[pypy-sprint] Pycon sprint coming up soon now!

[Jacob Hallén]

On tisdag 15 mars 2005 14:37, holger krekel wrote:
> Hi Pycon sprinters,
>
> does anyone happen to know what the exact sprint logistics
> are for the Pycon PyPy sprint?  It seems that
>
>     http://www.python.org/moin/PyConDC2005/Sprints
>
> still hasn't really been updated (unless i am missing
> something).  But as we meet in just 4 days it would be helpful
> to know when, which rooms and with what equipment (beamer,
> coffee maker etc.pp.) we will be able to start.

Going from the arrangements from last year, there were some beamers available. 
However, we will bring the one I purchased for use in the Pypy project. We 
will bring a printer too, in case we need to handle paperwork with NPs at the 
conference. Networking gear should be provided, so we shouldn't have to bring 
any of that. Please don't forget to bring converters for power plugs.

Coffee makers and water heaters are a bigger problem, since European equipment 
does not run on 110 V. The sprint organisers did not provide such equipment 
last year, and during the weekend the food&beverage places in the building 
are closed.

> Also most of us arrive on the 18th of March and - modulo
> jet lags - i wouldn't mind having a meeting point on the
> evening of the 18th somewhere ... any suggestions?

A word of warning. Washington DC is very early in its habits according to 
European standards. If you go out for dinner after 20.00, you may have 
problems finding a place that will serve you. Not that this will matter much 
the day we arrive, since you will be very tired by that time.

While I can't really siggest any specific place, I can say that there is no 
point in trying to find a place to eat in Rosslyn. There is a Burger King, 
and just about nothing else. There are lots of places to eat in Georgetown, 
just across the Key Bridge from Rosslyn, and in the area just north of the 
conference venue, close to the Faragut West Metro station.

> And does anyone know if it's sensible to try get an
> US mobile phone card to use with my mobile phone?

No, this is a terrible waste of money. I have checked thoroughly, and the cash 
card deals in the US are much more expensive than cash cards in Europe. You 
have 2 options:

1. If you plan on just making a few phone calls, make sure you have a triple 
band GSM phone, and that your European operator has a deal with a US GSM 
based operator. Calls will be very expensive.

2. If you plan to make a lot of calls, you can rent cellphones in the US. 
There is a rental company at Dulles International for instance.
An example of costs can be found at http://triptel.com/rates_us.html

Please note that it can be _very_ expensive to call from your hotel. The 
cheapest solution is usually to buy a pre-paid calling card and place your 
phone calls from a coin operated phone (they are everywhere in the US, but 
you need some change to get your prepaid card to start working).

Cheers

Jacob