Libby Says...
Howdy folks! And welcome to the show.... You may have guessed the long silence was all about getting ready for Lotusphere, in addition to recovering from the half marathon, moving, travel, etc... Well, it's almost 1 a.m. and the first 'Sphere events are over... I just came back from the Penumbra dinner and the Gonzo gathering at the ESPN Zone. First, let me say congratulations to Barbara Bowen for winning the Penumbra Prism award this year for all her hard work with the IBM Lotus certification program and her support of the community. Barb and I have been friends for many years and I'm so happy to see her win such a richly deserved award. The Penumbra dinner other than Barb's award was quite nice -- congrats also to Kim Greene, the newest member of the Penumbra board of directors. I got my "Alias" fix from Alan on the way over to the Gonzo gathering -- don't you hate it when your TiVo isn't hooked up yet because you just moved? Not that my husband didn't have other, much higher, priorities, but gosh! ;-) Gonzo gathering was still going quite strong when Barb and I headed back to the Swan and Dolphin. The Bob was there, the Turtle, of course, Volker, Ed, Julian, Bruce, Wild Bill, Pants, and entourage (although less entourage than last year), some of my friends from the San Diego user's group, and many others. Volker's got a Lotusphere Wiki going to let everyone talk about what's going on and where they are. Time to do a bit more work on the slides and get ready for the long week! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, the pictures from Libby's 1/2 marathon have finally arrived - well, ok, we finally got around to downloading them from her camera. Unfortunately, Libby remains buried deep in her preparations for Lotusphere and so has been a little behind on bringing the blog up to date. No sense of priorities, huh?  I personally find 5K races a bit daunting, and to run over 13 miles in a day is amazing to me. I saw her dedication over the 18 weeks she trained for the marathon, finding time to fit in the recommended training runs even with the challenges of traveling abroad, house hunting, moving, the temptations of Peeps, the moral obligation to do a full exegesis regarding the Lord of the Rings movies, and the occasional industrial accident. So I offered to step in and share the details of her accomplishment with her blog buddies. For more pictures, click the image above. Here are her final results, from http://www.runraceresults.com/rcfy2004/Individual.asp Half Marathon Bib: 6660 Name: Libby Schwarz Gender: F Gender Place: 1505 Age: 32 Division: 30-34 Division Place: 258 Home Town: Carlsbad, CA USA SPLIT TIME Start Time: 07:03:42.00 (Half Marathon) 6.55 Miles: 1:17:33 FINISH: 2:28:49 PLACE 3218 Gun Time: 2:29:47 Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
We interrupt our regularly scheduled frolic and fun to bring you the following excellent and exciting news: From CNN.com, this morning: Rocket Relaunched: Clemens shuns retirement, signs one-year deal with Astros We now have a starting rotation with four pitchers who would be aces on any other team (in my humble opinion): Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Wade Miller, with the competition for the 5th spot in the rotation to be equally interesting. I think that despite trading away Billy Wagner (which still makes me cranky, although at least we did something good with the money we saved), we have what could (finally) be a real contender for a team! Go 'Stros! What a great time for me to move back to Houston and resume a spot in a season ticket cartel! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, you all know that I work remotely from home most of the time. My magazine's offices are based in Loveland, Colorado, and I've been living in California and, now, Houston. Often, I work remotely from the road, however, when I'm traveling. The advent of the WiFi hotspots at Starbucks, Borders, and various hotels has made that so much easier. This week, being "homeless" as it were, while I'm in Houston waiting for my husband, my dog, and my furniture to join me, and for the closing on the house in Houston, I've taken full advantage of those wireless hotspots. Most of the time while I've been here, I've been working in a particular Starbucks, near the Houston Galleria that was clearly built with people such as myself in mind. In addition to being larger than many of the Starbucks I've been in, it has lots of natural light, lots of plugs, and even some phone jacks. Plus, frighteningly enough, it's open 24-hours a day. Yes, that's right. And even more frighteningly, it was pretty packed when I left there around 2 a.m. one night this week. It was great people watching in that Starbucks (which may have slowed down my work a bit this week, I admit) -- it's clear that I'm not the only person who works the way I do. In fact, at any one time, there were probably no fewer than 8 people in that particular shop who were either having business meetings or interviews, or who were working on their laptops, either alone or with a colleague. Amazing how work and work environments have changed. The only problem I really had working there