Libby Says...
Well, I've been busy traveling for the past little while, with short trips to Dallas and Nashville over the past two weeks. Nashville was great - I enjoyed making some new friends and connections, catching up with some from the "old days," and getting the skinny on WebSphere Portal and the accelerators. While I didn't stay for the entire week, I did learn some things that we'll be putting into play soon. I'm looking forward to adding some additional portal work to what we do at WFS. Now I'm getting ready to head out on another trip - to California! I'm visiting my college friends in San Francisco and running a half marathon. Okay, let's be honest. I'm not going to actually run this one, as my training has been crap. Instead, this one will be a run/walk with the emphasis on walk. I can do that for this event, as they're pretty generous about the time limits. I can't, however, do that for the next half marathon I've got scheduled - in Houston, in January, right before I head out to Lotusphere, as they're much more strict (training in Houston is much easier in the winter, though!). Still, even when I haven't gotten fully trained, I'm glad to be doing half marathons. I started running during a very sad, painful time in my life, and it was the one healthy thing I was doing for myself at the time. It continues to be a time when I can either have a nice talk with a friend or with Philip, or it can also be a great time for some silent meditation - time NOT to think - just to be. My yoga studio has been closed for the past 2 months, and meditating at home hasn't been working extremely successfully for me, but when I run or walk, I get it. So, I'll run/walk/meditate through my half marathon on Sunday and come back to Houston ready to train much more actively for the next one. Then I'll head down to southern California to visit my Oma for her birthday. I hope to be as full of life...well, even now, as she is in her 90s. I won't be taking off from work completely, as I've got plenty to do to get ready for the Lotus Collaboration Summit that we're hosting in San Antonio and Dallas (if you're in town, sign up and spread the word!). Still, a short trip with Philip will be relaxing, giving us some time to talk and plan for the future, and will be a chance to see some of the folks I care about. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Giggled when I ran across this discussion of kissing-as-greeting etiquette in the NY Times. For most of us in the US, kissing-as-greeting is fairly uncommon and restricted to close family or friends. On the other hand, if you do business with or have friends who are European (or Canadian), kissing is much more common. I actually really like the custom -- it feels so warm and friendly. You can see a guide to who to kiss when in European customs at Blistex. Knowing who to kiss, when to kiss, and how to handle the kiss can make you look very smooth and well-traveled... (or the opposite, of course...) When do you kiss? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Enjoying a visit to chilly Portland, visiting my mom for an "early" Christmas. We've mostly been talking (we're particularly good at that In other news, I quite like this comic strip story line (via NeilGaiman.com):
Finished reading the Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus, by Margaret Atwood -- wrote a short review of it on Amazon, but basically, I really enjoyed it. It was, however, too short. And I'm not sure I agree with all of the characterization, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it! :-) Now I'm rereading Emma, but I have to admit I bought an entire bag of books yesterday at Powell's -- I can't wait to delve into them. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Philip and I had a nice, albeit short vacation. We stayed with Chris and Jason (thanks, guys!) in SF and played tourist a little bit -- I highly reccommend a trip to the newly-opened de Young museum in Golden Gate park. On Sunday, I ran my second 1/2 marathon -- what a great race. I was very nervous, as my training hasn't been as consistent as it was the first time I did a race like this, but it worked out pretty well. A few killer hills (oy -- mile 7 was really a doozy), but I finished the race in 3:15:55 and enjoyed it a ton! Probably the SF weather and all my friends out there and having Chris and Philip at multiple stops along the race helped lot! We also spent a few days in soCal, visiting my grandparents and some other friends. Basically, a nice short break. :-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Did I remember to mention to you guys that I was headed to Europe this week? I left for Copenhagen on Thursday and made the worst mistake you can make flying over here: I took a long nap when I landed and got to the hotel. I woke up around 7 pm local time, and of course, couldn't sleep. So then I was up until 4 a.m. and slept until 2 p.m. Arghg. I know better than that. Part of the problem, I'm sure, is that I couldn't/didn't sleep on the plane, which is unusual for me. I was up working -- finally cleaning out some of the stuff that's been sitting in my inbox waiting for me to have a moment to consider it. Of course, the other issue is the situation of the hotel -- it doesn't feel very "walk and out see the place" friendly -- we're far away from the city center and you have to go through an area that looks very industrial to get anywhere, so I've been reluctant to just get out there. Again, not too like me, but I'm blaming it on being sleepy. When some of my compatriots get here, hopefully they'll drag me out into the city to see some things, get some food, etc. The flights were fine -- you'd think that with all my status on Continental I'd finally be flying something other than coach, but no such luck. You really get spoiled having status, though, since on all US flights, they upgrade you if they can. Sigh... Still, there was no-one seated right next to me, so that gave me a little room, although the person in front of me kept trying to go *all* the way back -- just wasn't working for me. On the ooh-isn't-that-nice side of things, as soon as I landed in London, I was reconnected to the world -- my Blackberry phone found a network and started giving me messages, I was able to make a call, and in the Gatwick departures lounge, I was able to connect to WiFi via a T-mobile hotspot (same as I'm always using at Starbucks) and sync up to share all those messages I'd written on the plane. Quite nice. The hotel in Copenhagen is also connected -- there's high speed Internet access available in the room and I believe (although I haven't checked it out yet) that there's WiFi in the lobby area. We'll see. So, that's enough being sleepy in the room for me -- I'm off to go see some of Copenhagen, despite the drizzly-grayness of the day. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Brian doesn't have the photos up yet (although you'll be able to see them here when he does), but we just came back from the warmest (although it looks like it's cooled off a bit since yesterday), sunniest, most lovely spring skiing I've ever experienced. After our days in Carlsbad and Mission Viejo early last week, we made the 6-hour drive up to Mammoth Mountain. We stayed in what were theoretically ski-in/ski-out condos, although I think they were using the term a bit generously -- on day 3, I took a bad spill on the ice between the condos and the actual trail, cutting up my forearms pretty badly and jamming/spraining my right thumb (you wouldn't believe how long it's taking me to type this...). After being waaayyy too warm on the first day, we skiied in shirt-sleeves and fleece vests the rest of the week -- and honestly, it was almost too warm for that much! There were folks skiing in a lot less, but considering the bad fall I took on the trail out, I voted that sleeves of some kind would really be a good idea. If I'd known about it in advance, I'd've sent you all to the Webcams at the various lodges on the mountain -- you could've watched in envy while we sunbathed during our lunch breaks. In any case, other than the tumble on the not-really-a-trail spot, the skiing was good and fast, including a few easy blacks (I'm always so proud when I get to say that). I'm ready to go again soon, if the snow holds out! This is only the second trip I've made to Mammoth (usually, we're big fans of Whistler/Blackcomb), but it fit in nicely with our other plans and you can really see the similarities in the how the resort at Mammoth is being developed to how the Whistler/Blackcomb resort is now -- as they're both Intrawest resorts. In any case, if I owe you e-mail or anything else -- my hurt thumb and I are working on it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
