amdilick | Reading

I've written in several recent blogs that my company had a layoff this week. As I was working a trade show at the time the news dropped my colleagues and I were reading tea leaves to glean details. Now that I'm back at my desk, and have attended a series of management meetings about it, I know more about the structure of it.

Within my job function, within North America, 3 of 7 colleagues were dismissed. That's almost half my team.

In my job function outside NA, 1 of 6 colleagues plus their manager were dismissed.

Among the account executives (AEs) in my region, 2 of 5 were dismissed. Other regions saw cuts, too, and at least one regional VP is being dismissed.

In the neighboring professional services (PS) department, both of the liaisons we had for selling PS and related stuff to customers were dismissed.

How do I feel about it? Aligning a few thoughts to the bullet points above:

Nearly half my US department was cut. That's a HUGE loss of capability. Among those dismissed were two veteran teammates who, in my estimation, were doing solid work. This was not a "trim the low performers" type of layoff. It was also not a "trim excess capacity" layoff. Recently I've been overloaded and had just gotten my boss to shift some of my responsibilities to a veteran colleague— one of the experienced guys who now has been let go! Now I'm way overloaded again.

Huh. Again the European team gets cut lightly while the US gets put through a bandsaw. Corporate leaders occasionally state it's because the Euro team is so high-functioning compared to the US— but last quarter the Euro team lost a major client. Like, literally the company's biggest client. Why not more cuts there? It's hard not to believe it's because the EU has such stronger labor laws making it expensive for companies to fire workers. So in a global economy US jobs get cut first. But hey, that's "freedom"!

I'm glad to see some management trimmed along with the ICs. With all the IC cuts, though, the sales organization is even more top-heavy than it was before. First level managers have a lot of reports but there's now IMO a redundant level of VPs.

The cuts to PS sales are going to hurt. I don't know about the Euro team person, but the PS sales person in the US was an excellent helper at explaining to customers and prospects the value of our services offerings. Could AEs pick up the slack? In a perfect world, yes, perfect AEs would be able to do that. It's not a perfect world, though. And with these cuts the remaining AEs are even more heavily loaded. That's because while we cut 1/3 to 1/2 the sales professionals we didn't cut any of the customers.

More thoughts to come.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #8
Back home - Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 5:30pm.

I'm back home from the trade show in Napa. It's earlier than expected. Booth visits were slow again today, tapering off to nearly nil by 2pm, so our event coordinator encourage those of us not already booked to stay overnight to head home early. I left at 3, which was just an hour before the official closing time, and used that early start to mostly beat traffic on the way home. Still, there was some traffic, making it a 2 hour drive. I got home at 5pm. That's 48 hours + 3 hours after I left on Monday.

It's just as well most of us left early. Our team spirit was close to nil as we spent most of the day trying to figure out what's going on with a layoff today. Oh, we totally put on game faces for talking to customers and prospects. Selling was the one thing we all could be positive about. But the moment it was just us coworkers again, the dismal "WTF is going on?" discussions started back up.

Speaking of those dismal discussions, it looks like tomorrow morning is going to be back-to-back-to-back meetings with various levels of leadership "explaining" the layoffs to us. I quote explaining because do we really need 3 hours of meetings on the topic, with each layer of executive management needing to have their own say? That says to me we have too many layers of executives. Maybe they should have laid off one of them. But of course they didn't.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #7
On lunch break - Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 1pm.

Almost immediately after I arrived at the trade show booth today the mellow mood I started the morning with burst. "What have you seen about the layoff announced today?" one of my sales colleagues asked. "WhAt LaYoFf?!" I responded. 🤯

Over the course of a few hours my colleagues and I were piecing together bits of information we gleaned to understand the full picture of what was occurring. "I know Kevin and Kevin were dismissed," one colleague said as a starting point. Apparently both Kevins had been notified early in the morning of their termination. They're both account executives (AEs) and apparently texted their AE colleagues immediately about it.

Other than the de-Kevining of the AE team we were left reading tea leaves to figure out the rest. We noticed that Kevinses' Slack accounts were marked (deactivated) so we started checking the Slack status of dozens of colleagues one at a time. That confirmed or revealed a few other departures. Then we observed that one of the Kevins was supposed to staff this trade show but was instructed by his boss at the last minute to stay home. Well, one of my colleagues, Chris, was also asked, by a different boss, to do the same. Was Chris laid off? His Slack wasn't deactivated— yet— but his calendar showed a meeting with his boss, his VP, and HR later in the day. Yeah, that's the kiss of death right there. ☠️

In between casting bones and reading tea leaves we've been doing the work of the trade show. It's been a bit slow again today. Not quite as bad as most of yesterday but also not plenty-busy like during the late afternoon reception yesterday when I dressed as Jenkins and was talking to people left and right.

Right now I'm finishing up a quick lunch break. There's a meeting on the calendar with my immediate sales team— those of us left standing, that is— for 2pm today. Those of us here at the show are looking forward to hearing it straight from our managers.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #6
Getting ready for Day 2 - Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 10am.

After staying up too late Monday night at the trade show then having to get up really early for a full day yesterday, I was careful last night to pace myself better. It wasn't so much that I made a mistake in pacing Monday night; I didn't. The problem was that I was already running at full speed when a bit of illness tripped me up for 4 hours. It reminded me that I need to under-schedule my day so that, if and when something goes wrong, there's spare time to devote to fixing it.