was the noise. I can tune it out when I'm writing or doing other work, but it's a bit of a challenge when I have to get on a conference call. My other saving-grace location this week has been Kinko's. I clearly hadn't been in a Kinko's in a while, but went in when I needed to print and send a fax. Well. Despite the fact that their Website doesn't clearly indicate much more than the fact that they're a T-mobile wireless hotspot, in addition to the computer workstations like they've always had, they now have complete laptop print station cubicles. These are desks with cables to connect to a both color and B&W printers, ethernet cables (at some), a T-mobile hotspot... and a MUCH quieter atmosphere than your average Starbucks. It's free to sit at the workstation area -- the only cost is when you print, or fax, or use some other service. So, thanks to Kinko's, Starbucks, Borders, and T-mobile for making this work week possible. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I should definitely and undoubtedly have been either working or sleeping; however, I happened across this blog tonight, thanks to slashdot. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors -- if you like clever books, and you haven't read American Gods or Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), well, you're missing out. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
But I know where the Lotusphere 2004 party is! Yep, Universal Studios Florida. At least it's not Wide World of Sporks, right? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well if Jonvon and Ed can do it, so can I... Recent interesting googles include.... (drumroll please...)
Not really as funny as some of theirs, but still kinda interesting... Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I've been meaning to link to some of the photos from Belize that Brian has up on his site. I think I may have mentioned them in passing, but here's a real, honest to goodness plug. While this isn't the best photo you've ever seen of me, if you'd seen me 15 or so minutes later, well, you'd be feeling very sympathetic as I this was the part where everyone else got off the boat to scuba dive and I got incredibly seasick instead of snorkeling. In addition to these, there are some other albums there, if you're interested. I haven't done as much editing of my photos, and I'm not sure if Brian has of his, but... well... there they are. While I've used Yahoo photos in the past, the tool that Brian uses for his image gallery (which I'm starting to steal a bit) is much more useful and, well, less annoying. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Via Belle (via Volker), I came across The Mayfly Project. Basically, sum up your year in 20 words or fewer. I've written quite a few attempts at this, but here's the most recent: California, Houston, again. Conferences. Peeps! Running along Amstel, Meditterannean, Main, Pacific, Caribbean. Work, write, read. Does it get any better? 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
Today is 13 years since he passed away. I've missed him every one of those days. My dad was one of my best friends when I was growing up. When he and my mom separated, I lived with my dad and we had a lot of time to spend together, getting to know each other, playing, talking. I think I get a lot of my personality characteristics from him -- flirtatiousness, gregariousness, being outgoing and liking to have lots of friends. Very Italian. I have a black thumb, unlike his amazingly green one -- we were always winning a "yard of the month" award for his azaleas or roses or tulips or daylillies or irises or whatever other flowers he had growing that month (he did, after all, always say he majored in "woody plants one and two" in college). I don't think I get my sense of rhythm from him (thanks, Mom!) -- but he could do a mean disco, for the brief moment when that was the "in" dance. I've never quite managed to make fried macaroni quite the way he did (mine is always too mushy!), but I never stopped loving having a Sunday afternoon watching Flash Gordon and eating a plate of pasta, fresh or fried (the fried version is for leftovers, by the way). My love of the spotlight definitely comes from him -- he introduced me to acting when he was in a couple of community theater plays. He would let me come along to some of the rehearsals and I'd always be the one to read the parts of the people who weren't there that night. Dad taught me to play Othello and sing Love Potion Number 9 and ride a bike and crave crumb cakes, eggs fried over hard, or waffles with ice cream for Sunday breakfast. I never quite got the bug to iron my jeans, but I did get the curly hair. The best thing I got from him? 19 years of unbiased love and support. Thanks, Dad. I love you. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Teri Johnson, one of my friends from the SDDUG, is looking for someone to share a room at Lotusphere and asked me to post to give her a hand. She's got a room at the Yacht. Send her a note if you're interested. Teri_Johnson at sd dot synetics dot com. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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