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Day 2 of the Conference. No known parties tonight, but no mandatory presentation to attend, and the soda tubs are now topped off at the start of the day, and a few times throughout the day. Yea!
| Monday,
15 September 2003 |
|
| 6:00am | 10-33, alarm sounding. At this hour, that just seems wrong. |
| 6:52am | In a bold nod to irresponsibility, we got up a bit later than the alarm demanded. |
| 7:03am | The mad dash for the conference hall landed us here a bit after the posted 7am opening. Tubby's work buddy was already there, though, so all's well. |
| 7:44am | The first request for help turns from a loan of a piece of hardware to a two hour ordeal to get a second network card to work. At long last, a third card fixed it, but getting our hands and webbed feet on additional hardware has been like swimming against the wind. |
| 9:46am | We tackled the second problematic machine. This one involved someone who loaded their ISP's software (SBC DSL) onto their laptop, essentially breaking dial-up. At the end of the day, it's still broken. (We even compared machine setups, but nothing... it's as though the SBC software has touched their machine in a very Biblical sort of way. |
| 11:40am | We collectively called it quits on the SBC impacted machine... either remove the software, or give up the ability to dial-up. Or, reformat the machine and reload everything (except SBC's junk, of course). |
| 12:12pm | I'm curious about lunch. I like lunch. Tubby is largely indifferent to the meal, surprisingly enough. |
| 12:58pm | Lunch! Ed's down here to watch things, and we're off to the upstairs lunch lounge. |
| 1:08pm | The return from lunch. Given the unique dietary demands on both Tubby and myself, fried chicken, corn-on-the-cob, watermelon and some flat pasty thing didn't do "it" for us. We wandered back with a giant handful and wingful of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups instead. |
| 1:43pm | Tubby got to get up and waddle over to help someone connect to a network printer. Wow. |
| 4:09pm | Nothing really new to add, honestly. Things are plowing along toward the 6pm closing time. From there... I dunno what the plan is -- I've yet to get any memos to that effect. |
| 6:01pm | It's closing time for us, and now it's a matter of figuring out where to go and what to do for the balance of the day. Hmmm... |
| 6:26pm | We finally get out of the work area, gather up the last of those who were still there, and Ed shuttles the five of us (Tubby, Alan, Ed, Kristen and I) back to the hotel. |
| 6:42pm | Back at the hotel, we scatter to our rooms to do this and that before heading off to a party-like gathering, hosted by Accenture and Microsoft (yes, that Microsoft, good grief). |
| 7:01pm | We head off to the ESPN Zone, where the party thing is being held, with Jennifer, Alan, Simon, and Peter in tow. Of course, I'm there, too. |
| 7:19pm | We get inside and wander around. We all started with the food, including that served by the very cute Amanda, but found that while the food was plentiful, seating was not. We began by eating while standing, but Gary found us all a booth. Air hockey was around, and J.D. and Robert did a racing ride. |
| 8:20pm | I did try playing one of the games, but I found they are a bit too geared toward people who are much, much taller than 10 inches. I didn't even contemplate the rock climbing wall. |
| 8:34pm | We decided to take a break and go to the LEGO store, just across the walkway (at Downtown Disney). There, I managed to get my pic with Darth Vader, R2D2 and an off-colored Stormtrooper. I nearly ruffled my own feathers when I saw the Pick-a-Brick wall, where you can buy a number of unique LEGO brick colors and shapes (like white picket fences, pink, lavender, purple, orange, teal, and cobalt blue bricks, to name a few). |
| 8:50pm | Gil, Dan, and Gary engage in a battle of digital cameras. Once the flashes stopped, a woman (in the white top) apparently puts her hand on Gary, and tells the guys they're dorks (or so the tale was related to me). |
| 9:34pm | Tubby and I wandered our and meandered down the line of shops. We ducked into the Build-a-Bear store, where the boy bought me a hat. I later learned the whole thing may have been at least partially fueled by his unblinking stare at a brunette, until I suggested that he (a) try to blink, and (b) questioned if she was even 18. We turned and left at that point; go figure. |
| 10:08pm | We dropped Jennifer off at the hotel, and hit 7-11 to grab a Diet Pepsi. |
| 10:20pm | Upon return to the car, though, it didn't start -- just a clicking noise, and we figure that can't be good. After a few more tries, we make the call to AAA to get a truck out to do a jump start. |
| 10:38pm | Two guys from ASAP Towing, dispatched from AAA, arrive (Oscar and James). Both were creatively tattooed, and the taller of the guys, James, had 'Christine' tattooed on his neck, also had the filled-in tear-drop tattoo outside his right eye. The car started at long last, and died immediately. It wouldn't jump start again. |
| 10:52pm | The truck guys had to take a "hot call", which Oscar explained meant there's some hysterical woman broken down somewhere. We pushed the Unnamed Expedition back into place until their return. |
| 10:57pm | Back at the hotel and waiting for the tow truck folks to come 'round again. |
| 11:19pm | The ASAP dispatcher called and the truck is back in the 'hood. We head down there and arrange to get the car towed out of the 7-11. James, the trainee, was responsible for doing the hooking up of the car, but Oscar supervised. All was well. |
| 11:38pm | And we're back at the hotel for good, and the car is down at the shop to be tended to in the morning. An exciting little day, but enough of it for today. |