Thus last night I bowed out of the celebratory dinner, the post-dinner concert, and the post-post-dinner piss-up at the bar. Instead I went out for a quiet dinner offsite by myself, got back before 10pm, and was lights-out at 11pm. Then this morning I slept in until almost 8am. I was able to do that because I don't have any fixed responsibilities until the show at 11:30am. It felt so decadent getting 9 hours of sleep while at a trade show!

So far this morning I've been catching up on work. One of the things about working trade shows in sales is that sales remains the "day job" while the show is also taking up most or all of the day. So we salespeople are always stealing moments here and there to catch up on emails, respond to Slack messages, and keep business moving forward with all of our customers. It's relaxing, though, having only one day job this morning. 🤣 My shift in the booth begins at 11:30am. Update, 10:45am: Today's keynote ended really early, and my colleagues have called me to come to the booth as it's being mobbed.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #5
Wrapping up Day 1 - Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 7:30pm.

This afternoon I did a costume change at the trade show. During my off-shift time between 1-3pm I shaved my beard down to a mustache, ironed my arm-towel, and donned my tuxedo to become Jenkins.

Portraying Jenkins the Butler at an industry trade show (Sep 2025)

Portraying Jenkins the Butler at an industry trade show (Sep 2025)

The show had been extremely quiet up 'til lunch. It was busier, but not busy, at 3pm when I returned. Though right away I started commanding attention in my butler guise. People noticed me and came into the booth to talk. Or they stopped and stared from 20' away, trying furtively to take pictures with their phones, and my colleagues and I beckoned them to come in and talk to us. We even helped them take pictures posing with Jenkins.

Late in the afternoon the conference's technical sessions wound down and there was a reception in the vendors area. There were free drinks offered there— and attendees had to walk past us vendors to get to them! That's part of the logistical strategy of supporting vendors I wrote about in my previous blog.

Throughout the rest of the day, until several minutes after the 7pm closing time, Jenkins continued to be a draw. My cosplay brought people into the booth, people who work at companies we want to turn into customers, who otherwise wouldn't have come talk to us. That is why I rushed out to a fine men's wear shop yesterday afternoon and dropped $50 on a new bow tie and shirt studs.

My company has a split opinion on whether Jenkins should be part of our branding. Our marketing department, virtually all of whom have been hired in the past 2 years, are against it. To them Jenkins represents the past— even though it's the source of 90% of our revenues— and they don't want to associate the company's messaging with it.

I point out, and some of our sales leaders support me strongly on this, that not only is Jenkins the source of 90% of our revenues but it's a strong brand that people recognize. People in the DevOps industry who've never heard of our company have virtually all heard of Jenkins. They recognize the butler on site, they are entertained by seeing a real-life Jenkins the Butler, and they're way more willing to come talk to us. Then, once we get the opportunity to talk to them, we can build on our industry bona fides with Jenkins and then pivot to talking about our newer products— the products we believe represent our future. But to talk about that future we first need people willing to listen. Jenkins creates that willingness.

I emphasize this here because I worry that I am risking my job by dressing up as Jenkins. I'm literally going against the desires of at least one of our C-level executives, the CMO. And quite possibly the CEO as well! But you know what... if they want to fire me over it, it'll be their own colossal mistake.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #4
On break in my room - Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 2pm.

Today the vendor part of the trade show kicked off. Yesterday was arrivals and was also a training day for people who wanted classes from the main sponsor. Plus a chance for our team to enjoy dinner together before everyone's worn out from long days.

I was up early today for internal meetings from 7 until 8:30 then walked over to the trade show at 9. It's so convenient being in the same hotel as the show— and that hotel not being a Las Vegas mega-resort with 3,000 rooms in multiple towers where getting from a sleeping room to a conference room entails a walk of a mile engulfed by clouds of 25 years of accumulated second-hand cigarette smoke.

Right now I'm back at my room taking a break after lunch. It's been a slow start at the booth today. Why slow? Frankly, because of poor planning by the conference organizer.

I got to the booth at 9 today... and it was pretty much dead. It was dead until after 12pm because the keynote speeches were running. We knew the keynotes would be going and they'd suck all the attention away from the vendor area. But the keynotes all ran long, gobbling up the breaks between sessions when attendees might come out to visit us. The physical layout of the show disfavored us, too.

Yes, it's important for a show to support its vendors. We vendors help sponsor the show! We're all paying money to be here. ...And I don't just mean spending money on salaries and travel costs. We're paying fees in the five figure range directly to the host company just to be here. That's in addition to what we pay the hotel for our rooms, the construction team for assembling the booth, and all the travel costs of the staff. In return conference organizers need to treat the vendors well.

What does it take to treat vendors well? Give the attendees reasons to visit us. Put ample break times in the schedule for attendees to browse the vendors exhibit area. Put the free snacks and drink in the vendor area, so there's extra reason to come by. Put the lunch and dinner either in the vendor area or on the other side of us, so attendees have to walk past us.

So far today these show organizers have not done the above. There have been no breaks for attendees to come visit us. Everyone's running long on presentations— one ran 30 minutes over— and they're just slotting the next speaker immediately after the previous. Then at lunch today, lunch was in the opposite direction from where we vendors are. People had no reason to walk past our displays. In fact, worse than no reason they specifically had reason not to go near us— because we were in the opposite direction and nobody had extra time because the schedule was still 15 minutes behind.

