So there was a small connection between today’s big story and the Berkshire Hathaway meeting: Bill Gates and Sue Decker were both seated in the very front row, with just one person sitting between them. Apparently that was much closer than Yang and Ballmer ever got. After a lunch break, several of Berkshire’s directors didn’t return into the main room, and I couldn’t tell from my vantage point whether Gates and Decker were among those who had returned—later I learned from someone else that they were not. Not surprising in retrospect.

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After the meeting (and a stop to place a bet on the Kentucky Derby) I did the obligatory trip to the Berkshire-owned Nebraska Furniture Mart. It’s mainly standard furniture, but they do sell a lot of electronics, including computers. That turned out to be quite fortunate. Just as I was leaving, I got the message on Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and was able to dash to an unused Macbook Pro to bang out a post. The sales clerk kept interrupting me (quite politely) , asking if I had any questions. I did, but probably none that she could help me with. Other than not remembering the Mac commands for cut & past (it’d been awhile), it was a perfectly memorable and pleasant location to write up the news.

Rafat adds: And I was walking around in downtown Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Springs in about 90 degrees heat. I am here this weekend in the next town over, La Quinta, for the annual ABM Spring Meeting, and the conference that starts tomorrow evening at the La Quinta Resort. And normally I would always have my phone and laptop with me when I travel, but guess where I left both this afternoon…

Staci adds: If I’d known all it would take to reach some kind of resolution in this saga was for me and Rafat to both be off the grid at the same time, we could have arranged it weeks ago and we’d have all had a more pleasant Saturday night. I was at Dish in DC for family dinner and put my phone—set to vibrate—in my purse, hoping to show I could leave work behind. When I finally checked between courses, voice mail and texts had been piling up for a good 30 minutes and Joe had long since filed our first take. Thanks to Joe, David and Tricia, at least I made it through dessert.