create your own visited country map create your own visited states map or write about it on the open travel guide Via Ed and Volker -- a really cool way to graphically track where in the world, or the States, you've been. I've clearly been a lot more successful in the US than I have been outside of it. I had to guess a bit on a few of the states, as there were a few driving trips that were a long time ago that I'm not quite clear on at this point. ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, Continental will probably be my future airline of choice, as I begin living in Houston again. While I prefer American (I come, after all, from an American Airlines legacy family -- my great-grandfather, grandfather, both parents, cousins, and an uncle all worked for the airline at one time or another), they are not quite so forthcoming with their Elite status on their frequent flyer program. Continental was nice enough, for the asking, to give me Gold status, to match my Premier Executive status on United (which I won't be flying as much, as they have very few flights into and out of Houston). I guess it doesn't really cost them much, especially as it will clearly have an effect on which airline I choose. Of course, in keeping with my in-flight power curse, it seems that most of the Continental planes are not equipped with power ports. So, the question becomes, is it better to fly Continental and
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Well, it's here already. Moving day. I'm in the process as you read this of flying to Houston with my two cats. Brian is staying in San Diego to watch the movers pack up the rest of the house and then drive some of our stuff and our dog to Houston. We'll be homeless for a few days, as we don't close on the house in Houston (there are some pictures on Brian's blog, btw) until January 12th. I'll be in the new house for less than a week before I'm off travelling again: I fly back to San Diego (yes, you read that craziness correctly) on the 15th, to finish preparing for and run my half-marathon (which is on the 18th -- wish me luck). I fly back to Houston on the 20th, only to turn around and fly out to Orlando on the 24th (can't imagine why I might be going there...). Whew. I've got a lot of mixed feelings about the move. I think I'm still in shock a bit (we really put this move together fast) and have been in crisis mode for so many days. I'm really going to miss a lot of nice things about San Diego -- the beautiful Pacific Ocean, glowing outside my office window every day, and the absolutely perfect weather. I'll miss the wonderful new friends we made here and running along the Pacific Coast Hwy. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to being in a place that's utterly familiar (I did live in Houston for 22 years, including high school and college), living in a house that costs a lot less, and hanging out with the friends I've had for the longest time, some since 4th grade. If you've got my phone numbers, well, the cell phones still work but the home and office phone numbers don't. And I'm homeless and phone-number-less until the 12th (well, ok, not really homeless -- we'll be staying with my in-laws). Please forgive some...shall we say... intermittent attention lapses. I've got a lot going on. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Miami airport -- there were some cool tidbits from this airport that I guess I've never been in before. First, while walking from the C gates to the A gates, there was a sign saying "A gates, 16 minutes" and then, a little while later, "A gates, 12 minutes." Apparently, I walk faster than the average person, as my total time was more like 10 to 12 minutes from before the first sign. Still, a kind of neat feature. In one spot, there were floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows as you walked between terminals. They were covered by rainbow-colored glass shaped like xylophone pegs -- looked completely cool. The cooler part, however, was that as you stepped on the moving walkway in that hallway, they were playing music over the loudspeakers that actually sounded like someone could've been playing those glass pegs like said xylophone. Neat. As we flew out of Miami, I noticed quite a few very big, very even "squares" of water. I'm not sure what they were -- maybe fish farming or.... I dunno. As we were flying into Belize (I'm not sure, really, how far out we are, maybe 20 minutes?), my first view of land was lots of stubby brown growth on land, surrounded by lots of very clear light blue water. It reminds me of flying into Hawaii, or when we flew into St. Maarten, in that you can see the bottom through the water. We were too high to see fish on the jet, but later, on the 4-seater plane from BZE to Caye Caulker, you could see sand, the ocean grasses, some rays and sharks, and the line of wavelets where the water breaks over the barrier reef. Yes, I did say a 4-seater plane. I'm so glad it was only a 10-minute flight and that he had the windows open for part of the flight. Some other impressions as we flew in -- places where the water gathers inland, pools that look like splotches of fungus, not blue or white or brown or green, but some color that suggest all those colors. Under the light water, there were dark sand splotches that look like giant bird footprints or the half-erased remainders of an etchasketch drawing. We passed over an island that seemed to grow up out of the shallow water. You can see the land rise up under the water until it stands up slowly toward the trees. Landed first in Belize (near Belize City, on the mainland)... yay, another passport stamp! We went through immigration and customs and then waited about 45 minutes before hopping on the tiny four-seater. When we landed in Caye (pronounced "key") Caulker, it was clearly another world. No cars. No pavement. Golf carts and bikes are the transportation options when you're tired of feet. We're clearly in the nicest room in the nicest hotel on the island. I can recommend the Iguana Reef Inn with no compunctions. Be aware, however, that unless you snorkle or scuba dive, your other options on Caye Caulker are pretty limited. Drinking foofy drinks while sitting in a hammock is pretty much the size of it. Works for me, quite frankly. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Taking off from Houston's IAH in the early dawn on Christmas eve showed the sky a mix of light blues, pinks, and that glowing gold color that clouds sometimes turn when they are lit from below by the rising sun. The sky showed the range of colors from that palest blue that's almost white on the east to the still dark night on the west as we took off to the south. Just as the wheels lifted, we were perpendicular to the oncoming landing lights of three planes. They lined up neatly, spaced out in the blue distance. One of the things I have enjoyed about flying this year is that I've been noticing flight patterns more and more. I love to look at the lines of inbound planes, something that is particularly easy in certain cities. In LAX, for example, I often fly into and out of United's commuter terminal, necessitating a bus ride down the runway. Sitting on that bus I've seen some of the most beautiful sunsets, dusks, days, and dawns, and in those varying colors of light, staggered lines of approaching planes. Flying into or out of Houston in the early dawn reminds me of being a kid there, flying places with my parents. We flew fairly often, since my dad worked for the airline, so the actual process of flying was never daunting, but somehow always remained exciting. One morning, when I was about eight, I was standing in the driveway, waiting for my parents to come out of the house, and looking at the same early dawn colors and clouds. I'm not a hugely religious person, but I can clearly remember being so affected by seeing what I swear to this day was the figure of god in his throne --- cast in clouds and illuminated by the golds and roses of dawn. By the time I was un-awed enough to turn away to call my parents, the clouds had blurred just enough that they couldn't quite see what I meant, but every time I fly in Houston early in the day, I think of that morning. The other thing about flying into and out of IAH is that you get a completely different perspective on what Houston looks like. At the ground level, Houston is a true concrete jungle, with more billboards than trees covering the sides of the many freeways. From the air, at the moment, I can see a pink mist covering a myriad of small lakes and ponds and a landscape not so much dotted as mottled with trees and bisected with more waterways than roadways. Flying in the first few times as a kid, I remember being amazed, wondering where all those trees went when we landed. If you've ever driven or flown east from Houston, you know that there's a lot of water involved, whether it's the ship channel, the Gulf of Mexico, or the bayou and swamp land between Texas and Louisiana. Flying over this water today, there was a pale mist and a few very small, incandescently bright white, almost crisp line of small clouds between me and the water, where you could, howeve,r see the trails of boats in the surf, not unlike contrails in the clouds reflected into the water. As we flew further east, the quantity and quality of those clouds changed. First, they stayed of the same type but went from dotted lines like birds migrating from north to south to a more full coverage, like snowy bushes. Further east still, they blurred into fluff and fur before dissipating into thin strips, echoing the beaches visible below as we neared Miami. We were upgraded on the flight from Houston to Miami, courtesy of an old friend of my dad's (thanks Kitty at AA). While on the flight, I've been comparing some time comparing my seat here with the many (many!) flights I've upgraded on United. I must say, I'm pretty impressed with AA. Food -- American Seats -- United Staff -- Tie Power Ports -- American Magazine -- Fairly close, but American, I think The food was actually much better than United's has been recently (it used to be much better, but it has fallen off quite a bit lately), even though it was only a cheese omelette. They weren't quite as attentive in the air than UA's flight attendants, although the ground staff was fabulous.The seats, despite being in first class were slightly less cushy, but wider and further away from the seat in front. And there was, although I didn't use it, a (seemingly working) power port both in my first class seat and in my coach seat. I wrote this entry longhand on the flight from Houston to Miami and am now on the flight from Miami to Belize, transcribing it and editing as I go. We've been flying over water, but are starting to approach land again to our west. I've always loved how the water seems to change color as it gets closer to shore -- I know it's a depth thing, but the ribbon of sand mimicked by the ribbon of lighter aquamarine blue before dropping off to the darker azure (or greyish brown if you're talking about the Gulf of Mexico) has always been one of my favorite in-flight sights. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, as you know, I've been travelling like a madwoman all year. And I was reminded on some flights recently why I actually enjoyed most of it. I like to go different places, of course, but I also like to fly. Yes, even with small seats, crappy or no food, amazingly intrusive security, and long lines... I like to fly. Top 4 Reasons I Like to Fly 1. You get to sit next to some interesting people. Some of them are characters that you're just as glad to be getting away from a few hours later, some of them become friends, some of them are already friends that you get the chance to really talk to, uninterrupted, and some are just interesting people that you'll probably never see again. 2. You're on an adventure of some kind! Promise. 3. You get some uninterrupted time to read to your heart's content, without feeling guilty. 4. Awesome views. For example, the entry below was written on the flight from Toronto to Chicago, Nov. 20th, about 4 p.m., about 49 mi NE of ORD: Flying toward Chicago today, from Toronto, as we passed out over the coast of the lake, it looked as though there were two or three horizon-like coastlines, instead of just one: the real coast, with its dual thin ribbons of froth and sand; the coastline between the gray land and the pinkish blue of the sunset sky; then, just above that, the pink runs into the darker gray of a night-touched stormcloud. Looking in the other direction, you see the crenellations of golden waves illuminated in the last bits of sunlight. The waves are so even and so perfectly lit that they look like the ridges of perfectly groomed snow first thing in the morning. As we go across the lake and it gets darker, we dip down so that the only view is of the water, and a few whitecaps, looking for all the world like the first stars twinkling in a dusky night sky. I love flying into a city. New cities are always a thrill for being new, but a city you've flown into before has its own joys. Some things are the same and you get the interest/small thrill of recognizing them and where you are; then, other things are different based on the time of day, weather, time of year... and no matter how often you may have flown in, something new strikes you, like a green ribbon through Chicago today, cluttered with toothpick-like power or phone lines and a tiny golf course that was an Ireland-like bright green and blue (the pond) as contrasted to the empty winter trees and the snarled traffic. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Just to prove that I actually did go to Germany to speak at DNUG, I've finally posted some of those pictures. I'm not nearly the talented photographer that Ed is, but I enjoyed playing with my new camera and seeing all the fall colors -- something we don't have either in San Diego or Houston. Other photos that may be of interest (or may not) are the pictures we took at the Texas Renaissance Festival. I used to work at TRF during and immediately after college, so I have all the costumes and know a lot of the people. Had a good time going back to visit the weekend of November 14th. The day after Thanksgiving, we spontaneously got up very early and drove to Mammoth with our neighbors for a few days of skiing. We had what they call "early" ski conditions -- the nice snow they had had a week earlier had melted a bit. It was still pretty fun and I had a fun time swishing down some blue (and even one black) runs. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, dear readers and friends, I know I owe you an apology for the long silence. I do have a reasonably good set of excuses. First of all, I've been gone from San Diego since about, well, Oct. 11th. I was home for 6 1/2 hours between Germany and Houston, and for a few days between Amsterdam/Nice/Paris and SF/LA/Germany/Houston/Toronto, but during those few moments home, I've had momentous doings. Which brings me to number 2: We're moving back to Texas. (Apologies if some friends who I haven't told yet are finding out this way -- it's been a whirlwind!) Made the decision basically while I was in Germany (for a variety of reasons), looked for a new place while in Houston week before last, put the house on the market officially last Friday afternoon, and had an offer yesterday afternoon. It was low, so we counter-offered, and they accepted that today (while I was sitting here working at the Starbuck's, in fact!). Put an offer in on a house in Houston while I was in Toronto last week, which was accepted. So, by about the first of January, expect me to be writing to you from Houston instead of California! My mind is spinning a bit with all the details and all the work I've been trying to do while doing all that personal work, but I'm sure it will all work out, right?! I've got a bulging folder in my e-mail of other things I want to blog about, but this is foremost in my mind, so of course, this is what you get! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, perhaps the power gods were susceptible to my feminine wiles or my pitiful complaints -- I am finally sitting in a seat in an airplane that has power and my laptop is plugged in and actually using said power. Yay, me! Well, I'm on my way back from speaking at DNUG in Kassel, Germany. There seemed to be about 500 people there, including Volker and Ed and Daniel Nashed... (I think that's about the extent of the people I knew going into the week, although I met some great folks while there). I learned a lot about the German market and really enjoyed getting to know this organization. Plus, I think my keynote went fairly well. I spoke immediately following Ed, which isn't the easiest thing I've ever done in my life -- he does a great job -- but on the other hand, it gave my presentation a very interesting perspective. Ed got to introduce the audience to the official Lotus story on Workplace, the existing products, Portal, etc. (It was good timing, too, considering the Workplace platform launch that took place this week.) Then I got to stand up and do some... reality checking, let's call it. I didn't directly respond to Ed's presentation -- mine was a bit more broad, covering a review of the trends from the 2003 Lotus market and an overview of where I think the market will go in 2004 -- but some of my comments about the future included my thoughts on the Workplace strategy, the portal strategy, and what it all means for those of us in the Lotus market. I won't reprint or rehash the entire presentation here, but this slide gives you an portion of what I talked about. Of course, the real value was in what I added to the bullets, but as I've been up and travelling for about 20 hours now, I'm probably not in the best place to get too strategic with you. We left Kassel before 10 a.m. (GMT +1), drove to Frankfurt, got on a plane around 2:15, flew to Chicago (about a 9 hour flight), changed planes for SD (about 2 1/2 hours on the ground and a 4 hour flight)... When I get back to SD around 9 pm (GMT -8) on Thursday, I get to go home, unpack and repack, and be back at the airport for a 6 a.m. flight to Houston on Friday morning. Whew. Beyond the DNUG conference, the trip was good in general. I got to add a new country to my list of places, as this was my first trip to Germany. Frankfurt on the weekend was quite nice -- did quite a lot of walking along the river, in the Hauptwache, and in the large park in the middle of the city. Drove to Kassel on Monday -- gotta love a Mercedes on the autobahn! I thought about my Oma a lot as we drove -- she's always liked it when we drive through areas in California that are farmlands and now I see why -- it reminds her of home. There is a lot of lovely rolling green farmland dotted with windmills (the modern variety) and fall foliage. Kassel itself was quite a nice town -- visited the monument the town is famous for -- Herkules. It's a statue of Herkules (you know, from Greek history/mythology) on top of a pyramid, on top of a big stone fort/castle. The whole thing is up on the top of a tall hill, overlooking a schloss (not quite a castle, but close) and the whole town. When we got up to stand on that hill and looked out over the town, the entire village was shrouded in fog -- it looked very much like a view of a very gray ocean -- you could've been fooled into thinking the schloss stood on a cliff overlooking the water, if it weren't for the spots where the brightly autumn-colored trees broke into the mists. Really quite beautiful. Look for some photos as soon as I get the chance to get them off the camera. We also went to the Brothers Grimmm museum -- Kassel is the first city on the so-called Fairy Take Road -- a path of towns in Germany that all relate to the rich folkloric history of the country. Unfortunately, the museum wasn't quite what I'd hoped -- there were some interesting bits, but too much of the explanation was in German, and mine wasn't quite up to the task of translating it all. Ah well -- still some neat fairy-tale art, copies of the fairy tales (and the German dictionary they wrote), and some of not only their history, but also the history of the region. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, it took the better part of two days (left LAX at noon on Friday, arrived in Frankfurt at about 6 pm on Saturday), but I made it safely to Frankfurt. I had long layovers in both JFK and LHA (Heathrow). Pretty decent shopping in Heathrow, although not a single place to plug in a computer. I am continually power-challenged. I think somewhere along the line I must've angered the power gods. Evidence: Before I upgraded to my new Fujitsu, I had two Thinkpads. The battery in my personal laptop was so bad that it couldn't hold a charge for more than 1 minute. So, I ordered a new battery. About 2 weeks after I ordered and started using the new battery, the screen in that laptop died and I had to replace it. So, a brand new battery and no use for it, as the work ThinkPad uses a different battery. Sigh. Ok, then I bought the APC power adaptor that has plugs for planes, cars, and regular outlets. This would theoretically allow me to use the plugs on planes, right, so I could work for the full 5+ hour flights. Yes, well, nice in theory. I have yet to successfully use a power outlet on a plane. The first time I upgraded on United so that I could try out my new plug, the row I was sitting in, and only that row, had non-functioning outlets. Okay. Then the next flight had the outlets still covered over with metal plates -- the feature wasn't installed on that particular plane. The next flight, the outlets existed and I plugged in... Still no green light. In this case, the power was not turned on. It had been working the previous leg, the flight attendant said, but he couldn't get it to work on that leg. Then a couple of flights where I either couldn't upgrade (the outlets are only in first on United) or where it was a plane that didn't have the outlets. For my trip to Frankfurt, I flew American. I knew they had outlets in some seats in Coach, so I wrangled my way into one of those for the flight from LAX to JFK, even though it meant moving back a few rows and sitting on the aisle (I'm usually a window-seat kind of gal). I knew from talking to Ed that the outlets were installed and working on many, many flights -- he'd used them. Ok, so I got my hopes up, took out the laptop, pulled out the cord.... Now, the outlets are between the seats (one per row) at about the knee level, so to plug in, you basically have to reach down and feel around. Well, I did, and the outlet was actually there... Ok, making progress, I think to myself. Then I take out my plug and try to put it into the outlet. Doesn't fit. I ask the flight attendant and show her my plug. Well, apparently American uses the cigarette lighter attachment rather than the plane attachment. Ok, so I do actually have that attachment with me; I try that. Still no dice. It goes in, but won't stay easily and no green light on the adapter. I tried to look a bit closer, but considering where the outlet is, I'd've had to all but have my face in the person's lap in the seat next to me to examine the outlet. Needless to say, I gave up. Well, I'll be flying back to San Diego via Chicago and should have an outlet, so I'll keep trying. Anyone have words of advice on how to appease said power-gods? Ran along the Main river today for my run. Didn't quite make my 7 miles, but I did get out and do a few -- maybe 4-5 miles. For those who might be counting, that's 4 bodies of water (and countries) that I've run by in the last 4 weeks: along the Amstel River in Amsterdam, Netherlands; by the Mediterranean Sea in Cap d'Ail, France; cruising along the Pacific Ocean (SD and SF, CA); and down the Main River in Frankfurt, Germany... I should also have run along the Seine in Paris, but I had to settle for brisk walking, as I'd twisted my ankle. In two cases, I got to watch people rowing or sculling while I ran (and flew over what must've been a regatta flying into Heathrow -- the Thames was packed, bank to bank, with boats -- you could actually see the speed and clean drop of the oars, even from the plane!). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
You gotta love it when I blog at 1 am (and later) after having 2 or 3 Guinesses and a whiskey or two... Garrett, who works with me, and I, have been on our trip to SF and LA, as I mentioned. We flew down to LA last night, from San Jose. FYI, if you're ever in the San Jose airport, I highly reccommend the Martini Monkey bar -- great service, a good pour on the drinks, and a fun name to boot. So, anyway, few down yesterday (Wednesday) night. We're staying a god-awful hotel -- the Four Points by Sheraton at the LA airport -- avoid if at all possible. We drove down to Irvine and Laguna Beach for our appointments today, then came back to the airport area for dinner and... wait for it.... Karaoke. Yes, we found the best karaoke bar in the LA area -- it's Prince O Whales in Playa Del Rey. They do great karaoke on Thursday nights. The crowd was so nice -- a guy named Alex made sure I got up and sang, even though I was feeling a bit nervous tonight -- and everyone was having a good time. I ended up singing Morning Train (Sheena Easton) and Garrett and I did Don't Go Breakin' My Heart (Elton John and Kiki Dee). That was all I did tonight, although some others that I might be talked into at some point include: Summer Nights (John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, from Grease -- I've done this one before, but it has to be right for the crowd...), The Sign (Ace of Base), Sumnmer of '69 (Bryan Adams), I Wanna Go Too Far ( Trisha Yearwood ---I would've done this tonight, but she didn't have it...). Other than great karaoke tonight, we also had a great lunch today in Laguna Beach -- the Sun-Dried Tomato cafe. Last night, I had room service and worked a bit. I tried to watch a movie, but I was just too sleepy. I've started the same movie again; we'll see how far I get tonight. Tomorrow I'm off to Germany. I'll be asking Chris to help me out with some guest blogging... Perhaps my colleague Garrett will make an appearance as well -- but let me warn you to take anythying Garrett says with a grain of salt and a determination not to be offended. Garrett is a little fiesty, to say the least. Anyway, I leave tomorrow from LAX to head to Germany for DNUG. Wish me luck on the looooong trip (did I mention it's long?) and the not-so-long battery life. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
First stop on the grand tour: San Francisco. Had a few vendor calls today -- lots more tomorrow and Wednesday, before flying (we hope) down to LA to do a few more calls. After business today: visiting with some of my good friends in SF. We had dinner at a Thai place in the Castro. And, since I bought my new tiny little Casio Exilim EX-Z4U camera, I took some pics with it. It's not what I told you I thought I was going to get, but it's better, I think: it's smaller (which was very important to me) plus it still has the 4 megapixel and both digital and optical zoom. Happy Libby. :-) I'm still trying to figure out the software that comes with it, so that I can make nice libraries and show off my pictures to you, but for now ----- this is the Castro, via the new toy. Other pics here. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As you no doubt know, food on airplanes has gotten steadily less as the airlines' finances have had more and more troubles. Well, fine, understandable, I guess, although it really sucks for those of us who fly all the time. Whatever. So, today, I get this from United.com: Purchase restaurant-quality meals during your next United flight in United Economy. Beginning October 31st, you'll have a choice to purchase and enjoy reasonably priced meals from such well-known restaurants as Bennigan's, Hard Rock Café, Au Bon Pain and T.G.I. Friday's on select United flights in United Economy(R). Buy on Board choices will be available on more than 200 daily domestic flights in and out of Chicago and Denver. On flights between 3-1/2 and 5 hours, you will have a choice of complimentary snack or you can purchase breakfast entrees for US$7, and lunch or dinners for US$10. On flights between 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 hours, you can choose a la carte items for purchase. We hope this enhances your onboard experience and helps you avoid grabbing meals on the run between flights. For more information, please visit http://www.united.com/page/article/0,1360,50584,00.html In some ways, this could be great -- the food might be somewhat tasty and I don't have to try to leap into and out of a restaurant on a short connection. Of course, on the other side, there's the whole issue of the of the actual cost -- not really cheap, although not too unreasonable, and then there's the issue of how it gets administered... It doesn't look like I'll have any of the routes it talks about for a while anyway, so I won't get to test it out right away... If you do, I'd love to hear how it goes! