My boss and I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona on a business trip.  We were evangelizing some internal tools we've created over the last several years.  We left early Wednesday morning on Southwest Airlines and had a stop in El Paso, where I changed seats into the best coach seat I've ever sat in.  It was just behind the emergency exit row, and the seats were arranged such that there was no seat in front of me.

Let me just say something about Phoenix.  It is HOT!  We came up with a slogan for Phoenix:

Hell is cold in Phoenix

Anyway, the trip went well.  And our tools were well received.  For the first time, I made sure that my GPS was turned on as much as possible to enable me to geo-code my photos.  I used the WWMX Location Stamper from Microsoft Research to put the GPS track data into the photos.  I was hoping to integrate them into Google Earth, but they are no longer taking orders for the plus version which allows GPS track data to be integrated.

Also, in a bizarre coincidence, my friend Jeff Flint, who lives in the Seattle area, was in Phoenix on a sort of baseball tour.  So, Wednesday night, I ditched my boss and headed to the ballpark.  I was worried about the sun and the heat, but on the way there, I noticed that the smoke from the fires in California was making it much less intense.  Then, when I got there, an even better surprise.  The roof was closed and the park was air-conditioned, making it very pleasant.  Jeff and I watched the game, chatted, and generally caught up, which was great.  He managed to catch two balls during batting practice.