Half-time

This morning I woke at 06:00, and was soon in an Uber to the Seattle West Brewery, where the Manchester United Supporters Club of Seattle was gathering to watch the FA Cup Final. My dear colleague J was already there with his postdoc and our software project's new team member (F). For $5 there were pastries and fruit for breakfast, with coffee and beer available from the bar. The room was packed, but the atmosphere was dented somewhat by City's opening goal after 12 seconds. Although United - and the atmosphere - improved later, there was only really going to be one outcome, and City's 2-1 win flattered United. 

We took an Uber back to the conference, where I hung around in the lobby, chatting with a few folk and catching up on email. When И arrived, we had a discussion with the technical person integrating our solvers into her company's product. She knew the guy we saw yesterday at Microsoft - it's a small world. We then attended a talk by one old academic "friend", after which we bumped into another. 

For lunch we went with a German we knew and a young Swiss guy to Pike Place Market. We got a seat in an old cafe overlooking the waterfront, but it took so long for our food to arrive that we missed the plenary about optimization at Amazon. It would have been interesting, as they have big problems and clever folk working on solving them, but these things happen at conferences, and bonding with people can be more important.

Back at the conference, there was more hanging around and chatting, during which time A arrived, giving her the chance to meet F, and a couple of people she's heard me talk about over the years. A, И and I then said our goodbyes to all but F and J, as the five of us left to eat at the "Cheesecake Factory". By then, large salads were the order of the day, after which we returned to the Airbnb.

This marks the mid-point of our trip. Tomorrow И leaves for a mini version of our Olympic National Park trip, and we head for Vancouver.