My Dad and I went for a drive the other day up by Refugio and went along the side road. The cows (they are happy Californian cows) were out in full force. Older and babies. They were probably wondering what we were doing out there as I was kind of wondering the same thing. None the less, I pulled over and watched the cows for a while. I found them quite relaxing actually. They graze, moooo, and graze some more. One of the cows seemed to escape and was on the other side of the fence. I guess the saying of that “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” really does hold true…

For your enjoyment, we moooo’d at the cows.

Baby Cow Escaped, Mooooooooo

Been away at the Windows Connections conference that I go to every year. It is put on by Dev Connections and has various tracks on Exchange, Windows, SQL Server, SharePoint, Office, etc. For me, it is a week long of training on various topics and is really the only formal training I get all year. Helps me mentally prepare for what is coming in the future and for things I could and should be doing now in my current setup. The conference started on Monday, 11/10 and ended Friday 11/14. Time is from 8 - 6 daily, so it is a pretty long day of constant information flow.

John’s Posse (sounds strange, I know) was in full effect as usual. We all hang out after the conference and catch up on everything from tech to life. I also got the surprise of Steve from Acuity-VCT being in Vegas at the same time as he was on vacation. Had dinner with him and his wife on Wednesday evening. Tried to go to Steve’s favorite Chinese restaurant, but everything was closed. Odd that we could not find ANY chinese restaurants to eat at on the strip! MacGyver was in full action as normal (he even fixed the plane he was on).

I also missed the big fire in Santa Barbara on Thursday. Sounded pretty intense from what I heard. Glad none of my friends lost their homes and I am sorry to hear about those that did.

Back to work tomorrow. Viva el Micro$oft!

Dev Connections 2008, Click to View More

Ha, I been meaning to post this for a long time now. When I went on my trip to Chicago and Ohio, I was amazed by the toilets at the Chicago O’Hare airport. They have this system that after a flush, you wave your hand in front of this sensor and it put a new toilet seat protector on. Fascinating. It also counts down how many protector are left in the system. I wonder if it pages the janitorial staff when almost out? Most of them had about 40 or so left…wonder if they start at 100? Deep questions deserving some deep understanding. Anyways, here is the video I took below (I know, werid…but like I said, I was totally engaged in this whole process).

I have been JibJab’d by the nice folks in Ohio. I believe Ken is responsible for this.

This is a map that Josie made when I asked how to get to Ohio from Chicago.

Makes perfect sense!

Today was a fun day of driving and flying. I got up early and dropped Dan off at the Cleveland airport at 6:00 or so in the morning and then head to Chicago. Got to Chicago around 12:30 and had to wait an hour to check in (four hour minimum). I started to people watch, that is always fun.

Once checked in, I tried to go to some restaurants for lunch. Everything had a huge line…they have small restaurants like Chili’s Too, Johny Rockets, etc. I finally got in at a Fox sports bar and was happy. Ordered my food and then I had to use the restroom, so I asked the hostess if I could leave my table for a sec, she said sure and would cover my food. I got back and my food was gone and another group sitting at my table! Needless to say, I did not pay for that lunch. Then I could not find anywhere to get lunch at, so I ended up at Mc Donalds, yay. Don’t have that very often and now I remember why!

Four hours later I am in the air and flying home. Flight was nice and easy. Landed in Long Beach around 8 PM and got home to Santa Barbara at 10 PM or so. Feels good to be home, but had a great time and learned quite a bit from the great lands of IL and OH.

Jetting Above the Clouds, Click to View More

Today was a relaxing day in Ohio…nothing big planned. Got up around 10, had the Dan special for breakfast, he really has a great handle on canadian bacon. Steve called and asked if I wanted to go for a ride, of course I did. Dan took me to a gas station for the witness protection transfer and I was whisked away. First stop was an outlet mall that had a train you could ride. Was a beautiful day, about 82 degrees. I bought some Moosehead popcorn there…can’t pass up a deal buy 2, get 1 free.

After the outlet mall, we headed down the road for a while to do some sightseeing. I had no idea there were so many Amish folks in Ohio. Lots of horse and buggies. The country out there is absolutely beautiful….lots of farms, swamps, and natural gas pumps. I love the country roads…not very populated and everybody seems easy going. Peaceful to say the least.

The ride lasted for about a few hours and then was dropped off back at Dan’s for the fifth phase of witness protection transfer. My last night in Ohio…we ended up watching some football and just relaxing. Dan was quite the chef today and made his special Manhattan clam chowder with shrimp…was tasty! Also got caught up on laundry and packed up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am dropping Dan off at the airport in Cleveland around 6 AM and then I drive to Chicago for my flight back to California that leaves at 5:30 PM….be home by 8 PM. Going to definitely be an adjustement back after spending a few days here in Ohio.

I really cannot thank Dan, Steve, Randy, Ken, Mike, Justus and the rest of the Acuity-VCT team enough for all of their hospitality during this trip. Is very nice to know there are still great people out there in the world and I think I have found some of the best out in Ohio.

See you all back in California real soon!

The Outlet Mall, Click to View More

Ok, so with the exciting evening in Youngstown, we ended up checking into a Hampton Inn, so I woke up still being in Youngstown, Ohio. Ken came by and took us out to one of the local spots for breakfast, it was called “The Yankee.” Had a good ole Ohio breakfast…normal 2 eggs, sausage, etc. Crowd was mostly retired and it is important that they all keep the local businesses going. Youngstown use to be a thriving steel production town…but that industry is pretty much gone and now there are quite a few abandoned areas.

