birthday up in mid-air and got my birthday coffee from the nice stewardesses exactly at midnight!

I am sorry I did not get to see more of San Francisco, but I saw a little bit, galivanting around town with Janet (and you can see a picture she posted from the evening. We went to a cool asian restaurant where I had a duck curry soup spread over a bed of rice that was delicious. Then we went to a bar wher I had Guinness. And we had great fun talking about science, blogging, open science, children and everything else.

I stayed in The Mosser, a hotel built in 1913 - it was the first thing built in that part of town! Although it was obviosuly renovated and looking perfectly clean and fresh, one could easily shoot a period movie there - everything in it, including the insides of the rooms, looks like something from the early 20th century. Very romantic. And teh bed was so comfortable I slept like a baby!

In the morning I took a walk to to PLoS where I was sure to meet some gentle people there (though I forgot to put a flower in my hair). Frankly, it did not feel like a job interview! I was relaxed and it was just so much fun to talk to all the people who are excited about open science and the role they play in making it happen. They have great ideas (which I am not at liberty to divulge) and they seemed to like my ideas. It is not like interviewing for a company that wants to sell a product, it is interviewing for an organization with a mission to change the world (or at least one aspect of it) and that is exactly my own personal mission as well. No doubts, no second thoughts about this at all.... Of course, I'll let you know when the final verdict is in.