Now, you might scoff at supporting vendors at the show as the tail wagging the dog. People are here for the show, right? We're just the advertisers everyone would be happier ignoring. But like advertisers in commercial TV, we're paying to help support the show. We're here because we want the opportunity to talk to prospective customers. And we have metrics. We measure the number of contacts in the booth ("raw leads") as well as the quality of conversations ("qualified leads"). And when those metrics are low, especially the qualified leads score, we stop sponsoring the show.

This is our third year at this show. The past two years it was very productive for us. This year, unless things turn a massive 180° later today, may be our last at this show.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #3
At the hotel - Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 6:45am.

There are two things I often say about working at trade shows. One, trade shows are a marathon, not a sprint. They're multiple days, generally multiple long days, so you've got to pace yourself. And two, you especially have got to avoid hitting it too hard on the first day. Or in cases like this, the first night. That's after the team arrives in town, everyone's spirits are high, and none of the tiredness of long days on the show floor has set in yet.

After I arrived on Monday afternoon things seemed set for a reasonable evening on Day 0 of the show. I mean, even my need to rush out to buy missing hardware for my tuxedo was resolved with a minimum of fuss... and $50.

I got back from my emergency shopping trip in time to catch the second half of the late-afternoon reception and hob-nob with my colleagues over a few glasses of wine. I would've hob-nobbed with customers and prospects but, frankly, there were barely any present today. In fact the reception was about 80% employees of the host company, identifiable by their green shirts with a cheeky slogan on the back.

After the reception my colleagues and I went into town for a fancy dinner. Regional VP Alan is back on the crew for this show (he'd tagged out over a health problem then tagged back in when he recovered much faster than expected) so you know we went out to a good steak-and-wine restaurant. That's Alan's way. And the steak house was just 2 doors down from the suit shop I'd been at 90 minutes earlier. "If anyone needs an emergency bow tie," I said loudly to the group, "There's a shop right next door!" 🤣

Over the course of dinner I was careful not to hit it too hard. For example, I stuck to drinking wine, no cocktails. And I alternated glasses of wine with glasses of water. I still enjoyed it all, of course. The point was when we went home I had a light buzz going instead of a drunken stagger. But something I ate or drank (or both) disagreed with me. I'll spare the unpleasant details and skip to the result: I was awake, in discomfort, until 2am.

Even worse than being unable to fall asleep until 2am, my morning alarm was at 6:15. 😖 I've got a sales forecast meeting with my boss at 7. Then after that, a full day at the show. Yeah, I'll catch a break of about 2 hours after lunch. But then it's showtime again through this evening's reception ending at 7pm.

I expect tonight is going to be an early night. We'll see if my stomach problems stay gone. I'm not 100% sure because right now I'm not sure I'm back to 100% yer.

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #2
At the hotel - Mon, 8 Sep 2025, 5:30pm.

I've joked various times before that Every trip, I forget one thing. It's a joke not just because it's amusing but also because it's not strictly true. I mean, there are some times I don't forget anything. And there are plenty of times I forget to bring something I thought about bringing but turned out to be inconsequential anyway. But occasionally I forget something that's a doozy. And that's when the joke is funniest... though that's also when I'm the butt of it. 🤣

I forgot something that's a doozy on this week's trip to a small software trade show in Napa. I'm planning to dress up as Jenkins the Butler part of the time at this show. "What's Jenkins?" Here's a reminder from a show I did in March this year:

Being the Butler - SCaLE 2025 in Pasadena (Mar 2025)

Being the Butler - SCaLE 2025 in Pasadena (Mar 2025)

The doozy is that while I packed my tuxedo shirt and jacket for this trip I forgot my tuxedo shirt pins, cuff links, and bow tie. The cuff links are the least important of that set. The shirt pins, medium-important; the shirt has buttons for people who don't have pins, but pins are critical to the overall authenticity of dressing in a tuxedo. And the bow tie is crucial. Jenkins isn't Jenkins without the red bow tie!

I realized the mistake when I was driving across the bridge over the Carquinez Strait Monday afternoon. Why there, on the bridge? No particular reason; that's just where it suddenly occurred to me, "Oh, crap, I forgot these important things!" And the bridge is a landmark on trips along that corridor. For Monday's trip it signaled that I was about 3/4 of the way there in terms of travel time.

It was too far from home to want to turn back. I'd add minimum 3 hours, likely much closer to 4 with rush-hour traffic, to my drive. I decided instead I'd have to see what I can find once I got to the hotel in Napa.

Once at the hotel I looked up menswear stores in the area and started calling around. One, a name-brand place you probably have in the big city nearest you, wasn't sure what "tuxedo shirt pins/studs" are until after I explained it— and then confirmed they don't carry them. With the help of the hotel concierge I found a local men's suit shop that was open 'til 5:30pm, called ahead, and drove to quaint downtown Napa. Shirt studs, cuff links, and a bow tie set me back $50. The things I do for my craft!

canyonwalker

Napa Trade Show blog #1
At the hotel - Mon, 8 Sep 2025, 4:30pm.

This week I'm headed off to staff a trade show for my company. It's JFrog's (a small software company's) annual conference and this year it's in Napa, California. I staffed my company's booth at this show each of the past two years. I've found it a well run smaller conference (~500 attendees) and a worthwhile strategic engagement for my company.

