steven n fettig's Jitterin' Thoughts

Well, my friends and I made it through the flight to Amsterdam. We originally had seats next to one another (there are three of us on the trip), but because we were 5 minutes after the 3:00 pm deadline for checking in (yes, only 5 minutes) we lost those seat reservations. I was jammed against a window over the wing (anyone who has ever flown with me knows that I no longer like sitting by the window... talk about feeling like you are a sardine), my friend was behind me in an isle seat and his acquaintance was about 20 rows ahead of us jammed against a window also. <--begin rant-->I can't believe that seats on planes are continually getting smaller as time goes by and people are physically getting larger (I am not referring to obese people). I am 5'10" 180lbs and felt like I was in stuck in a large suitcase in the fetal position. It was absolutely ridiculous! When are the airlines going to realize tha they are only hurting themselves by making travel so ridiculously cheap and yet so unbearably uncomfortable?<--end rant--> I can't complain at this point in time, however, as we are traveling (very comfortably, I might add) in the ICE (for those of you familiar with German trains) heading from Amsterdam to Hannover. One of the things that I am interested in seeing are some of the different technologies being worked on directly related to wireless technology. I see a need for improved speed and security as a whole, but at the same time, they need to figure out how to make portable computers more mobile. The TabletPC does a decent job at attempting that goal, but still has the trouble of recognizing normal handwriting and being much too expensive. So, I hope that some of the [typically] inventive European and Asian companies have anything up their sleeves that we in the US aren't aware of yet... Here's to the beginning of a good trip!