There and Back Again: Phoenix
Aug. 4th, 2025 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerToday I've taken a day trip to Phoenix. Similar to a day trip I made two years ago— wow, was it really that long ago?— I got up this morning, drove to the airport, caught a flight to Phoenix, traveled across town to meet a customer for several hours, then traveled back to the airport for my flight home.
My timing's gone something like this so far today:
6:15am: Morning alarm. Get up to start my usual weekday morning process, albeit 30 minute earlier than usual.
7:15am: Heading to the airport. I opt to drive instead of hail a ride because parking at SJC in a lot from which I can walk to the terminal is just $30/day, versus Uber and Lyft which are now usually at least $30 each way. Plus, I get the certainty of driving my own car on my own schedule, rather than waiting who-knows-how-long for a driver to be assigned only to cancel a few minutes later and make me wait for another assignment.
7:45am: In the terminal. The walk from my parking spot took 6 minutes. I didn't get as nice a parking spot as last time. Security took a few minutes with PreCheck. I have time to grab a bagel as second breakfast.
9:30am: Whoopsie at 35,000'. We're en route to PHX. I've got one of the few empty middle seats next to me, yay! But I'm also surrounded by crying babies, boo. And one of my neighbors ordered a double vodka-tonic that the flight attendant just poured all over my pants leg. Yeah, that's going to go over well, walking into my client's office smelling like I came straight from the bar.
10:45am: Landing in Phoenix. The flight was scheduled at just under 2 hours and arrived about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. And you know what comes after I had second breakfast a few hours ago, right?
11 am: Elevensies. 🤣 Yes, I have time for an early lunch at PHX airport.
11:45am: Sync time with colleague. Mike arrived on a later flight, and we meet up and sit down for a while at the airport Starbucks to sync on what we'll cover in today's meeting. I research a few issues to be ready with answers in case the customer gets testy.
1pm: Arriving to meet my customer. They're on the north side of town. It's quite a haul out here from the airport.
3pm: We're done beating around the bush! I've spent the past 2 hours with the customer being cagey and asking us trap questions about how we count users. Nearly the whole time I've realized that what they're really fighting about is the last 3% of the user count. Like, is it 11,100 or is it 11,400? Finally I feel they've come around enough for me to ask, "So, can we agree that 11,100 is a reasonable number to base our cost planning on?" They agree.
4pm: Headed back to the airport. We had another meeting, a brief one, with a senior VP. Guess how much he cares about whether the number is 11,100 or 11,400? Pretty much zero. He's ready to talk in terms of, "Okay, what's the value your solution delivers to my business?" Which is what we'd much rather talk about.
4:45pm: Time for the airport shuffle— and a beer. Clearing security is quick. There's nobody in the PreCheck line ahead of us. Mike and I post up at Four Peaks, a local brewery that has a franchise at the airport. Mmm, beer!
6:20pm: Walking to the gate. And PHX airport is so spread out this is like, half a mile, from one part of Terminal 4 to another. And it's not even one-third the length of the terminal!
7:25pm: In my seat, ready for takeoff. We're running a few minutes late for our 7:25 scheduled departure but we should start rolling within 5 minutes.
Update: Home slightly ahead of schedule, before 10pm!
My timing's gone something like this so far today:
6:15am: Morning alarm. Get up to start my usual weekday morning process, albeit 30 minute earlier than usual.
7:15am: Heading to the airport. I opt to drive instead of hail a ride because parking at SJC in a lot from which I can walk to the terminal is just $30/day, versus Uber and Lyft which are now usually at least $30 each way. Plus, I get the certainty of driving my own car on my own schedule, rather than waiting who-knows-how-long for a driver to be assigned only to cancel a few minutes later and make me wait for another assignment.
7:45am: In the terminal. The walk from my parking spot took 6 minutes. I didn't get as nice a parking spot as last time. Security took a few minutes with PreCheck. I have time to grab a bagel as second breakfast.
9:30am: Whoopsie at 35,000'. We're en route to PHX. I've got one of the few empty middle seats next to me, yay! But I'm also surrounded by crying babies, boo. And one of my neighbors ordered a double vodka-tonic that the flight attendant just poured all over my pants leg. Yeah, that's going to go over well, walking into my client's office smelling like I came straight from the bar.
10:45am: Landing in Phoenix. The flight was scheduled at just under 2 hours and arrived about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. And you know what comes after I had second breakfast a few hours ago, right?
11 am: Elevensies. 🤣 Yes, I have time for an early lunch at PHX airport.
11:45am: Sync time with colleague. Mike arrived on a later flight, and we meet up and sit down for a while at the airport Starbucks to sync on what we'll cover in today's meeting. I research a few issues to be ready with answers in case the customer gets testy.
1pm: Arriving to meet my customer. They're on the north side of town. It's quite a haul out here from the airport.
3pm: We're done beating around the bush! I've spent the past 2 hours with the customer being cagey and asking us trap questions about how we count users. Nearly the whole time I've realized that what they're really fighting about is the last 3% of the user count. Like, is it 11,100 or is it 11,400? Finally I feel they've come around enough for me to ask, "So, can we agree that 11,100 is a reasonable number to base our cost planning on?" They agree.
4pm: Headed back to the airport. We had another meeting, a brief one, with a senior VP. Guess how much he cares about whether the number is 11,100 or 11,400? Pretty much zero. He's ready to talk in terms of, "Okay, what's the value your solution delivers to my business?" Which is what we'd much rather talk about.
4:45pm: Time for the airport shuffle— and a beer. Clearing security is quick. There's nobody in the PreCheck line ahead of us. Mike and I post up at Four Peaks, a local brewery that has a franchise at the airport. Mmm, beer!
6:20pm: Walking to the gate. And PHX airport is so spread out this is like, half a mile, from one part of Terminal 4 to another. And it's not even one-third the length of the terminal!
7:25pm: In my seat, ready for takeoff. We're running a few minutes late for our 7:25 scheduled departure but we should start rolling within 5 minutes.
Update: Home slightly ahead of schedule, before 10pm!
