Ajarn Mark Caldwell Blog

What an adventure already!  I got checked-in to the conference and picked up the swag.  Once again they have given us a bag to carry our junk.  This one appears more durable and better designed than last year's.  It's narrower, with a nice padded pocket (presumably just big enough to slip your TabletPC into, unfortunately I'm still lugging around a 15” Dell Inspiron).  This one has a handy PDA pocket inside the outside pocket (got that?).  Oh sure, some might think it's a cell phone pocket, but it's wide enough to slip my Blackberry or a PocketPC into it.  Overall, I'd say it's a good bag, but I still like the laptop backpack they gave us a couple of years ago better.  I guess I'm just more comfortable lugging around the backpack, but maybe I'll give this one a try while I'm here.

We also got some certificates to redeem in the exhibit hall which opens tomorrow, and chances to enter prize drawings, and as I suspected, a certificat and PIN to receive a copy of SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (NFR, I presume) when it is released.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

However, all was not well in Muddville today.  When I opened my suitcase I discovered that two items had exploded, or at least leaked all over my clothes.  One was the sunscreen I brought (I am a [sun] sensitive guy you know).  That was completely my fault for not putting the bottle in a Ziploc or something like that.  Stupid mistake.  The other appears to have been the fault of airline personnel getting a bit too violent with the luggage and punctured one of the XS energy drinks I brought with me.  It leaked all over my khaki pants.  Oh great!  At least it was the Citrus flavor which is a light color, not a caramel one.  Maybe if I'm lucky it will fade away as it dries.

Oh well, enough for now.  Time to relax a little while I wait for Graz and the rest of the gang to arrive.