Picking up a Codie Award

I just got back from a trip to Silicon Valley and Southern California. On Tuesday I was a panelist at the SD Forum Web Services Conference. I represented REST on my panel; I’ll have more to say about that in a standalone post. Tim Bray and Adam Bosworth gave some memorable talks; my notes will be posted soon.

I spent Wednesday driving from San Jose down to Glendale, taking the scenic route, basically highway 101 , which makes it way through the agricultural regions of California. The trip took about 8 hours, but it was a vacation day for me, and it was nice to just drive, while trying hard not to think about work, personal projects, and so on.

My rental car was equipped with a Magellan navigation system. I had never used one of these, but after one trip I am hooked. The system was very, very helpful around Silicon Valley, and it was great once I got on the road too. Several times I pulled off for a snack, a rest stop, or just to look around, and it was good to simply take random turns without having to worry about getting lost. Once I got to Burbank, it was even more helpful as I navigated through the tangled web of LA-area freeways at rush hour. I am definitely going to buy one of these before our upcoming summer road trip down to Southern California.

I arrived in Glendale late in the afternoon, after fighting through serious traffic for the final 60 miles or so of the trip. I changed into my suit and headed for Universal Studios for the Codies Award Ceremony. The night was a lot of fun. I got to talk to a number of interesting people, and we had a nice dinner. After dinner we were entertained by comedian Tom Papa, and then they started giving out the awards.

I was pleased to accept the award for “Best Web Services Solution”, on behalf of Amazon.com and the Amazon Web Services. There’s more info on the AWS Blog.

Returned home through Burbank Airport, a wonderful alternative to LAX. The airport is small and easy to find. Despite a long line to get through security, the screening moved very fast; faster, in fact, than the line at Tully’s Coffee in the departure area.