Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Day 3 - Certifiable!

Had an early night last night. Dinner at Big River over on the Boardwalk with some friends. Followed by a couple rounds of Pool at the Dolphin. There was a Sun party that a couple people talked their way into but I decided to call it an early night.
Was up early today to study for my 10:30 exam. Happy to tell the world: I'm now an IBM Certified Associate Developer - Lotus Notes and Domino 6! 97% on exam 610. Not too bad I'd say.
Spoke to a couple vendors after lunch including Brightmail. I think we're going to be giving it a try so it was interesting to hear what they had to say. My feet were dying after standing for so long so I dropped by the CLP Lounge (taking full advantage of my new certification ;) Got to meet Joe Litton who was sporting his Team TSG shirt.
Then went to a session on Web Services in Domino. Let me just say Domino 7 is gonna ROCK for web services. They showed live code and the ability to take existing WSDL, import it and autogenerate the necessary Java OR Lotuscript. Very very cool.
Sipping green tea as I wait for a session on DXL followed by the bus to the party.
[Listening to: New Lace Sleeves - Elvis Costello - The Very Best Of (Disc 2 of 2) (03:47)]

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Day 2 - so far

Went to a session on Anti-Spam in Domino. If I had to saw there was a sub-theme to the show it would be anti-spam. I talked to at least 6 vendors about it. The interesting thing is that they all take different approaches to try and provide a solution.
Went to Ben Langhinrichs session on building apps that work in both Notes and the Web. Very cool since this is what I do quite a bit of.
Lunch was a buttet of Italian food. Contrary to the comments I heard around me I preferred my box lunch yesterday. Mostly because it was so nice outside. Haven't decided yet what to do about dinner.
[Listening to: Operator (That's not the way it feels) - Jim Croce - The Very Best Of (03:50)]

Monday, January 26, 2004

It was a good afternoon

Went to a session on customizing DWA 6.5. It isn't a cake walk but it can be done and a lot you can modify. After the show there will be a skin editor available on the Sandbox. Then went to the Partner Showcase. Ran into a bunch of the usual supspects which was fun. Wandered around and saw some cool stuff. Saw Peerwire which is like Napster for Notes/Domino develpers. Very interesting. Also spoke to the people at BowStreet who have some interesting software if you are going from a Domino environment to a portal. Interesting designer that makes the whole thing a lot easier. The more you are here the more you wonder if people even use the client anymore as most things are web focused.
Following the Partner reception I hung out with a few of the usual suspects then was starving and went in search of food. Enjoyed a Guiness over at the Yatch before coming back to the Dolphin. Thank goodness Tubbie's is open all night. Got a burger and came back to the room. Full day tomorrow so it's time to crash.
[Listening to: Satellite - Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming (04:52)]

Day 1 - Make it so!

Day 1 is proceeding at the rapid pace I expected. The opening general session featured Patrick Stewart. He was pretty cool. He told about how he got into acting and gave us some examples of his Shakesperean training. Most excellent quotes from Henry V:

" ... WHO EVER LIVES PAST TODAY AND COMES HOME SAFELY WILL ROUS HIMSELF EVERY YEAR ON THIS DAY, SHOW HIS NEIGHBORS HIS SCARS, AND TELL EMBELLISHED STORIES OF ALL THEIR GREAT FEATS OF BATTLE. THESE STORIES HE WILL TEACH HIS SON AND FROM THIS DAY TO THE END OF THE WORLD, WE SHALL ALL BE REMEMBERED. WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, WE BAND OF BROTHERS ! FOR WHOEVER HAS SHED HIS BLOOD WITH ME SHALL BE MY BROTHER. ..."

Then there was the lotus people. Lots of demos of Workplace. Pretty cool stuff. Notes and Domino is here to stay. They showed how to integrate your existing stuff into what's new. All very cool and easy. Domino 8 is going to be even better. Of course there have been no timelines so far. As is to be expected. They said there are about 500 first timers here and attendance is up over last year.
Lunch was a box lunch that was both tasty and filling. Lunch outside on the lawn.
Ya gotta love wireless. I'm sitting in the hall between sessions and getting excellent access. Also nice to have all my MP3s with me to drown out the muttinger of attendees.
I've been surprised that I am actually seeing people I know. Ran into Jason Collier in the partner pavillion after lunch. Off to another session then the product showcase reception where I'm meeting up with a few cohorts from last night.
[Listening to: Jeanette - The English Beat - Special Beat Service (02:49)]

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Jumpstart: Lotusphere

Well it's Pre-day1. Went to some interesting sessions on Web Services. Domino 7 will have some really cool stuff in it to do web services with out all the hassle. Now I'm just taking it easy for a bit before I'm off the the Welcome Reception.
I did see Dart along the way today and Teri, Sean and Rhonda of the SDDUG last night at Turtle's Gonzo event over at ESPN club on the Boardwalk. Also got to see Ed again, meet Turtle and several others. I still can't seem to get to Turtle's website so it's either being hammered or it's still down.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

Opportunity Lands on Mars

Opportunity Lands on Mars Congrats to the team at NASA/JPL!! 2 for 2. Looks like the trouble with Spirit is one the way to mending. Last reports it has something to do with it's flash RAM or the software controlling the flash RAM.

Friday, January 23, 2004

Word back for Spirit

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Releases:
This looks like good news:
"'The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we're planning for commanding further communication sessions later today,' said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "

They mention that Opportunity is still on track as well.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

This is crazy. TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01 you need Java Runtime installed (Internet explorer will prompt if you don't have it takes a bit to download if you are on a slow connection). It's hard to explain but you go to the site, enter a URL and it will graphically map other similar web sites. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

Blogger Blog, the Blog for Bloggers

Blogger Blog, the Blog for Bloggers reports that Blogger now can produce your feeds in XML. I may make this available but so far all you can use is Atom and I don't think that us used near as mucha as RDF and RSS in news aggrigaors.

Lotusphere guide in Journal form

This is very cool. Lotusphere 2004 guide in Notes Journal form. Get it. Print it. Use it.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Integrating Google�s Web API service in Domino applications

Integrating Google's Web API service in Domino applications. Interesting article about making Google part of your Domino App.

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Columbia Memorial Station

Spirit's landing site is being named the Columbia Memorial Station to honor the seven astronauts who died in the space shuttle disaster 11 months ago.

Images of Mars and All Available Satellites

This site has all the full resolutions from JPL of Mars. These are the ones you want if you are going to print them: Images of Mars and All Available Satellites

Sunday, January 04, 2004

1st Pictures back from Spirit

The Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit send back some postcards this morning.MER

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Spirit Rover Lands on Mars

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home: "NASA's Deep Space Network has received a signal confirming that Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is alive after rolling to a stop on the surface of Mars. (9:00 pm PST)
Check back to this page for more rover updates".

Still not word from Beagle 2 but I'm glad our little probe is on the groud and functioning. Looking forward to the images is beams back.