[Jester's Trek] Winter Summit Day Zero
Winter Summit Day Zero
Hello from Iceland! I'm getting ready for the first day of the Winter Summit. You can... um, ahem... "read" about the schedule on the EVE Online website. Needless to say I've already started chatting with Dolan about making more of the session titles at least non-:nda:. I have no idea why a couple of them are when I and others have talked about them in public. So stay tuned on that.
Short version, though: long sessions in the morning are about anticipated major summer release features. Early afternoon ones are generally team meetings. Late afternoon ones are generally one-offs or smaller teams.
Before the day starts, though, let's wrap up the travel day so that those of you who run for CSM9 know what to expect.
As before, travel arrangements are made by an in-office CCP travel guy and this time with some experience, I was able to request a much more satisfactory routing, California to Colorado to Iceland. That shaved significantly off the travel time. The Iceland flight was empty: perhaps 45 or so people rattling through a Boeing 757. I learned this when I checked in so I specifically requested an empty row in the back of the plane so I could stretch out and sleep if I chose to. I nearly always do, and this flight was no exception. It's an all-nighter that lands in Iceland at 0630, so I slept through about half of it. CCP's regular driver Alli then picks you up at the airport and it's off to the hotel.
This time, that's the Islandair Marina, right on the water. Good news: you can see CCP from your window. It's, at most, a ten minute walk door to door. Bad news, the rooms are kind of tiny and inconvenient. I'm writing this sitting on a bar stool with my laptop on a shelf. So do be aware of the trials I go through to bring you guys this blog. ;-) The room has a deck overlooking the marina (more floor space than the actual hotel room!) but the marina in this area is all about repairing big fishing boats and small cargo ships so there isn't a huge amount to see. Still, I'll take a picture tonight. The good news: they were able to check us right in. And one of the desk staff helping us was an EVE player and reacted very enthusiastically when he learned who I was, hee. I forgot to get his in-character name!
It's full dark until 0900, twilight lasts about 60 minutes, it's light until 1600 or so, another 60 minutes of twilight, and then it's full dark again. So you can personally confirm the axial tilt of the Earth here if you haven't done so already. The weather is actually supposed to be surprisingly pleasant all week: just above freezing with just a minimum of rain and wind.
mynnna, progodlegend and I arrived on the same Colorado flight in the morning, with our four Europeans scheduled for the afternoon so the three of us went to breakfast at The Laundromat with CCP Fozzie and CCP Rise. As before, the conversation was mostly casual though of course some spaceships drifted in. The three of us then adjourned to our hotel for short naps and to wait for Chitsa Jason, Sala Cameron, Malcanis, and Mangala Solaris to arrive. To let some cool air into the hotel room, I oepned one of my windows while I napped. The guys on the marina cleverly attempted to prevent my nap by hammering and welding on ships all afternoon. This didn't have a hope of keeping me awake.
So for the record, all seven of us are present and accounted for:
- myself, Ripard Teg,
- mynnna,
- progodlegend,
- Chitsa Jason,
- Sala Cameron,
- Mangala Solaris, and,
- Malcanis.
Breakfast and first day's planning session in an hour or so. Unless something remarkable happens, new post in 24 hours!
Source: Winter Summit Day Zero