This year JFrog SwampUP (yes, that's what they call their conference, including the unusual capitalization) is in Napa, California. That makes it an easy trek for me as it's just a drive across the San Francisco Bay Area.

I left home around 2pm on Monday and arrived at about 4:15 after a brief stop for gas on the way. The drive wasn't hard though two things did make it a bit of a chore. One, I hit traffic slowdowns in several spots. Yes, apparently rush hour begins at 2:30pm now on this route! And two, the weather in places was a bit on the hot side, with temperatures in the upper 80s. That, combined with the grinding traffic, made it less enjoyable commute— because I was in my convertible!

I started out with the top down, planning to enjoy the warm afternoon, fresh air, and wide ranging vistas as I drove over the mountains and through the valleys to get to Napa. If I'd been able to drive 55+ mph the whole way, the sun and heat wouldn't have been bothersome. But sitting in grinding traffic climbing the Sunol Grade on I-680, boxed in on three sides by gravel trucks and a concrete divider on the fourth side, sucked all the joy out of a warm afternoon. I put the top up— traffic was rolling slowly enough I could do that without pulling over— and left it up the rest of the way there, running the air conditioner.

As far as the resort venue I've landed at in Napa.... It's not what you might imagine when you picture "Resort hotel in wine country". Resort seems like too strong a word for it. It's an overgrown 3-star hotel behind an office park just off one of the main highways. In fact the street I turned on is literally called Napa Valley Corporate Way. 🤣 It's comfortable inside. But the only view I have of, say, a rolling hillside covered with grape vines is the framed picture of a rolling hillside covered with grape vines hanging on the wall.

canyonwalker

It's been another taking-it-easy around home weekend here. That's much like last weekend. And much like last weekend, taking it easy around home was Plan B. Plan A this weekend had been to stay at a resort in Mammoth Lakes on the eastern Sierra but heavy smoke and a road closure due to wildfire led us cancel the trip Thursday. So, what did we do instead?

Saturday morning Hawk went to the monthly flea market at DeAnza College in Cupertino that she likes to visit. She trolled primarily for gems but also found some cookware and a boardgame worth buying. Meanwhile I stayed home and slept in.

Saturday afternoon we went out for lunch together then visited the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival. While it had some of the same vendors as the Los Altos Art & Wine Festival in July it had a fair number that were different. We enjoyed strolling around past all the booths. Ultimately we didn't buy anything.

One reason we didn't buy anything is that while wine is right in the event's name, and I really enjoy wine tasting, I just don't find what's on offer at these festivals that compelling. It's too expensive. Ditto for the beer they offer, too. And that beer is generally stuff I could find in any supermarket anyway. I look at the prices and selection and think to myself, "I'd be way happier drinking at home on my patio." So that's what I did!

Relaxing outside with a beer (Sep 2025)

I even tried a beer that's new to me. It's one I picked up during a shopping trip at the liquor store a few days ago. Mostly I was buying beers I already know and enjoy but I saw this one, a variety similar to one I've enjoyed before from the brand, and figured it'd be worth a try. It was more or less what I imagined it would be. And it was good.

Saturday evening we went out to Comedy Sportz in San Jose. Wow, it's been like 20 years since we last saw a Comedy Sportz show. (They're a small chain of community-level improv comedy theaters.) They have changed... pretty much not at all... in the past 20 years. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. And it reminded us that we need to get back into going out to live shows more often.

Saturday night we capped off our "date night" with a late dinner after staying for the encore performance at Comedy Sportz. There aren't a huge variety of restaurants open at 10:30pm on a Saturday evening anymore. Covid and its aftereffects have really slammed the restaurant industry. But the chain restaurant we stopped for dinks and appetizers at was doing brisk business at 10:30pm, so it's clear there's still some demand out there even if most businesses can't figure out how to serve it profitably.

Sunday morning we both puttered around until almost noon, then went out for what we call a "ritual" lunch. Our lunch ritual is to eat at a casual restaurant and linger over the food with our smartphones/tablets out. 15+ years ago we did it with the Sunday newspaper! It's fun to have these long term habits and update them with the times.

Sunday afternoon we treated ourselves to ice cream then came back home for an afternoon at the pool.

Relaxing by the pool instead of traveling this weekend (Sep 2025)

Relaxing by the pool instead of traveling this weekend (Sep 2025)

As is our usual for the pool, we spent some time doing walking laps in the water, then relaxed floating around, then took a soak in the hot tub (well, I did that solo while Hawk stayed in the main pool), then dried off on lounge chairs while reading from our smartphones/tablets again.

Now we're taking it easy indoors (walking laps in the pool takes a lot out of us!) until dinnertime. We're talking about grilling hot dogs for dinner. Exact plans are still up in the air.

Tomorrow will be back to work for me— including 3 or 4 days of travel. So on that basis I'm not totally pissed about giving up our Sierra trip this weekend. Call it only 50% pissed. 🤣 Relaxing at home this weekend has been a nice alternative.

rimrunner

As I fed 15-year-old printed financial statements into the paper shredder, I found myself feeling grateful that nothing lasts forever.

A little over five years ago, right on the cusp of the COVID pandemic, I took a couple of trips back to the house I grew up in. My parents were finally preparing to sell it and move out west, precipitated by the need for a place with fewer stairs and closer proximity to their kids.

