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Kelowna, Day Six: So Long Farewell
Sep. 16th, 2016 10:40 pmI woke up this morning and the back is still twinging a little bit, but clearly better. Meanwhile, the rash really definitely probably hopefully has faded from red to pink.
So hopefully both those ailments are headed in the right direction. The back was definitely less distracting over the course of the day, though the rash was still maddeningly itchy.
My original plan was to take out a bike again today. I'd been considering either riding across the bridge and up the hill on the other side or else going back to the Mission Creek Greenway and continuing on from where I left off. But with the aching back there was no way that was happening.
So instead I walked the waterfront again, like I did yesterday, but a slightly longer route than yesterday because I didn't have to head back into downtown afterward for medical needs.
It's definitely the most pleasant walk that's right here. I quite enjoyed it.
Fitbit says I walked 59 minutes, which is almost exactly as intended.
So, impressions of Kelowna.
The landscape is utterly beautiful. The city is in a basin alongside a lake, with mountains rising up to every side. It can feel a little claustrophobic, looking to every side, and seeing those hills (really) fencing you in. But it's also pretty cool to think that you could walk in any direction and go straight up a hill.
The city is a bit more urban than you'd expect for its locale or for its size. It seems to have some real big-city problems, most notably the aforementioned homeless and the major, busy highway running right through the center of town.
Its main industry seems to be lumber. The highway constantly carries logs into town and planed wood out of town. Out in the harbor there are huge circles of wood. (Why they dump them out in the Lake, I dunno.)
People out on the street are less friendly than I'd expect for a town of this size. There's an active aversion to making eye contact, and I definitely see fewer smiles on the street and hear fewer greetings.
However, the people that I've actually talked to are all extremely friendly and personable. I think the clerk at Mosaic Books was really the epitome. This was a locale on our scavenger hunt, and she already knew about it by the time we got there, so she was doing her best to help us spend precisely the $10 we were given to spend. Then, she helped us out with a number of locations and clues. And she was super nice throughout.
And that's Kelowna, BC.
The day was once more full of meetings, but everyone was very low energy, so some things didn't actually occur.
I managed to talk to the last few people I needed to talk to, as prep for writing next week.
And then the offsite was over.
Reasons this was useful to me (and presumably to Blockstream):
Overall, I was quite pleased I came, even if five and a half days of socialization was tough. And it wasn't just the day-time meetings, but the fact that socialization often went on for hours more.
Speaking of which, the final dinner was at a nice Indian restaurant, though it was also the least-Indian-staffed Indian restaurant I've ever seen. But, good food, good company, and good night.
Tomorrow it'll be back on a plane, though that trip will have a little additional stress thanks to social-cab dynamics.
You see, Blockstream reasonably says, "Try and cab pool" (because it saves money). And a number of us are leaving on the same 10.40 flight. So, we should cab pool in a couple of cabs.
Except everyone else wants to leave at about 9am, which I find borderline insane for a 10.40am flight at an airport that's 20 minutes away without traffic. Sure, I'll agree that my desire to leave at 8am is crazy early, but 9am just doesn't leave any time for mishap.
So in the morning I need to decide to go my own way, or patiently but stressfully wait.
(There was the same dilemma at the faraway dinner on Wednesday. I waited though I was quite burned out by the end, but then leaped at the first cab.)
I'm sure it'll all go fine, and I'll be on a plane in exactly 12 hours.
So hopefully both those ailments are headed in the right direction. The back was definitely less distracting over the course of the day, though the rash was still maddeningly itchy.
My original plan was to take out a bike again today. I'd been considering either riding across the bridge and up the hill on the other side or else going back to the Mission Creek Greenway and continuing on from where I left off. But with the aching back there was no way that was happening.
So instead I walked the waterfront again, like I did yesterday, but a slightly longer route than yesterday because I didn't have to head back into downtown afterward for medical needs.
It's definitely the most pleasant walk that's right here. I quite enjoyed it.
Fitbit says I walked 59 minutes, which is almost exactly as intended.
So, impressions of Kelowna.
The landscape is utterly beautiful. The city is in a basin alongside a lake, with mountains rising up to every side. It can feel a little claustrophobic, looking to every side, and seeing those hills (really) fencing you in. But it's also pretty cool to think that you could walk in any direction and go straight up a hill.
The city is a bit more urban than you'd expect for its locale or for its size. It seems to have some real big-city problems, most notably the aforementioned homeless and the major, busy highway running right through the center of town.
Its main industry seems to be lumber. The highway constantly carries logs into town and planed wood out of town. Out in the harbor there are huge circles of wood. (Why they dump them out in the Lake, I dunno.)
People out on the street are less friendly than I'd expect for a town of this size. There's an active aversion to making eye contact, and I definitely see fewer smiles on the street and hear fewer greetings.
However, the people that I've actually talked to are all extremely friendly and personable. I think the clerk at Mosaic Books was really the epitome. This was a locale on our scavenger hunt, and she already knew about it by the time we got there, so she was doing her best to help us spend precisely the $10 we were given to spend. Then, she helped us out with a number of locations and clues. And she was super nice throughout.
And that's Kelowna, BC.
The day was once more full of meetings, but everyone was very low energy, so some things didn't actually occur.
I managed to talk to the last few people I needed to talk to, as prep for writing next week.
And then the offsite was over.
Reasons this was useful to me (and presumably to Blockstream):
- Learning who everyone was, what they did, and getting to actually meet them. By the end of the week I had somewhere in the 60-75% range competency on names. Yay!
- Letting everyone know who I am and what I do!
- Getting to learn more about the technologies I'll be writing about.
- Getting to learn more of the ethos of the company, which should also be reflected in the writing.
- Gathering information that would be harder to gather from afar, for the next writing assignments.
Overall, I was quite pleased I came, even if five and a half days of socialization was tough. And it wasn't just the day-time meetings, but the fact that socialization often went on for hours more.
Speaking of which, the final dinner was at a nice Indian restaurant, though it was also the least-Indian-staffed Indian restaurant I've ever seen. But, good food, good company, and good night.
Tomorrow it'll be back on a plane, though that trip will have a little additional stress thanks to social-cab dynamics.
You see, Blockstream reasonably says, "Try and cab pool" (because it saves money). And a number of us are leaving on the same 10.40 flight. So, we should cab pool in a couple of cabs.
Except everyone else wants to leave at about 9am, which I find borderline insane for a 10.40am flight at an airport that's 20 minutes away without traffic. Sure, I'll agree that my desire to leave at 8am is crazy early, but 9am just doesn't leave any time for mishap.
So in the morning I need to decide to go my own way, or patiently but stressfully wait.
(There was the same dilemma at the faraway dinner on Wednesday. I waited though I was quite burned out by the end, but then leaped at the first cab.)
I'm sure it'll all go fine, and I'll be on a plane in exactly 12 hours.