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I've had requests for pictures of my trip to Amsterdam and etc. Unfortunately, I didn't take my own camera along on said trip. I hate our current digital camera. It's not actually all that bad, but it's old and really the worst part is that it's BIG. Ick. I don't like carrying things in genral -- I'd rather stick some stuff in my pocket than carry a purse, for example, so of course, I really don't like carrying a big camera. My mom tried to help me out by giving me on of those "pen" style digital cameras, but it doesn't work quite as well as advertised. So, for the most recent trip, I relied on Chris's pictures. In fact, sometimes he was nice enough to take pictures to order for me. Of course, getting said pictures from him is another matter altogether, but hey, beggars can't be choosers or something pithy like that. So for now, check out Chris's site for his first set of Amsterdam pictures and pretend that they're mine too. Or at least most of them. So that I don't have to continue to rely on someone else's pictures (despite the fact that Chris's pictures are very good and likely better than anything I would've taken), I think I've decided to go out and buy myself a new camera before the next trips begin on Sunday. We'll see what I actually end up with, but the smaller, the better. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Yes, I know, you thought I'd died -- but really I was just off gallivanting in Europe. First there was the Domino Technical Conference in Amsterdam, then a few days in Nice and Monaco, followed by the top 10 sights of Paris in about 7 hours. What a walk that was. It was a great conference -- lots of interesting attendees and questions. We spent some great time hanging out with Philippe and Louisa from GSX -- they were the nicest hosts in Nice, too. I've decided I really like running in new cities -- in Amsterdam, I did about 8 miles or so along the Amstel River on the day I arrived. Then in Cap d'Ail (right next to Monaco), I did 3-4 miles along the Mediterranean. The left side was the water, waves crashing against the rocks; the right side was historical villas. The route near Monaco took me past some of the most amazing yachts I've ever seen -- the harbors are full of these huge boats. Unbelieveable. I intended to get up early on Sunday and run along the Seine in Paris, but that didn't quite happen. Next week, I'll get the chance to run in San Francisco and then the week after, in Frankfurt and Kassel, Germany. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Chris is over here putting pressure on me to hurry up and get a blog out there, so here I am in lovely Amsterdam... Amsterdam is fine. The flight was long, but not too bad. I changed seats so the lady next to me could sit with her husband, and ended up in the row over the wing that has the double size space between you and the seat in front. Lots of legroom is wasted on someone my height -- I actually have to put my laptop bag under my feet so that they are comfortably flat on the floor when I sit all the way back in my seat. I arrived about 7:30 Sunday morning, had breakfast, checked into the hotel, and went for a lovely run along the Amstel river. Our guess is that I probably went about 8 or more miles -- all the way to the next town, Oude Kerk aan de Amstel. I don't have a working pedometer, so I run by time -- it took me about an hour and 15 minutes -- I meant to only run for an hour, but I got distracted. The day was sunny and not too cool, the river was filled with rowers and scullers (I was jealous -- reminded me that I miss rowing). The other side of the path had nice houses, then some grazing sheep and cows, so also nice scenery. And there were lots of runners out there -- the Amsterdam marathon is next weekend, so I guess some folks are prepping. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
And someone out there is making the weather do just the right things: Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I may have brought the good weather to Houston, but I brought the opposite to San Francisco this week -- it was HOT. I've turned into a big heat wimp (especially when I'm expecting something completely different), so it was somewhat uncomfortable in the usually cool and breezy Bay Area. I flew in early Tuesday and high-tailed it to the IBM offices in downtown SF for the SF User Group meeting. David Stephens gave a good presentation on preventing spam in ND6 and I talked replication. I'll be reprising the session at an upcoming SD User Group meeting as well. A different version of the session (longer, more in-depth) will be airing at the View's Technical Exchange conference in Amsterdam in a few weeks (I'll be in Europe October 11-19th). The rest of the SF week was spent visiting vendors with one of our sales team, capped off with a Friday afternoon interview with IBM's Larry Bowden, and some nice visiting with some of my best friends, who now live in SF. We ate dinner out, had some blueberry cosmopolitans, bought the 2nd season of Angel on DVD, and had an Angel-a-thon complete with too much food and intermissions spent playing Soul Caliber II. The friends I have in SF are ones I've been close to since college -- and it's amazing how close-knit we can still be as a group despite marriages, divorces (or the serious relationship comparable version thereof), living at times in multiple cities (Houston, SF, SD, Ivrea, etc), and the 10+ years that have passed since graduation. I'm so lucky to have these folks (well, to be less self-effacing, we're lucky to have each other). I guess it's that shared history thing that makes us all so comfortable and secure with each other. (For anyone curious, Angel's 2nd season is very good -- I didn't see it the first time around and enjoyed the first half of the season immensely -- dark and funny at the same time, which seems to be a Joss Whedon trademark.) You'll hear more about my conversation with Larry in upcoming articles on e-ProMag.com, but here's something of a preview. First, let me say that Larry is always a very engaging person to talk to -- he's smart and well-informed. One of the nicest traits is either that he's got a heck of a memory or does his homework before he walks into a meeting -- he always remembers me, the previous times we've talked, and has something to say about the recent issues of the magazine. The feeling that the exec you're talking to you is familiar with you makes the process easier and more comfortable and isn't the kind of respect awarded to our magazine by all the IBM execs we meet with (although Larry is certainly not the only one who does it). We talked mostly, as you might expect, about the Workplace product line. Larry hit the nail on the head when he said that he expects it to take 7-8 hearings for the Workplace strategy to really start to resonate with customers and business partners (and, although he was too politic to say it, press). For those of use who have made our careers with Notes and Domino, it continues to feel very unfamiliar and we're not sure whether to send our Domino expertise to the scrap-heap and start over or to ignore the oncoming train, confident that there's a second track for it. It seems that the truth of the matter is this: It depends. If you work for or serve (or want to be) large enterprise customers, you need to be changing your skillset. You need to learn WebSphere -- Application Server, Portal, Studio, etc., including all the attendant products, languages, and platforms. In fact, from the way it sounds, you're already well on your way to doing so. If you have more of a small-to-medium business focus (or you are a line-of-business user who also does some development), you may not need to jump into the new learning to far or so deeply. Your first step is probably to upgrade to the soon-to-be-released Notes and Domino 6.5. That doesn't sound so painful. I can't announce all the things I know will be coming with that, but trust me that it's your first step down the path of the future, but in a good way. Suffice it to say that you won't have to throw away all your skillset and knowledge just to use the new workplace products. And of course, as Larry was quick to say, Domino and Notes as they are now will continue to be supported and maintained for the forseeable future. In any case, more on Workplace, products to look for in the near future, and other details on my talk with Larry in an upcoming editorial. