This coming October I’m really excited to be a part of the SAS Dataflux Ideas Conference!  Lots of training, networking and hopefully sunshine.  It’s in Hollywood Florida, outside of Fort Lauderdale.  Staying at the Westin Diplomat.  The best part is that because I am presenting, my trip is paid for!

Here’s the hotel (notice location next to beautiful blue ocean)

Kev is taking some time off to join me – I guess he has car contacts in Florida?  He’ll have 3 days to scour the state for parts, and 3 evenings for romance with the wife.

Anybody want a few teenagers for a few days?

One of the themes at the TRMA http://www.trmacanada.com/About.aspx conference this week… Social Media. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Blogging, text mining. Is text mining an invasion of privacy? I think if you put it on the net, your expectation of privacy is unreasonable.  My team did some hiring recently and actually checked out Facebook for more info on an applicant.  Lose the lip pierce before your interview, hmmmm?   Suck it up Buttercup – can’t have it all and post it too.  

Our social event was a Jays game.  Ever been in one of those executive suites? 

 W-o-w. 

Private bar, catered yummies, our own bathroom and a pool table in case (snort) the game gets boring.  Baseball is much more fun to play than it is to watch.  The Jays lost a few minutes after we left to catch a train home… oh well.   The luxury was wonderful, and you can’t beat the networking opportunity.  Drank pop.  There is safety (and career longevity) in sobriety.

I joined the office hockey playoff pool.  Its fun to be included in the trash talk, and to have an actual idea of what they are talking about.  If you can’t beat em, join em!  So now I find myself subscribing to TSN so I can watch the Washington/Montreal game.  Extra profit for Bell TV, so I suppose this might be a work expense.  (NOT!)  If you know me, you would find it wierd that I am not cheering for the Canadiens … NO… my patriotism went out the window with the 20 bucks I invested in the pool.   Go Caps Go!  Who?