DonXML - Live From PDC

PDC Universal Party - Where's The Beer?

DonXML — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 19:21:00 GMT

The PDC party was mared by a major faux pas/ Within a half an hour of arriving (on one of the first buses), the beverage areas around us ran out of beer. Now, at PDC03, we drank the bar dry in the same area (by the area mark 17 on the map), but that was with about 15 minutes of closing. This time, the part started at 7 and before 8, they were dry. And it took about a 1/2 hour to get refilled, which meant that the lines at the other beverage areas were extremely long, and then they would run out of beer. This happened all night until about 10:30, and then enough people left, and we had all we wanted. I've got plenty more commentary about what went on last night coming soon. Even with the faux pas, we had a blast.

Don

PDC05

PDC Nightlife - Tuesday

DonXML — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:54:00 GMT

Tuesday night held a lot of options for nightlife. They had the PDC Underground, the Mono event and then the vendor event at the conference center. I had a bunch of people I wanted to meet up with at the vendor night, so I started my night there. While hanging out near the DevelopMentor booth, my wife happens to call me, within about 30 seconds, Kent Tegels and an attendee comes up to me (while I’m still on the phone). Kent has brought the attendee to me because he has a question about Reporting Services 2005, and he knows that this is one of Melissa’s areas. Little did Kent know that I was one the phone with Melissa, so I just hand over the phone to him, and tell him to ask her himself. I’m sure we freaked out the attendee. I mean the poor guy had a question, and he gets an answer from some guys wife via a cell call.

By around 7:30PM, I decided to head back to the hotel to drop off my stuff, wash up and get ready for the Infulencers Party over in Hollywood. I bumped into Rob Zelt, and we walked over to the Westin to meet up with Miguel Castro and split a cab over to the party. The party was very interesting to say the least (women, and one guy, hanging from ropes and nets doing acrobatics). After not running into Rory at all doing the conference, I finally had a chance to hang with him for a short while. Rest assured, Rory is doing well. By about 11:30PM I had enough to drink, was beat and I knew the cool stuff was going to be announced at the key note on Wed.

I finally realized that I’m just not going to have enough time to meet up and hang out with all the people I was looking forward to meeting. There just isn’t enough time. If I haven’t bumped into you, or haven’t spent much time with you, it isn’t anything personal, there is just too many people I want to hang with.

Don

PDC05

I'm At the PDC, And You Are Not. Why?

DonXML — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:47:00 GMT

I can't believe that not one of the "cool" folks on CodeBetter.com didn't make it to the PDC.

OK, so I'm totally lying. I do understand why they couldn't make, but that doesn't mean that I'm not bummed about it. So, Brendan asked me to step in a be the "man in the field" for CodeBetter and I said yes, but it is sure hard to drink a beer with you guys over the internet (don't worry, I'll just drink yours, since you can't get to it).

PDC is one big party with a bunch of little parties intermingled within it. Last night Kirk Allen Evans and CSNA thru a party at the Standard and I was there. Afterwards a bunch of us went over to Morton's for dinner (mostly the Patterns and Practices team guys). I was supposed to hook up with Edgardo and Sean, but we ran late, and Sean was still on East Coast time, so I missed them. One of the problems I've noticed that I have is actually sticking to some sort of schedule at a conference. I go from place to place and bump into friends. I tag along for a while and then bump into another group of friends, the 2 groups merge, and eventually break up into new groups and head off in different directions. So my day is a constant day of randomness. Tonight is a great example. from 6 to 9 PM there are 3 different events I want to attend, the Mono event, the PDC Underground, and the Vendor night at the Conference Center. I have no idea which one I'll attend, but I think I'll start at the Vendor night. I also wanted to attend some of the BoF sessions, but they are not until after the vendor event (which ends at 9PM), and I have an Influencers/MVP event to go to in Hollywood from 9 until 1AM.

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Don

PDC05