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Not much specific to talk about today. I'm in SF and Oakland for business. I worked a bit this morning and then picked up one of our sales guys at the airport and drove down to go to a meeting with a vendor. Would you believe that we got stood up? That seems so incredibly rude to me. I'm nowhere near perfect, but if you have an appointment, how do you feel good about being out town the day the people show up for the appointment, with no phone call, no e-mail, and no message left at the office for the people who came from a different city for the meeting? I just don't get it. Via Ned Batchelder's blog, the Retail Alphabet Game is a hoot. It's a true test of how succesful some of the branding is today -- they show a letter with a graphical treatment, and you have to indicate where it comes from -- what brand or advertisement. I have to admit, I didn't do all that well -- but it was interesting to see which letters I knew without even thinking about it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I flew to Houston on Saturday morning (go frequent flyer miles!) and it was the nicest early September weekend in Houston -- much less humidity than usual (down from 90+% to more like 40%) and not nearly as hot as usual (80s not 90s or 100s). Don't know quite how I did it, but everyone told me I'd brought SD weather with me when I arrived. Yay me! Sitting at a Starbucks to do my work today and thinking how very interesting the people watching is. Everyone here for about the last two hours was working -- it begins to look more like a "rent an office" setup -- people were having business meetings, doing interviews, working on laptops, studying... It's amazing how the culture of the coffee shop is less about relaxation, reading, chatting with friends and more about work, now that they have the t-mobile wireless hotspots. I'm not sure that's the only reason the culture exists as it does, but it seems at least partially responsible. I had a great conversation with my friend Paul yesterday about baseball scoring and scorecards. We were basically designing our ideal scorecard. It's kind of fun to know another baseball scoring geek -- especially since I've known Paul for almost 10 years and didn't know he was a baseball geek until yesterday. These are mockups -- what you're seeing here is that the batter had a single to left that resulted in an RBI (indicated by the dot). He moved to second base on a hit by the batter whose number is 15 (if you're an Astros fan, that's Richard Hidalgo). The boxes on the bottom would show balls and strikes. I like the version on the left better, but they both are fairly effective. Of course, we also had to talk about how many lines we'd leave for substitutions, how we'd track pitching info, etc... All in all, instead of an 8 1/2 x 11 scorecard, I'm starting to think it might need to be legal-size paper! I'm getting ready to head out to San Francisco in the morning. I'll be speaking at their user group meeting, talking about replication, certification, the magazine, and the future of Notes/Domino/Workplace... I may actually be doing that prz three or four times in the next few weeks -- I'm also speaking at the SD user group and possibly the Orange County group. Making me tired just thinking about it. ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, I'm back! And the first thing I did wasn't blog here, oh, no -- instead, I heisted Chris's blog -- go check it out. Now that I'm back from there, too, I'll say a few (a very few) words about my nice Labor day weekend -- I went up to Portland, OR to visit my mom. And for all you folks in PDX that I know, please don't be offended that I didn't make time for you -- I haven't been up to visit my mom in waaayy too long and wanted to spend some quality time -- I promise I'll save a dinner or something for the gang next time I'm up in your neck of the woods. In fact, we didn't actually spend any time in Portland itself -- we drove to the Oregon coast, which is quite beautiful in a rough and grey sort of way. The beaches were rocky and windswept, and the ocean was that peculiar mix of grey and blue that always seems to mean winter to me, even though it was still August. The land on the other side of the street from the water is covered with trees -- mostly pine -- and the road is twisting and narrow. We stopped at a lighthouse near Newport, Oregon -- the very historic and very windy Yaquina Head lighthouse. We also spent a few hours wandering around the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I have to admit, I love watching the seals, sea lions, and otters swim, but I didn't like the part where you walk through a tunnel and there are fish all around. I also didn't particularly like the tanks -- the glass is magnified in a way that makes me dizzy! But I'm glad we went -- I don't think I've been to an aquarium as an adult -- maybe as a teenager with my grandparents... We stayed in Depoe Bay and wandered around both Newport and Lincoln City before we drove back to Portland on Saturday. The best part about the weekend was spending time talking with my mom -- we have a some great conversations -- she knows me better than anyone and it's very comforting to have someone you know you can say absolutely anything to and know they won't judge you and will give you only advice that comes from a desire for whatever's best for you -- that's how you know a true friend. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
We had brunch near Union Square Sunday morning -- the restaurant is in between 18th and 19th on Irving -- it's called Friend of a Farmer -- with our friend Judy. I had their pumpkin walnut pancakes. Absolutely delicious -- they were so moist and fluffy that I didn't even need butter or syrup... Can't wait to try to make those at home. We attempted to see a baseball exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, but we'd missed it by a few weeks. Bummer. We walked around that museum a little bit anyway -- saw an exhibit of photographs of women who had made an impact on New York, all of whom are in their 70s now. The photographs and interview blurbs were current -- pretty interesting. It's clear that not all the criteria of the photographer were what you might expect -- most had given time or effort to the city in some way, but there was one woman who had taken up stripping as a career/vocation at age 69. Hm. Okay. Afterwards, we walked around the far North part of central park -- the Harlem Meer (like a pond), the Conservatory gardens, the softball/baseball fields etc. (Okay, as an aside -- we watched a few batters at a few of fields and overheard an strange "theoretical" question. Since I had so much luck with comments on the last interesting baseball question, here's this one. So, they were playing with the designated hitter (okay, rephrase that to "the godforsaken bastardy known as the designated hitter" and let's get on with it). The coach wanted to move the pitcher to some other position in the field. The question was does the former pitcher, now 2nd base or whatever, bat? What about the new pitcher (and what if they just switched positions?)? Does there have to be a designated hitter through the entire game? My guess was that if you moved the pitcher to a different position, that person would then bat, and the dh would bat for whomever replaced the pitcher, but I'm willing to discuss it...) We took the subway to Times Sq., ate at ESPN (so that I could watch the Astros beat up on the Expos), and then went to see a couple of movies (have you ever been to the Loews theaters in NY in Times Square? The damn things are HUGE. I mean immense. Enormous. I was amazed...) Oh -- we saw S.W.A.T. at the first run theater and the Italian Job at the 2nd run theater. One after the other. I'm not a huge movie junkie, but sometimes it's very relaxing, so we did. We're flying back to San Diego, again via Chicago, this morning. I didn't want to leave. I mean sure, it was hot and muggy and rainy, but NY is such a fun city -- always something interesting to look at or do and so much that you haven't gotten to yet. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Friday was another sleep late kind of day -- I must really need to catch up on the sleep. Friday was a very lazy kind of day. We had a nice lunch at the St. Bart's cafe -- it's a cafe in the courtyard of a church, right near the Waldorf. After that, we had massages scheduled -- 90 minutes is about the right length of time for a massage, if you ask me. Wandered around and did some shopping after... Friday night we had dinner with a friend of mine from college. He went and did his MBA up at Cornell and when he finished, he got a job in New York -- it's always nice to have friends to visit in the cities you go to. We had dinner and dessert in Little Italy and then wandered up to a bar called the Temple Bar (neer Bleecker and Houston (pronounced How-ston -- a challenge for those of us from Houston (huoo-ston)!)) -- it was a great bar for visiting with a friend -- fairly quiet without feeling dead, good drinks, a reasonable amount of people watching... After we dragged out of bed on Saturday (not sleeping quite so late, but not leaping up, either), we took the subway to South Street Seaport. Lunch overlooking the Hudson River, some wandering... We thought about taking the ferry over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (I've been, Brian hasn't), but it was kind of rainy (again). So instead, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love museums -- not sure if I've mentioned that? I can just lose myself in wandering. I'll try to post some pictures -- Brian always takes lots of museum pictures. One of my favorite things in the Met is the medieval tapestries, although the majority of their collection is actually housed at the Cloisters, which we visited last time we were in