This meant getting rid of stuff. A lot of stuff. Some of it had been mine. For reference, I was in my mid-forties and had moved away permanently straight after college. I just hadn’t gotten around to getting rid of a lot of things, before I left for college or afterward.

Some of it belonged to my brother, and the rest to my parents. It’s harder to live light when you live in the same place for 45 years, I suppose. My family also has a propensity to collect things. Not necessarily particularly valuable or expensive things, just things that we like. It’s not a hoarding situation, not quite, but the reason I was feeding 15-year-old printouts into the shredder was that the stacks of paper in my home office in Seattle had finally become untenable. I’m one of those people whose brain feels cluttered when my space feels cluttered, and unfortunately I’m also one of those people who accumulates clutter.

The thing that’s finally getting me to do something about it is that we’re going to be moving. Not sure when, and the house we’re moving to will actually be bigger, but just the thought of moving all this stuff is exhausting (and faintly embarrassing, especially after having spent time in communities where entire families live in houses the size of my bedroom). When I was helping my parents get rid of stuff in preparation for their move (the staff at the nearest dump wanted to know if we were doing a major home renovation, we were there so much) I found myself wishing I had Marie Kondo’s phone number.

Later, I was wishing for it for myself. Instead of “Does this spark joy?” my guiding question became, “Do I love this enough to pack it into a box and move it?”

Like a lot of Americans, I have too much stuff. More than I could ever need or use. Much of my current endeavor is getting some of this stuff to people who could use it, or to places where people can find it (Ebay, for example, or area thrift stores or Buy Nothing groups).

But some of it, like those 15-year-old financial statements, isn’t going anywhere but the bin. (Seattle composts shredded paper, by the way—but don’t go crazy with quantities.) What’s also going in there is stuff I wrote back then. Some of it’s interesting, especially if it got revised and reused later in something that actually got published. A lot of it, though…well, let’s just say that I no longer have any doubt that I’ve improved as a writer, though even now I’m not composing deathless prose (and I definitely wasn’t back then).

If, as a book I reviewed for Library Journal earlier this year proposes, all of our lives and everything that we do is merely the universe attempting to hasten toward equilibrium, then I’m glad that at least that the mountain of stuff I’m digging through is temporal in nature. I’m weirdly delighted to uncover patches of carpet that I haven’t seen in months if not years.

And I’m really, really glad that my separation paperwork from when I got laid off from Amazon.com in 2000 is going to be fertilizing someone’s flowerbed in the coming months.

Current Mood: contemplative

canyonwalker

I stopped by CVS on my lunch break yesterday to buy a few things. I couldn't help but notice what the person in front of me at checkout had on the conveyor belt:

The person in front of me at CVS seems to be buying a nutritious lunch (Sep 2025)

Yeah, that looks like a nutritious lunch right there! 🤣

Of course, I had to keep a straight face while in line because I was standing behind her with a whole tote bag full of booze. You see, the only two things I buy at CVS anymore— because they're the only two things CVS offers good prices on— are prescription drugs and sale booze.

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #30
Seat 1E aboard UA 2462 · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 7pm.

Once we decamped from the Maple Leaf lounge, where we'd spent 4 hours at YYZ airport in relative comfort, it was a surprisingly long walk to our gate. We left the terminal main area a walked through a long series of corridors that looked like they were built out of shipping containers. Then we went down an escalator— where I loudly asked no one in particular, "WTF? Are we going to the subway?" Yes, it was definitely the Blacksmith, the Manhattan, a 3 G+Ts talking. And we landed in a bargain basement concourse, on ground level, with exposed wiring and ventilation in the ceiling and limited, obviously slapped-together services.

The bargain basement or "F Trump" concourse at YYZ (Aug 2025)

The bargain basement or "F Trump" concourse at YYZ (Aug 2025)

I'd never seen this concourse before at YYZ, yet apparently it's where all US bound flights depart now. I promptly dubbed it the "F Trump" concourse.

While Hawk and I waited at in the makeshift boarding area— because, of course, our flight was delayed— I checked my boarding pass. I was lined up in the Group 2 boarding, and Hawk told me we're now in Group 1. (Group 2 has been the standard for my elite status level for years.) I looked at my boarding pass, and sure enough it showed Group 1. But it also showed my seat in first class. I figured it was my boarding pass from the flight out here a week earlier so I deleted it and loaded a new one from the United app. But the new one showed a first class seat, too. That could only mean... I'd been upgraded!

Upgraded to First Class on the way home from Toronto... and yes, I sat there with a toy bald eagle on my lap 🤣 (Aug 2025)

Upgraded to First Class on the way home from Toronto... and yes, I sat there with a toy bald eagle on my lap 🤣 (Aug 2025)

My new seat is 1E. That's a bit of good news/bad news. Good news, because when is a seat upgrade ever really a bad thing? But also bad news because it's not much of an upgrade. A) I already had a primo seat in economy plus, an exit row aisle seat. B) First class on this flight is domestic first class, which means it's basically just a slightly wider seat with free booze. And C) seat 1E means leg room is cramped because I'm up against the bulkhead— as you can see in the photo above. But hey, a slightly wider seat and free booze— I'll take it! 🥂

And yes, as the photo shows, I'm sitting here with a toy bald eagle on my lap. "Baldy" has drawn a lot of interest. Several passengers and all of the cabin crew have made comments and/or asked questions.

