So...yeah...the bear twisted my arm last night...and we got iPhones.

...and trying to keep the politics out of my journal...for both mine and everyone elses sanity. However, I couldn't let this one pass. CNN had Palin's stump speech this morning from Florida. Apparenty she wasn't paying attention to the 2004 election from Alaska. She seemed convinced that the GOP is the party of equal rights and no discrimination. Excuse me? I seem to remember the Republicans using the 'spector' of gay marriage to drive social conseratives to the polls and win four more years for Bush.

the faster she disappears back into Alaska...the better.

Well...watched the debate last night. Spirited...but no train wrecks from either canidate. That's a plus for McCain at the very least. The only way this debate was going to mean anything was if Palin looked totally out of her league. It didn't, so in the end, the debate won't mean much come a few weeks.

Actually, not too bad of late. I spent most of last week in San Jose at ZendCon. That was a blast. It was my first professional conference I have attended. Obviously, much different than any other convention I've attended in the past. I learned a lot, including that I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did.

( Sunday )

( Monday )

( Tuesday )

( Wednesday )

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Weekend, so far. )

all in all, it was a great experience for me and I'm already pestering my boss to let me do it again. :)

Made it back home this morning...and my flights this trip were 4 for 4...four flights...four delays. :P

More later.

just heard the first bit of christmas music this morning as background music this morning at Zendcon.

I'm now a Zend Certified Engineer...PHP. Now...what will that get me in life? I'm not sure. ;)

Only 10.6 lbs to go to 165

Well...last weekend I helped put on a little get together in Memphis. I had a great time there and was glad to see friends there. Again, as I always have to do, I apologize for not being able to spend time with everyone that wanted to spend time with me. MFM runs me from one end of the day to the other usually and sometimes beyond that. Sorry I couldn't make it to the room parties that I wanted to...and sorry to the one room party that I had to leave in a hurry.

My panel was very well attended and it appears that everyone had a good time there, which makes me happy. Thanks to swift_fox for joining me at the head table this year.

I got some arts there also...

This past week has been recovering from said get together. Yesterday I spent about 3 hours in the MFM storage unit cleaning and organizing it so we can find stuff easier. Today...just finished data entry for the registration system. Yeah..my life is exciting. ;)

Been fighting with a virtual server on a windows box that K has set up this weekend so I can set up a development environment. It's been years since I've revamped the registration system for MFM and I want to make some changes to it.

Only 11.6 lbs to go to 165

This is what being on your feet all weekend can do to you. It would have been more, except that I gained some weight the week before MFM because I was busy and stressed. Still...I'm happy, I'm getting closer. :)

Made it back from MFM...

First off...thanks to everyone who helped me in registration this year. It ran super smooth...this con was almost a no stresser for me. :)

Thanks to everyone who stopped me in the hall and said hi or gave me a hug. I'm sorry if I looked like I was rushed...I sometimes was :)

I also came back with four new lions...all gifts...thanks to everyone who gave me one. :)

More to come later...when my brain catches up with my body.

Leaving around 7AM tomorrow...in Memphis around noon....

...that I panic. I think I'm ready for MFM...but then again at the same time I'm afraid I forgot something. :)

Right now...MFM stuff is spread from one end of my house to the other as I finish getting stuff together for the convention next week. About the only thing I have left is to print badges and get the bags and other packets together...then of course make everything fit. After that, I thought I would get to relax and chill out...hardly.

August 28 - September 1st: MFM, Memphis, TN
Week of September 8th: Denver to help with the installation of some network stuff I don't fully understand, but I have to be there to make sure the websites don't go off line
Week of September 15th: Santa Clara, CA for ZendCon2008, a PHP convention. This will be the first professional convention I will have attended. Probably will be a little different than MFM ;)

What sucks is that I won't be able to make softball in Chicago for September now because I will have to leave for Santa Clara on Sunday. Still, it'll be fun and I hope to learn something from it. For as many conventions that the operations side goes to, I'm glad they are giving the programmers a shot to go somewhere.

Current Mood: rushed

I'll be in Chicago this weekend for the softball game...hope to see the usual suspects there. :)

I still need some help for running registration. It takes a lot of work to make sure that people don't have to spend more time in line for the con than they have to. We need people to help with setup Thursday afternoon and with running it Thursday, Friday. If you're interested in helping, and earning volunteer credits for the convention, please let me know.

What you must have:

Good people skills
Able to work in a somewhat crowded and noisy place
Able to communicate verbally clearly
Able to write legible
Able to follow directions and procedures
Some data entry into the computer
MUST be prompt and on time for your assignments

Here are the shifts I need:

Thursday setup (setting things up, stuffing bags) - 3 or 4 people for 3 hours
starting around 3PM

Thursday evening (7 - 9PM) - 3 people (along with myself on computers), 2 people
handing out bags

Friday morning (10 AM - 1PM) - 2 - 3 people (along with myself on computers), 1
- 2 people hading out bags

Friday afternoon (1PM - 4PM) - 2 people on computers, 1 person hading out bags

Fell free to either reply here or email me directly at rama@ramalion.org if you're interested. Thank! :)

Weird Al was in St Charles last night. It was a fun concert, but our seats sucked royally. K and I were about 5 rows from the top of the Family Arena...and 10 seats from the far edge of the opened seats. So, we were basically watching the show from the side. Add into that, there were no speakers pointed at us, so the sound was bad. Good news was that we didn't pay a lot for the tickets, but it was still a disappointment. However, the show itself was really good. It was a good mix of new and old. The funny part was that a good chunk of the audience probably didn't get parts of some songs, like "It's all about the Pentiums".

You know...I usually don't complain much about bad service at places....well...because it's common. However, this one particularly turned me off. The Krispy Kremes around here added ice cream to their menu and I was out and wanted some. Well...they have this donut sundae that looked good so I got one. Well...I tried to get one and was skipped over twice by the cash register lady. The person before me got into an argument with the manager and the attendant over what he thought were old donuts he was getting. He actually sort of tricked them into getting the donuts he wanted. When they finally do get to me, I place my order. Well...when I receive the sundae finally, it looks nothing like the picture on the menu. Now, that's not a huge surprise, except that the picture showed the ice cream coming well above the top of the cup, much like you would see on a cone. Mine didn't even come to the top of the cup. I pointed out to the manager, who also made the order, that it looked nothing like the picture. Her explanation was that nothing ever looks like the picture. Obviously, that isn't the answer I wanted to hear. I ended up not buying it because, quite truthfully, I didn't feel like I was getting my money's worth. As I was leaving, she just commented about how everyone has a bad attitude. Again, not quite what I wanted to hear. So, I won't be going to KK for ice cream, if I want soft serve, I'll do DQ.

Now, tell me if I'm wrong on my thoughts:

1. The manager should be able to follow whatever instructions they have on how to make a product, because I'm sure that what I was given was not close to how it should have been done.
2. The manager shouldn't just blow off a customer when they complain, but ask what the problem is and how he or she can solve it.