Early Start ~ Day 5

7/10/07 ~ First day of the main conference, and an early start at that, 7:30a. At least I was smart enough to set my alarm this time and be prepared! There seemed to be a lot of sessions that had not prepared well, or been screened properly, i.e. seemed like they accepted any paper that was submitted for presentation in some instances! All in all though, there were good bits to take away. Oh, the best thing I learned today was about Google Docs ... did you know that you can create a spreadsheet there with all your passwords in case you lose your PDA or something (unbelievable, lol ...)! Oh, and I really loved the series of tutorials that one university created for their faculty/students especially the one about Java: 'here's how to ascertain which version of Java you currently have installed. Here's how to uninstall. Here's how to install the correct and compatible version of Java.' That one got quite a few laughs from the crowd. You go Michael Chasen, keep those new products a'comin'! ... Note to self: compile all my session notes to see just how much valuable information I was able to gather in the end.

I stayed for the opening reception in the exhibit hall after sessions were done for the day and had time to spend with Nick and Sam, Shahra and Dat as well. After thoroughly investigating all the hors d'oeuvre and partaking of drink selections we decided to go as group to M.J. O'Connors for dinner. I tried to connect with Vinciullo to see if he could join us but our messages and timing just didn't seem to work out. Dinner was nice, just fish and chips, but it was really nice relaxing with my coworkers (Dat, Sam (Adams?) and Shahra ~ Nick spent the evening with his family) and just having a chance to unwind, and talk about things other than office related. At least for me it helped to get to know them a bit better. We had taken a taxi to the dinner venue (what did the driver mean, do we know where we want to go? Of course we don't!), but decided to walk it back to the hotel which was a wonderful idea, beautiful night and Newbury Street all lit up. What a great town for walking (except for the getting ditched part that is, ha ha funny guys! ...)! I think I would enjoy a summer place here, I love that it is filled with college students and history. Who would ever have thought that I would have ever shown an interest in history ...