NYC. Also spent a while looking at the sculptures and the Tiffany stained glass windows. There's one of Oyster Bay, surrounded by wisteria -- I grew up going to Oyster Bay in our boat, and daddy always grew wisteria in our garden, so for some reason that one always feels very personal for me. Saturday night we went to see Henry V at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. It's an outdoor theater, so we were worried the whole time that it would be cancelled for rain. Luckily, it was just drizzly, so the show went on. We sat in the rain and got soaked of course (and yes, I bought another baseball cap to keep my glasses dry), but it was well worth it. Liev Schreiber is one of those Shakespearean actors who, when he's doing Shakespeare, does it so well that after about 5 minutes you forget he's "speaking Shakespeare." The whole production was well done -- the costuming, the guy who played the "chorus"... Bronson Pinchot played a few characters -- one of the Bishops early in the play and then Pistol. He played Pistol as a New York-Italian-bouffant-haired-greasy-smart-mouth -- very funny. It was probably the one sour note for me, however, because it didn't seem to mesh completely with the rest of the production, which was incredibly smooth. I loved the costuming -- the French were always in white. It helped keep them separate, since some actors played multiple characters, but also added a dimension to the play -- were they the beat-up-upon good guys? Of course, the St. Crispian's Day speech that Henry V gives before the Battle of Agincourt is one of my favorites. Way back when, I used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival. The folks we worked for used to play the version of that speech from Kenneth Branagh's Henry V every year on St. Crispian's day -- "We few, we happy few...." We walked back to the hotel in the rain -- have you ever tried to hail a cab in New York in Central Park West in a rainstorm? Not the easiest thing in the world. So, yet another set of clothes is hanging over the line in the bathroom, trying to dry out. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Vacation. Day 2. (I'm generously counting the day we traveled all day just because it makes me feel as though I'm getting a longer summer vacation...) Slept late today -- very late. As in 11 a.m. late. And only woke up then because housekeeping called to find out when we'd be getting out so they could clean the room. I guess I was a little behind on my sleep. Took the subway uptown to the Bronx for a Yankees game this afternoon. Yankees vs. Texas Rangers. Nosebleed seats, but very close to home plate. And the nice thing about stadiums that are only built for one thing is that they are fairly good about making sure the seats are all reasonable for watching the game. I hate stadiums where you have to buy a whole book just to get a scorecard -- what happened to the 1$ scorecard?!? Anyway, it threatened to rain the whole time, but only barely misted -- and of course, I had to buy a Yankees cap to keep the rain off my glasses, so I hardly noticed. After the game, we went to the TKTS line in Times Square to see what shows were available. We went to Man of La Mancha -- absolutely amazing. Brian Stokes Mitchell sings the title role and it was rousing and touching and inspiring. Since it was raining when we got out of the show, we stopped at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square -- it was $10 day -- all kinds of DVDs and CDs for $10. We partook. And, then we walked back to the hotel in the rain. My slacks are still drying out. Remind me not to share an umbrella, will you? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
We got to New York fine today (Wednesday). I had forgotten where we were staying -- turns out when I checked to tell the cabbie that it was the Waldorf-Astoria (Park Avenue and 50th in midtown Manhattan) -- pretty darn nice hotel -- one of the classic old classy places. Gotta love that Orbitz deal. We few via Chicago today -- mentally wished Ed a happy birthday as we zoomed through. We went to one of our favorite restaurants in NYC tonight -- it's a Brazilian churascaria -- Churascaria Plataforma. Have you ever been to one? Basically, you get a salad and veggie bar, then all the meat you can eat. You have a little coaster-like card that's green on one side (bring more meat) and red on the other (stop -- I'm about to burst!). We came to NYC a couple of years ago and visited my then-editor Judy Brief (now Judy Bass) --- she took us there the first time and Brian always wants to go back when we're in New York. It seemed to me that the first time we were there they served more different types of meat. This time, other than chicken legs, a pork loin, and some pork sausage, that it was all different cuts of beef. Now, they were very tasty cuts of beef, but it seemed like each time we've been there that there have been fewer choices of meat types. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Off to NYC early in the morning -- it's one of my favorite cities, and not just because I was born there. I love Central Park, broadway, the Statue of Liberty, the NYC Library, the museums, and everything else there is to do there. I've always wanted to go back and live there -- not forever, just for a year or two. Hm -- I got looking at NYC links and got distracted -- too much interesting stuff to do. Well, I'll try to say hi while I'm gone and let you know what fun things we end up doing, but don't be surprised if I'm not on too often! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
The Domino blogsphere seems somewhat quiet this week -- not too many posts or comments being passed around... Is everyone on vacation? I've already mentioned it, but there's some more travel coming up: July 21-13 -- Las Vegas for the WebSphere Technical Exchange July 29 - August 3 -- Houston -- I'll be doing some work, interviewing and getting a tour of a customer site in Houston that has recently done a huge new Domino implementation with more high availability technology than you can shake a stick at. Look to see something about it in our December issue. August 6 -11 -- New York City One trip did get cancelled -- I'm not going to Saratoga Springs in late August anymore -- I'm a little bit disappointed, but I'll be happy to stay put a bit. On the other hand, I may replace it with a trip to Portland, OR. My mom lives there, has just bought a new house, and has a birthday at the end of August. Plus, I suspect I might sneak in a dinner with some of the bloggers and some friends from high school who live near there. We'll have to see how it all works out. One link today that I thought I'd point out: from Dave Winer's blog -- not about technology, but about self-image, women, and imperfections. Check out yesterday's Ode and today's About Girlism. Here's the absolute best part: don't worry about idealized and objectified measures of beauty, that isn't beauty; the things that make you who you are, the differences, the imperfections, and what you do with them, are what make you hot. I think that goes not only for women, but for all people. The differences between us and how we capitlize on those to make us unique are a lot of what makes us interesting individuals. On the technology side, I think it's interesting that Mozilla and Netscape are no longer a single entity -- and wonder what it bodes for the browser market. It's been encouraging to see other browsers come into the market -- Opera, iRider, etc. Not everything on this list (C|Net) is an actual browser, but you can get an idea of what's out there; Yahoo's list is a little more clear. Who knew there were so many? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'm back from my long weekend -- I had two days in San Francisco for a wedding (got to see lots of my very close friends from college -- great fun -- actually, one of them took a very embarrassing photo of me, but luckily he hasn't posted it yet!), then two days in Sonoma County. I have some things to recommend if any of you find yourselves with time in the Sonoma area. We stayed at the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa. I honestly wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be. Some things I was incredibly impressed with, however, include:
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Nice long weekend -- spent the fourth here at the house with some lovely smoked bar-b-que. That's one of the many things I miss from Houston -- real Texas bbq. Brian has tried to make that up to me by buying a smoker and doing brisket and sausage for us here at home. Comes pretty close. Saturday was family day -- we went to visit my cousin for his 6th birthday and spent the day with him and my grandparents. Sunday was a nice baseball game -- lovely day for it, although the poor Padres lost. Sigh. More travel coming up soon -- San Francisco and Sonoma this weekend -- a friend's commitment ceremony (like a wedding) over the weekend and then a few extra days in wine country. I'm thinking we might go riding on the beach (horses) and in the vineyards (bikes)... We'll see. Then in August, for my birthday (don't even ask how old I'm going to be -- I'm not feeling very happy about the whole age thing), we're going to New York. Yankees game and Shakespeare in Central Park. Liev Schreiber is doing Henry V, which is one of my all-time favorites. I've mentioned that I *love* Shakespeare, right? I'll also be in Las Vegas in a few weeks for the WebSphere Technical Exchange. Anyone else going to be there? This doesn't seem to be the size of show that Lotusphere is -- more like a devcon-of-old type of show. Later in August, I should be back in NY for Eden's First Annual User Conference -- I've never been to Saratoga Springs, despite having grown up in NY, so it'll be neat to see the races. Not quite as busy a travel schedule as Rob or Ed, but, should still be fun. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
