After a ~9 hour flight, I’m in Japan! It feels weird, but I seem to have
adjusted to the time OK. Left at 2 PM, arrived 4 PM Japan time. It was
warm and sunny, so I didn’t notice it was like 2 AM PST. 
Got to the
hotel OK… my partner in spam Janine was with me, as well as Sue Dumais
from MSR. I found out later that Matt, another colleague, managed to
check in 59 minutes before the flight, and it didn’t let him — so he
missed it! D’oh! Looks like that hour is required. Still a bit dickish
for 1 minute… ah well.
Anyway, a bunch of the other MSR folks are here… Marc najork and Mark
Manasse from SVC, and there should be a bunch of MSRA folks here as
well. Wei-Ying should be on a panel in a day or so, and our own Gary
Flake will be at a panel as well. All in all, looking good so far!