...What kind of questions? Oh, things like, "Where's that eagle from?" To which I've explained just a small part of Baldy's elaborate backstory. (All of our birds have backstories.) OMG, people have been thrilled to hear this toy's origin story! 😂 Among other tidbits, "he" used to live at the base of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, got lost migrating south one year, got stuck in Las Vegas and survived on an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, has been with us for over 20 years, and only recently we learned "he" is really a she!

canyonwalker

We had plans this weekend to visit Mammoth Lakes, California. We had a reservation at a beautiful hotel with an upgraded suite including a balcony and mountain view, and we were going to do various hikes in the Eastern Sierra. This was the trip we'd originally planned for 4 weeks ago but pushed out due to fatigue and a minor injury. Just today we pushed it out again to... I don't know when. We actually canceled it.

Why cancel a trip we were so looking forward to?

Aaand it's on fire 😧🔥😖

Yeah, fire. That's why.

First we noticed yesterday or the day before that, per PurpleAir.com, the AQI around Mammoth Lake was poor. Like, index around 170, meaning unhealthy and noticeably smoky. We figured we'd go anyway but try to pick hikes away from the smoke. Then today we saw that not only was the AQI not improving, but the most direct driving route there was closed. Yes, a section of Highway 120 is closed due to fire right now.

We called up the hotel and sweet-talked them into letting us cancel our reservation even though we were inside the no-refunds window. They were sympathetic to us having to drive around literal fires to get there. Plus I assured them that we really want to stay at their lovely hotel sometime later, when our driving route and the area surrounding the hotel isn't on fire. Though I don't know when that'll be. We can't really predict when a fire will be over. Especially since the one burning around Route 120 is only 13% contained as of this afternoon.

I've remarked before in my blog that it's getting so we need to check not just the weather forecast but also the fire forecast before going on a trip. I've said it half-jokingly— but only half. The half that makes it half a joke is that there is no such thing as a fire forecast. I can only wish I were joking about the need for one.

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #29
Maple Leaf Lounge, YYZ Terminal 1 · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 2:30pm.

Getting through the airport shuffle at YYZ today was... well, I won't say swift, because par for the course at YYZ it felt like we had to walk to Mississauga and back, but it was at least uneventful. There weren't really any lines....

Nearly empty passport queue for Canada to US (Aug 2025)

Nearly empty passport queue for Canada to US (Aug 2025)

Passport control had more agents than travelers. I've read that trips from Canada to the US are way down thanks to our bellicose president. I wonder if the lack of crowding here at the passport queue is due to Canadians choosing not to travel to the US, or just due to the time of day. I'm certain it'll be more crowded late Friday afternoon, but how crowded?

It was also quiet here at the lounge when we arrived just after 2pm. Access to partner lounges is one of the benefits I get from my United Airlines Gold status, and Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. If there were a United Club lounge here I would not get in for free, because United does not consider Canada "international" for purposes of its international travel benefits. (United was waaaay out ahead of President Trump, years ahead, in verbally treating Canada as "the 51st state".)

Enjoying a meal and a drink at the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge (Aug 2025)

Enjoying a meal and a drink at the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge (Aug 2025)

Hawk and I are sitting down now, enjoying a meal in the lounge. They've got a little buffet going that today has bulgogi, pesto pasta, and sauteed broccoli. It's an odd combination, but it works. And it's free and it's tasty.

Speaking of combinations, my beer in the photo is a combination. The lounge has a few beers on tap, including Smithwick's Red and Guinness Stout. I poured myself a Blacksmith.

Update: By the time I left the lounge around 6pm I'd eaten another plate of food and knocked down a Manhattan and 3 Gin + Tonics. 🥃🍸😋

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #28
Campbellville, ON · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 12:30pm.

This morning we packed to go. ...Not just go hiking but also go home. We figure we'll cool our heels at the airport for a few hours later today— our flight doesn't depart until 7pm— by taking advantage of lounge access. Yay, elite status. But first there was one more hike we put on our list, Hilton Falls.

It's convenient that Hilton Falls isn't too badly out of our way. It's an easy drive from here to YYZ airport. When I mapped it out I asked Hawk, "Wait, why didn't we do this first, on Monday, when we were coming from next to the airport?"

Money. The answer was money. This little park charges an outsized fee. For the two of us it was C$27.12. Okay, that's just under $20 US, but it's still a lot for a small park. And it also has a reservations system. C'mon, this isn't Yosemite!

When I read up on the park this morning the website said that reservations are not required, so we figured we'd give it a try. I mean, arriving at 10:30 on a weekday we didn't expect too many crowds.

In fact there were only a few other cars in the parking lot when we arrived. That didn't stop the gate attendant from saying, "Reservation?" as the first word out of her mouth. 🙄 I said No, presented a card for payment, and we parked in the first space next to the visitors center... which wasn't even staffed. For US$20 we don't even get a ranger/docent to talk to, just a ticket-taker? 😡

We checked our packs, shrugged on our light jackets (it was a bit cool this morning), and set off up the trail.

Hilton Falls, Ontario (Aug 2025)

By now you've probably had enough with the wall of text, so here's a waterfall photo. 🤣 The trail back to the falls is about a mile each way. ...Well, it's about a mile via the shortest path. There are multiple ways to get there from here. I guess for C$27.12 per couple they could afford to build a bunch of trails.