After breakfast, Dan took me over to Randy’s house and we went to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame (RRHF) so I can see their analytics systems. I had no idea of what the RRHF would be like, it was pretty amazing. The building is all glass, really interesting design. It is right on the shore of Lake Erie and gives amazing views from the upper floors. The RRHF has great exhibitions of everything related to music from original lyrics, clothing, guitars, Elvis’ car, etc. They use analytics to protect open areas that are not behind plexi (guitars, wardrobes, cars) and when a motion alarm is triggered a loud announcement comes on and strobe lights are triggered. Very nice installation!

After visiting the RRHF, Randy and I went to get some lunch at Great Lakes Brewery and had their sausage platter (I am so going to die after this trip)…was told I had to have them as they are known for their sausages (that came out wrong). Also had one of their locally brewed beers, it was very tasty too. After lunch, did some Cleveland sight seeing and then went back to my headquarters at Dan’s.

After relaxing for a bit, watched a movie in Dan’s home theater….very nice! Has a projector system and since it is out in the country, you can really crank up the sound. That was a real treat Also toured the outside grounds a bit and really realized how large and fantastic it all really is. Woods, trails, man made ponds, etc….yep it is all here at Dan’s ranch.

Tomorrow is going to be a relaxing day and catching up on some laundry. Monday, I head back to Chicago in the morning and fly back to Long Beach in the late afternoon.

I definitely will say the Midwest is hands down the most friendly and home feeling type of place I have ever visited.

Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Click to View More

Alright, day 3 on the journey. Today Dan and I drove over to Youngstown, OH to visit the Butler Art Institute. We met their facilities manager Ken and first had lunch at a spot in the Metro Park System. Beautiful location full of lakes, trails, and various wildlife. Had some chicken pepper soup, was very good!

After lunch and exploring the town, had a tour of the analytics system at the Butler Art Institute. It is pretty amazing in what they have done there. Basically every piece of art work is protected via cameras with motion alarms. When a motion alarm is set off, an in house pager system pages all guards with the gallery name that triggered the alarm, which makes it super easy to investigate. One camera can cover a great area of gallery space and the system is so smart that you can adjust it for sensitivity. Also learned about the control room setup and how motion alarming play a role in view schemes.

After spending the day at The Butler, we all went out for some Youngstown Friday night happy hour. Went to an Itallian place and had some drinks/food. After happy hour Ken took Dan and I around town to show us some of the happening night spots and the proper way to spend an evening in Youngstown. Ken’s quote of the evening was “You are both in mother’s arms now.”

Me, Dan, and Ken

Got up early this morning (5:30 Chicago time…so 3:30 Cali time) and walked around downtown Chicago a bit. Was quite a trip. Windy finally. Lots of business folks going to work. Found a Mc D’s that had a sign of Cubs and White Sox, baseball is definitley a big deal out here. Left the hotel at 7 and was on the road to visit Acuity’s office and then go out to dinner with Steve, ending up at Dan’s place for the nice. Took the I-90 East and was a nice ride…straight mostly. Toll roads were new to me…lots of choices, but cash seemed to be the obvious one. It cost about $15 total in tolls to go from Chicago to Ohio, not too bad and the road was well maintained (compared to Cali highways at least).

Arrived at Acuity’s office in the afternoon and met with a few of their team members. I was happy to see I made an impact on Justus as his office now has a water fountain too! He also has the USB powererd nerf style rocket launcher that I am a bit jealous of…will have to work on that. Discussed a lot about analytics and how it can be used to protect art work and objects. Pretty amazing technology. Also talked about joystick control for our PTZ cameras (this was for you Mike) and looks like it can be done…just need to use some analog controls…this will make operating the PTZ so much easier.

Steve arrived after our meeting and took me over to his house. Man, it is so beautiful out here right now…and everyone has sooo much space, it is pretty amazing. You have a house and then a HUGE back yard. Maintaining the property lines must take a lot of work…but it is probably very calming too. Nobody seems to be in a bad mood and everything is easy going. You just cannot be in a real hurry out here.

We all went out to dinner at Steve’s nephews restaurant and it was a bistro that had soooo much food it was impossible to eat it all. Was great to catch up with Steve, he always has an interesting story and is pretty much the modern MacGyver. While on job sites he is always danging from a bucket 100 feet in the air being attacked by falcons, thunderstorms, angry workers, you name it! Steve can pretty much do anything it would seem.

After dinner, I followed steve for a ways and then Dan drove out and I followed him to my home til Monday. We were suppose to meet up at a gas station, but did not quite work out so well and instead Dan came running out in the street waving arms and all…I locked my doors as I though we had an Ohio maniac on our hands…but no, it was Dan. So through the woods to Dan’s house we go…it is really amazing. Very quite and definitley away from anything resembling a major city. There is a forrest in the back yard, a pond, and lots of animals (inside and outside). They are definitely animal lovers here, I learned a lot about fish. You can even do surgery on award winning gold fish to keep them going, who knew?

On Friday, will be going to Youngstown, OH to visit the Butler Art Institute and will be looking at their analytics system they have installed to see how it all ties together. Theirs also pages security guards upon a breach. Curious how that works. I believe we are staying over there for the night and then cruising back to Ohio on Saturday, visiting the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Will keep you all posted!

Steve’s Back Yard - Click to View More