“So how was Houston?” This seems to be the question of the week…
I spent four days last week at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, and it sure was something. They were saying something like 12,000 people from 120 difference countries were there with me…
The content of the conference was somewhat disappointing to a technical guy like me, but perhaps my expectations were too high. Only two sessions that I attended were presented by someone whose title didn’t start with “Marketing Director.”
Each morning all 12,000 people walked a block from the convention center to the Toyota Center (the basketball arena for the Houston Rockets). These keynotes were all pretty interesting. All of them had a musical component with lots of customer stories, etc.
The high point of the week for me was getting to see Muhammad Yunus give a half hour speech on Microcredits, and Social Businesses. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding Grameen Bank and creating the concept of Microcredits in his native Bangladesh. You can read a whole lot more about him on Wikipedia.
Other than that, the trip surely had its moments. Cell coverage was ridiculously bad, Internet connectivity was a joke, and the humidity was crazy. Luckily for us, we had the luxury of staying at the Hilton that is connected to the convention center, meaning that we only had to go outside a few times.
I had hoped of skipping part of one of the days and making a side trip over to the Houston Space Center, but it didn’t happen. Luckily, the airport had lots of space stuff and so I got Lane a space shuttle, t-shirt and some “astronaut strawberries.”
When people ask me how Houston was, I’ve generally just been saying that I am happy to be home. It’s a quicker answer than restating all of the above every time…
This week will be my first trip to the Microsoft WorldWide Partner Conference, which is in Houston, TX this year. I’ve managed to escape this each of the past two years, but not this time. And, to be honest, I didn’t really fight going this time. There is a part of me that is looking forward to this, but I really hate the idea of leaving home for a week (especially since I was gone to Huntington Beach part of last week for work).
With 60 to 90 minute long sessions from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM daily (with an exception on Wednesday morning when there is a 2 1/2 hour long keynote with Steve Ballmer), this will likely be an action packed week. Especially when you consider that I will be attending sessions that have titles like “Transforming IT into a Strategic Asset Through Core Infrastructure,” “Deploy the Optimized Desktop: Windows Vista and Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack,” and “Secure and Reliable Computing: Allow Your Customers to Focus on Their Business While You Do the Rest.”
This week will be equal parts sales/marketing and technical knowledge dump, but it could likely be better described as the yearly ritual of drinking Microsoft blue Kool-Aid. Should be an interesting week.
Thanks to vmcNetflix, that is. This app runs on my Windows Media Center, and allows browser-less access to the Netflix Watch Instantly library from my Xbox 360. It’s insanely cool, and has both Shelly and I hooked on watching stuff while Lane naps on the weekends.
We’re both hooked on the first season of Dexter, and I’m nearly done with the first season of 30 Rock. I think that we will finally start watching Lost in the near future…
Returned Zune #2 to Best Buy today and had it replaced thanks to the Best Buy Replacement Plan. Yeah, the replacement plans are a total rip-off, but I am super glad I did it for my Zune.
A little history… Zune #1 was purchased the first day they were released (like the fanboy that I am). 29 days later, without realizing, I took it back to Best Buy because the headphone jack was malfunctioning. The girl working the return counter made a snide remark about how another 2 days and I would have been SOL. Perhaps it was sneaky plan to get me to buy the aforementioned rip-off, but I did so out of fear.
Now, a year and a half later, the headphone jack was again wonky. My two year replacement plan (that cost me just $20) covered the unit, and I walked out with a new Zune. Yay!
Yep, I’m in Las Vegas with two co-workers (Ted being one) attending the WinConnections / Exchange Connections event. I look forward to this every year, but always hate having to be away from home for the better part of a week.
Our flight from Oakland to Vegas was delayed about 30 minutes, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Actually, there were so few people on the Southwest flight that everyone had the “A” boarding pass. Yeah, not a very crowded flight.
Tonight’s keynote was a little dry, but covered Windows Server 2008, SQL 2008 and the new Visual Studio. Some cool stuff for sure, but tough for 7:00 PM on a Monday night, after traveling.
Sitting through the keynote was worth it though, because afterwards the demo floor opened and we had drink tickets and there were lots of desserts. Plus, Microsoft was giving out a really nice black travel case with a cheap VoIP headset to promote Office Communications Server. While the headset is crap, the case is really, really nice. Ted and I were able to snag a few extras for some of our co-workers.