Next to the falls are the remnants of an old mill. If I'd made the picture above with a really wide angle lens you'd see the stone foundation over to the left. It last operated over 100 years ago so there's very little of it left now.

But I did climb up what little was left, basically just the stone foundation, to enjoy the falls from a slightly different perspective.

Hilton Falls, Ontario (Aug 2025)

I only sat at this perch for 10 minutes, but while I did the falls area got crowded. When we arrived there were just 2 small groups here, a solo hiker and a man with two young kids. By the time we left there were 20 people and at least 1 dog milling around below the falls. I guess it's a good thing we arrived at 10:30am otherwise we might have needed a reservation!

Well, now we're back at the parking lot. We did pass a few more hikers headed in while we were hiking out. Parking's still not all that crowded, though. I guess it's just that everyone is here for the falls. We took advantage of the underutilized visitors center to change out of hiking clothes into street clothes. Now our bags are all packed and it's time to head to the airport for the journey home.

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #27
Back at the hotel · Thu, 28 Aug 2025. 4pm.

Today we visited one waterfalls, Felker's Falls. Well, we tried to visit others, but they were dry. Even though it's been raining today. Yeah, this is like the worst combination of conditions for waterfall hikes: the waterfalls are dry while we get soaked. 👎

Felker's Falls is in a city park in Hamilton. It's such a low key area. It's behind a children's playground in a suburban neighborhood. We parked by the trashcans, walked past the jungle gym, and to the hiking trails at the back.

"Are we in the right place?" we wondered. Then we saw fences everywhere and knew we were. 🤣

Felker's Falls in Hamilton, Ontario (Aug 2025)

Felker's Falls in Hamilton, Ontario (Aug 2025)

We followed once fenced path a short distance around the falls where the view was poor then doubled back to hike another fenced path on the other side.

We briefly entertained the question Can we hike to the bottom? It would be too steep going down the side of the canyon from above. The maps and a description on AllTrails imply we could partly hike an established trail, partly rock-hop up the creek from the bottom; but the weather was darkening and these falls just weren't big enough to be worth it. We decided to content ourselves with this view.

At Felker's Falls in Hamilton, Ontario (Aug 2025)

At Felker's Falls in Hamilton, Ontario (Aug 2025)

It's good we decided to be content here, because on our (short) walk back to the car it started to rain. And I don't just mean a drizzle or misty rain. We were dressed for that. No, it started to pour. We got to the car, hung our rain jackets to dry over our seat backs, and drove on to the next location.

I don't even remember now what the name of the next falls we visited was. It was out past Devil's Punchbowl— or, as I've been calling it since visiting there on Monday, Devil's Dustbowl. It was dry. We decided to pack it in for the day, ate lunch down the hill in town, then drove back out to the hotel.

Now we're back at the hotel. We figure we'll chill here for the rest of the day. We've kind of run out of things to do since dry balls cut short our list of activities. We're petered out at this point.

At least there's one more falls we can visit tomorrow before we go home, when the weather should be better again. Hawk put that falls near the bottom of the list because it charges a hefty entrance fee and has a reservation system. But we're scraping bottom here, so it's what's left on the list.

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #26
Burlington, ON · Thu, 28 Aug 2025. 9am.

Yesterday we finished up our visit to Niagara Falls by mid-afternoon and drove back through Hamilton to our hotel in Burlington. We discussed where to have dinner and decided to treat ourselves to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. Yeah, I know, all-you-can-eat does not exactly say "quality"... but this restaurant had some surprisingly good dishes. A teriyaki steak dish I ordered was fantastic. Two kinds of tuna sashimi I ordered were bland, but the salmon sashimi (one of my favorites) was totally on-point. I ordered several pieces. And the eel nigiri was good enough that I ordered seconds, too. Oh, and then dim sum style sesame balls for dessert. Mmm, sesame balls! Much better than dry balls. 🤣

After dinner we came back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. I went downstairs for a soak in the hot tub. This time Hawk joined me.

This morning has been a slow morning. We ate at the complimentary breakfast restaurant since our store-bought breakfast food was underwhelming. Now we're back at the room relaxing rather than rushing out to visit waterfalls. Why? Because there's not much left on our list at this point. After crossing off all the falls that are dry like Balls there are only two more to visit. And we've got two left here, today and tomorrow— and that's even after shortening our trip by 2 days.

Yesterday afternoon, on the drive back from Niagara, I was thinking to myself, We could have left this evening. But here we still are, for 2 more days. (At least it's not 4!) We'll go out in a bit.

canyonwalker

Canada travelog #25
Niagara Falls, ON · Wed, 27 Aug 2025. 3pm.

For our visit to Niagara Falls today we planned three activities. One, we'd do a boat tour into the mist of the falls. Two, we'd do the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour. Three, aside from the first two which required tickets, we'd do general sightseeing. for free. Well, we arrived early and did some of #3 right off the bat. Then we boarded and earlier sailing for the boat tour and completed #1. That left us with just our later-in-the-afternoon tickets for #3. It was getting to around noon so we decided to grab some lunch first.

One of the things I remember from visiting Niagara Falls as a child years ago— really, decades ago— is the debate between, "Which side is better, the US or Canadian side?"

