None

the rest of yesterday was spent doing sessions followed by the product
showcase. all interesting including some really cool r&d from the ibm research
labs.

after the showcase i went back to my room to drop my bag off at about 9pm and
planned to head back out to see what was going on. i just laid down for a few
minutes and the next thing i knew it was 5am! oh well at least it meant i was
awake with no struggle for the bof this morning.

another day full of sessions and then tonight i have no plans as yet but will
probably end up going out for dinner somewhere.

well, what a difference from last year!

i came out of the opening general session in 2003 feeling quite depressed and not at all confident about the future of notes and domino.

the technology is hugely impressive, the sort of thing that is easy to sell to managers and it looks pretty interesting from a techy point of view. i will definitely spend some time investigating this week. nd8.0 is confirmed and rather than running as a seperate stream which was the impression i got last year, the move towards the new workplace client which runs on eclipse looks much more appealing.

there was a master stroke in the special guest this year, patrick stewart (captain picard from star trek for the uninitiated) is just a shoe-in for rapturous applause from a crowd of five thousand techies. managing to get some laughs from shakespeare was equally impressive. overall the session was so much slicker than last year, no run overs, good presenters and well strucutured.

it’s going to be an interesting few days 🙂

the sunday night thing was excellent. because of the location of my room i was able to sit and watch the marauding hoards champing at the bit to get in. i headed on down once the initial queues had gone. i must say i prefer it when it is not superbowl themed because everyone seems a lot more inclined to talk. as had been discussed before getting here, the newly formed iblog crowd managed to meet up. it was great to say hi to these guys (of whom there are loads now and i am just appalling at remembering names). the cult t-shirt this year is a cracker, must try and get one before the end of the week.

i finally bumped into another ex-colleague and we caught up for half an hour. the only problem with the party is that it finishes so early. we went off on a mission to find more unofficial gatherings but had no luck so ended up back in my room finishing off the extra beers and wine that had been “liberated” while watching the disney-bots clearing up the mess on the beach from the party. i have to say that they are impressively efficient, sat here at 05:00 there is not a sign that anything happened last night.

i am getting my food in the dolphin again this year so i will head off their at about 7ish to see who is around and get a good spot for the keynote session. maybe not too close to the speakers though as my head is hurting a little!

more to follow later today.

well i am here, the weather is great and i have already had a busy day.

the journey was uneventful, if a little long. i had forgotten that it is a nine
hour flight out to orlando and i had seen all the movies. but at least i
finished my book.

i had planned to go to the gonzo lotusphere party but bumped into some
ex-colleagues and we never made it that far. instead we were on my balcony
overlooking the sunday night party area. a few drinks were consumed and we just
generally caught up as i hadn’t seen them for ages.

today has been extremely relaxing, i had a lie in this morning and then went to
get some brunch at the ihop (private joke with my family!). sunday is always a
slightly odd day, the sessions are optional and i just ended up having a wander
around and met up with a few people. it’s the sunday night party in a few hours
and there is meant to be a bloggers meeting which should be interesting to put
faces to names at least.

tomorrow is the start proper of the conference with the big key note speech
first. hopefully it will go a little better than last year. certainly there are
more interesting developments to talk about.

and finally, i have managed to forget one of my cables so photos will have to
wait until i get home on friday.

it was an excellent evening all round although i didn’t get much sleep. i
didn’t drink too much but it does seem that champagne has curative properties
as i feel a lot better today. i’ll have to bear that in mind for the future.

everyone headed off to their beds at about midnight but as i was checking into
the hotel i met some very happy actors who had just completed their first night in the barbican, it seemed churlish not
to join them when they asked so i didn’t end up getting to sleep until somewhat
later.

i am very much on cruise control today as a result but i have loads of boring
maintenance jobs to do so that is no bad thing.

it is a colleagues leaving do this evening and we are having the customary
champagne and curry night. unfortunately i have developed my traditional
pre-lotusphere cold so i feel pretty appalling. i will have to try and control
my alcohol intake which is more challenging given that we normally have a few
very nice bottles of champagne and (as fi can testify) i do like a glass of
bubbly!

managed to find a cheapish hotel in london so at least i don’t have to hurry to
get home tonight. talking of cheap deals, the turtle
found some cracking car rental deals in orlando. even though i am staying at
the dolphin it may well be worth having one as it will only cost around gbp10
per day and it will give me a bit of mobility for sunday and the mad rush to
the airport on thursday evening.

only a week to go until lotusphere and i am beginning the
build up.

my colleagues with technical problems are compiling their demo’s for me to take
to the labs. i already have a couple of orders to buy gadgets
while their to take advantage of the ridiculous exchange
rates.

my current plan is to get to the gonzo lotusphere party on
saturday night as long as the plane is not delayed. then sunday will be
registration, gadget buying and general wandering round seeing who is there
already. for the first time i have a room at the dolphin so plan to take full
advantage in the evenings where i have had to worry about getting home before.

as most people i talk to will know, i do a daily commute into london which is
the bain of my life. today was a classic in that we got turfed off the train at
colchester into the gale-blown
rain. we then had to try and squeeze into a great eastern commuter train which
was half the size of our normal intercity. i have developed a new sense of
respect for the poor souls who use these trains every day and will endeavour to
complain less about my normal journey. the train was dirty, absolutely tiny,
hot and late. there is no way i would do that journey more than once a year and
i am in awe of the thousands who do it every day, they deserve our sympathy and
adulation!

i buy a copy of the times for the
train each morning and have been hoping that the tabloid edition
would reach the wilds of suffolk pretty quickly. well my wishes were answered
so now there is less of the “broadsheet shuffle” which is the hard won skill to
read a huge newspaper without bashing your neighbour every time you turn the
page. as far as i can tell it has the same content as the main edition and it
costs the same. so you can call me a convert.

a day devoted to catching up on odd jobs. not very exciting but necessary all
the same.

so all of the company paper work is up to date, my personal tax is all sorted
out and the pile of post waiting for me when i got home has been dealt with. in
my continuing battle to keep my home network up to date i have also invested in
a new machine today.