High-Tech Dinner

There have been a couple times where I've been to a restaurant and the wait staff takes your order on iPads, and one restaurant even had their wine list on an iPad.  But today I was the most technologically-advanced restaurant experience I've ever had.  While on a layover at the Minneapolis airport, I ate at a sushi restaurant called Shoyu.  Nearly the entire experience is based off of the iPad.  Every seat has an iPad, and when you sit down a waitress doesn't even come to your table.  You first enter your flight information so it can give you updates during your stay.  You then peruse the menu, which provides you nice descriptions and large photos of every item.  You order your food and drinks through the app.  While you're waiting you can browse the internet or play games, and eventually the wait staff will bring you your order.  You also pay by sliding your credit card through a device next to the iPad, and your receipt is e-mailed to you at an address you provide.  They're obviously not going for the touchy feely friendly experience, but instead a high-tech, efficient, streamlined experience, which for a restaurant in the airport was perfectly fine with me.  I really enjoyed my time there, and I would definitely go back.

End of Kickoff

As always, Kickoff was a long and grueling, yet also very enjoyable, time.  Not much sleep was had by many, but that was largely our own choice.  Today was the last day, but it's mostly just a travel day, as we had breakfast meetings this morning, and then everyone headed for the airport.  But because I flew from Palm Springs, the flight options weren't ideal, and I ended up taking a three-segment flight.  Here I am in the Minneapolis airport as I wait to board my final flight of the day.  Combined with the time change, I'll get to KC late tonight.  Tomorrow is Monday, so it'll be right back to work.  I do love Kickoff, but I wish it didn't take up the entire weekend.  Fortunately, it's usually the only weekend of the year that I have to give up for work, so I feel fortunate to have a job that almost always leaves my weekends free.