As a child, my parents warned me that the US side would be full of honky-tonk while the Canadian side would be beautiful parks. My actual experience as a child turned out to be the complete opposite. On the US side we saw nothing but parks right up near the falls. When we crossed the Friendship Bridge to the Canadian side, it was nothing but an endless carnival midway of rigged games and overpriced kitschy crap.

So far today I've figured out that my parents were half right— there are parks on the Canadian side. Beautiful parks all along the edge of the canyon. Except right at the foot of the bridge, which is a tourist shit show that stretches several blocks. Well, that's where we went for lunch today. 😂 That's how I know it's still there. We walked around enough to find a relatively not-tourist-trap restaurant and then walked back down the hill to where the parks are.

Then we walked toward the Horseshoe Falls to Table Rock. That's where the Journey Behind the Falls tour is. We swapped our later-in-the-day tickets for a tour departing earlier and waited in line. Here's a video of the highlights from the Journey Behind the Falls:

Watch on YouTube

Overall this tour was interesting but not really worth it. When we were actually behind the falls, peering through two large "windows" in the underground tunnels, the water was pounding so hard we could barely anything. And the lines to get to the front were ridiculously long. The view from the outdoors platform near the bottom of the falls was nice, but given that we'd already done the Maid of the Mist boat tour it didn't really add anything.

rimrunner

My cats have always been strays. The first one turned up under my then-roommate’s mother’s porch in Roswell, New Mexico, and of course for the rest of his life (about 19 years, give or take), we joked about that cat eventually rejoining his mothership someday.

The next one had taken up residence in a friend’s backyard in White Center, the neighborhood just south of where I lived in Seattle. After some attempt to figure out if he had a home, said friend put the word out that maybe said cat needed adoption. He was an unfixed ginger tabby (the cat, not the friend) who was about two years old per the vet but underweight enough that we’d thought he was younger. And he had ear mites and fleas.

The one after that turned up in a feral cat colony at a friend’s workplace. He was a three-month-old kitten who hadn’t been born there—the company provided food and TNR, so a new kitten would have been noticed. My friend thought he’d gotten lost or been dumped, and had gravitated to the colony due to his age and that domestic cats, even feral ones, will live more socially than their wild counterparts generally do.

And then, about a month ago, a kitten took refuge in our woodpile.

“What do we do?” my husband texted, along with a photo of said kitten rolling around on his shoe like she’d just found her long-lost mom.

“Take her in, of course!” This is how nearly everyone I’ve told this story to has responded, and it is what we ended up doing. The woodpile in question is in a pretty remote location, a far enough distance from the nearest houses that while adult cats that clearly belong somewhere do roam the area, it’s a long way for a kitten barely out of the weaning stage to venture. It’s also, always, possible that she was dumped. Her friendliness toward people and ready understanding of the litter box suggests that she wasn’t born feral. But we don’t really know.

That’s always the difficulty with stray cats—we don’t have any way of knowing their stories, though we can make educated guesses based on behavior, health, and where they’re found. None of the cats we’ve taken in had collars or chips to aid in finding whatever homes they might have had, but that doesn’t always mean much. A cat not normally let outside might well not have those things, and plenty of people never get around to it even for pets that are allowed to roam.

Cats have a way of finding their own homes. Two households that I’m friends with have joked that they bought six-figure cats and got a house thrown in for free. In some parts of the U.S. it’s still the norm for people to let their cats outside to wander at will, and some of these cats will hang around multiple households; when I was a kid, there was an orange Manx who was friendly with many houses in the neighborhood. The danger of jokes like the Cat Distribution System is that you can’t readily assume that a cat who shows up at your door, or in your yard, or in your woodpile, doesn’t have a home.

On the other hand, sometimes they really don’t. Cats wander off, or get lost, or get scared, or get dumped. Plenty never have homes among humans in the first place. It’s why all my cats have been strays; I can’t give every cat a home that doesn’t have one, but I can give homes to the ones who’ve come to me, and that lack them. In every case, I try to ascertain—through lost pet posters, social media posts, asking around, checking for ID chips—that that’s really the case.

Current Mood: thoughtful

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amdilick

February 2021

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Page Summary

canyonwalker - Details About This Layoff
canyonwalker - Back from the Trade Show. Layoffs Hanging Heavy in the Air.
canyonwalker - Trade Show Day 2: Reading the Tea Leaves of a Layoff!
canyonwalker - Easy Evening, Easy Morning at the Trade Show
canyonwalker - Day 1 at the Trade Show: The Butler is In Tha House!
canyonwalker - Day 1 at the Trade Show: Slow Start
canyonwalker - Trade Show Day 0: Late to Bed, Early to Rise
canyonwalker - What I Forgot This Trip (This One's a Doozy)
canyonwalker - Trade Show... in Napa!
canyonwalker - Another Take-it-Easy Weekend around Home
rimrunner - In gratitude for impermanence
canyonwalker - Nutritious Lunch at CVS?
canyonwalker - Downgrade to the F-Trump Terminal; Upgrade to a First Class Seat
canyonwalker - Smoked Out AND a Fire Closure
canyonwalker - Heels Up Before Wheels Up in Toronto
canyonwalker - Hiking Hilton Falls & Packed to Go
canyonwalker - Felker's Falls and Back to the Hotel
canyonwalker - Sushi Dinner, Taking it Easy at the Hotel
canyonwalker - Niagara Falls, part 3: Lunch, then a Journey Behind the Falls
rimrunner - on the cat distribution system

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