You probably know by now that I travel a fair bit. Nothing like Ed, clearly, but I do my fair share. So, I spend a lot of time packing and unpacking and hanging out in airports and thinking about how the whole travel process works... Some things I've been thinking about recently:
Anyway, you're reading this while I'm traveling, if the "held" feature worked like it's supposed to, so... What are your travel joys and annoyances? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Ed sent me an additional link for the official list of countries -- it lets me count some things separately, as now shown below... Ed recently listed the states and countries he'd visited -- of course, that made me thnk about where I've been (and where I haven't...) Here's the country list (a measly 15 21-- lots of places left to go!): USA Canada Mexico Ireland Greece Italy Switzerland France (inlcuding St. Martin, an island dependency of France (Guadaloupe)). Netherlands (including St. Maarten, a island dependency of the Netherlands) China Japan UK (including Hong Kong (I was there pre-1997) Bermuda, Anguilla, both of which are British dependency islands) Jamaica Vatican City Macao (Portuguese overseas territory) Added per the Travelers' Century Club's list of countries: Hawaiian Islands Anguilla Leeward Islands (Netherlands) -- St. Maarten Leeward Islands (French) -- St. Martin Bermuda Hong Kong Here's a start at the state list (36 -- not too bad...) Washington Oregon California Arizona Nevada Utah New Mexico Texas Oklahoma Kansas Louisiana Missouri Iowa Mississippi Illinois Michigan Florida Georgia Maine Vermont New Hampshire New York Massachusetts Washington, D.C. Virginia Maryland West Virginia New Jersey Connecticut Ohio Pennsylvania Hawaii Indiana Tennessee Kentucky Wisconsin Wyoming Like Ed, I've counted states I've driven through, but not states that I've just stopped in on a flight. There's a small chance I'm missing a state or two, from some driving trips that I don't have very good records of -- I drove from Houston to New York and back, for example... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Sorry you had to go a few days with no blog, and a whole day without anything to see. I'd actually forgotten what day it was -- somehow when I travel, I seem to lose track of days. ;-) I've been at the Admin2003 show in Vegas since Monday afternoon. Tuesday was the long grueling day -- 2 back-to-back jumpstarts (what ever possessed me to agree to that?) Anyway, so that was Tuesday. Tuesday night a couple of us went to the Strip and walked around. We had dinner at the Ceaser's shops (ok, at a restaurant down there) and then some nummy ice cream at the Ghiradelli's over near the Harrah's. Weds. was the jinxed day. My personal laptop decided to freak out -- couldn't get the screen working with the projector, couldn't get my Notes client to see my Domino server (on the same machine), couldn't get the files list to rebuild in my Domino administrator... and all this about an hour before my morning session. Then, of course, during the session, my microphone went out not once, not twice, not even three times, but four whole times! Ah well. At least the gang got a laugh out of it! :) Weds. night we the meet the experts and the showcase reception, after which a group of us went and ate some Italian food and then hung out at Jason's hospitality suite... Much fun. Thursday was your basic day. Got some work done in the morning. Had a BOF on certification and another session in the afternoon... But. I'm done with my sessions now (yay!). Of course, the big news is the room I got. Somehow I lucked into the mega suite -- they say it's 1600 square feet -- bigger than most of the houses in the neighborhood I lived in when I lived in Houston -- including a jacuzzi tub, huge shower, living room, dining room, 2 TVs, stereo, and windows on 3 sides... :-) Nice. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Yes, stipulated, I've been a lazy blogger. But. I'm back now. And you can resume listening to me blog rather than my oh-so-kind guest blogger. Thanks, Chris, for keeping my spot warm for me. New Orleans was good. You've heard from Ed (on his Lotus.com blog) already on the basic news from the show, so all that's left for me is to talk about my impressions. There was an interesting mix of people. At first I thought that there weren't very many attendees interested in Lotus. But after talking to some, and having lunch with folks, I decided that while there may have not been that many Lotus attendees, the ones that were there might've been attending WebSphere sessions in addition (or instead of) the Lotus sessions, making it harder to see which users had which brands installed. I'll write about Doug Wilson's (Lotus's CTO) "keynote" in more depth in a column, but one of the things he mentioned include the Lotus Domino Toolkit for WebSphere Studio (now in beta), which promises tools for using Domino objects in J2EE apps. In addition, we saw a demo of the RAD tools for WebSphere Studio Application Developer -- those look really awesome. Bringing so many of the innovations from Domino Designer into the WSAD toolset. I met some great vendors at the show. If you haven't looked at Bowstreet and you use WebSphere Portal Server, you might want to take a look. Of course, as Chris guessed, I drank my fair share of hurricanes, but we didn't get too out of control on Bourbon Street. The beignets were another matter, of course... More to say, but not tonight! Now it's off to dinner... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I feel bad redirecting everyone to my site the past couple days but the topic was taking too much of my time reading and pondering. So what did I go and do?? I posted another hot one today. Already had an IM talk about it and can't wait to see the posts. As for Libby herself, she is still at DeveloperWorks in New Orleans through tomorrow gathering tons of technical information and insight for E-Pro Magazine of course. I am sure her editorial comments for an upcoming edition will give us the whole conference picture. I did understand that the Notes sessions were not as packed as I would like to hear for that conference, but then that is from just a few people that couldn't have attended them all of course. Also, I was sorry to read about Ed Brill's escapade with his laptop. I know the pain. Mine just died recently and would not start no matter what you did. I think it was drive stiction. But we booted from CD to a Linux operating system that was compressed, then mounted the harddrive as a local drive and FTP'd the whole stinking thing to a server for me to go through my data. I need to thank Rob here at the office again for that it of magic. So look for Libby to return to a space near you and of course, my web door is always open. Chris Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Libby continues her escapades down at DeveloperWorks Live in New Orleans. She is repeating her presentation from Lotusphere 2003 with Ed Brill while there. The rest of the time I am sure she is drinking Hurricanes and feeling awful about herself the very next morning. Ok I am kidding about that but let's go with the theory. Make sure if you are down there you see some of our friends and other bloggers. I know Rob Novak is hiding in the halls down there also. Tell him you want to hear about his new Quickplace product for administration!!! My thread on blogging presentation has gotten over 24+ great comments and information. I actually am letting it ride some more to see what else comes up before I change topics. Drag yourself on over and participate!!! Chris (IdoNotes) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Libby is comfortably resting in New Orleans (I am sure she had a long night with the college hoops there) and enjoying the rain. As for her blog, well I had a bigger topic that I wrote about over on my site that ate up most of my time. So take a peek over there and participate in the discussion if you want!. Chris Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well while Libby is currently waiting at an airport for her flight, I decided to upgrade her blog design to Steve's new template (2.09b) and hijack her site. Little does she know the abuse one could cause from here :-) LOL If anyone saw her page while it was blank, well that was the fastest loading blog I bet you have seen now wasn't it. I just reverted back to 2.08 while we see what this error is I am getting. Steve is taking a peek for me now. Knowing Libby she went and changed something unique in her code. We shall flog her later for such actions. Steve sent the updates!!! So now we have comments working for Libby also. I bet she will let me rest a few now. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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