Disclosure: #CFD2 Edition

This is one of my regular disclosure posts. You can read more of them here.

I was a guest of Tech Field Day for Cloud Field Day 2, held in the San Francisco Bay Area from 26 July to 28 July 2017.

Flights and Accommodation

Tech Field Day paid for my flights (economy class) and accommodation during my trip. We stayed at the Westin SFO Airport.

I stayed a couple of extra nights to take meetings with clients, since I was flying all the way there anyway, and TFD kindly included those hotel nights in the booking they paid for.

Food and Drink

Sunday 11 June

Airline lounge breakfast, and plane food en route.

Dinner was room service at the Westin.

Monday 12 June

I worked with clients during the day, and had lunch with them.

I had dinner with Stephen Foskett, his son, Megan from TFD and Ben Kepes at a nice Malaysian place in Menlo Park. I had a beef Massaman curry, which was very tasty, and shared some of the tofu entree thing, which was really excellent. I had one glass of local white wine (whatever Stephen ordered, a Pinot Grigio I think). Tech Field Day picked up the tab.

Tuesday 13 June

Wednesday I worked with clients again.

Dinner was the Cloud Field Day kickoff at the Grill&Vine restaurant in the hotel.

Ben Kepes ended up with my gift of a plush platypus toy and some very bad old Aussie joke books. I snagged an assortment of bourbon products from Kentucky including soap and socks. My suitcase ended up smelling vaguely of bourbon, thanks to those socks.

Updated: I have been informed that bourbon comes from Kentucky, not Tennessee. I regret the error.

Wednesday 14 June

Breakfast was at the hotel before heading out for the day. I tried out the à la carte mushroom omelette rather than indulge in #buffetbuffethippo, paired with the artisinal hotel drip coffee-esque-beverage.

Lunch was at Accelerite’s offices in Santa Clara, and was Thai food, which was really quite good.

Philz Coffee Excursion

Before dinner, a bunch of us went to Philz Coffee on Front Street in downtown San Francisco at the invitation of Philz’ CEO. Ben, myself, and a couple of others were talking smack about US coffee on Twitter earlier in the day, and Philz CEO invited to try some of their particular style of coffee, which is a sort of hot pour-over drip style. The Philz website doesn’t appear to have any information about how they brew the coffee, just how fancy their beans and roasting are.

It’s not espresso.

The server was very nice, and obviously enjoyed their job, and I thank Philz for inviting us to try a cup for free.

Dinner was at the Burritt Room in downtown San Francisco in a little private room off to the side. We had a little mini-buffet thing, and I had some really good roasted carrots and roast beef. I drank gin and tonic and water.

Thursday 15 June

Breakfast was at Gigamon, which for me was coffee and a ham and cheese croissant.

Lunch was at NetApp, and was a buffet of various things. I had chicken and carrots, and several mini dessert things like cream-filled puff pastries and chocolate cups. The sugar was much needed, and they really were very tasty.

Dinner was at Elephant Bar Restaurant near the hotel. The food was forgettable, but it was fun to watch the planes coming and going from the airport across the water.

Friday 16 June

There was no Friday because its energy was used to transport me back into the future.

Swag Etc.

  • I somehow ended up with 4 Rubrik shirts, 2 size small (which fit) and 2 size medium (which are a little large on me). I will resist the urge to grow into them.
  • A Rubrik branded backpack.
  • A Rubrik branded sticker of the Rubrik logo pretending to be the bat signal. Sorry folks, Batman > Rubrik.
  • A Rubrik branded fidget spinner because why not add to the vast collection I already have as this fad is over but vendors have to get rid of their excess inventory somehow.
  • A Gigamon branded Contigo AUTOSEAL™ Travel Mug.
  • A Gigamon branded pen.
  • A flexible, waterproof Bluetooth mini-keyboard that rolls up, from HPE. I’ve got an old USB keyboard like this, and they’re quite useful in dirty or hazardous environments. It’s amazing how much dust, dirt, and other grime ends up in your keyboard.
  • A Platform9 Fission sticker for my laptop.
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