TechEd Orlando: Day 5

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2005/06/10 19:15 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/06/10/428145.aspx


The last day started with an eerie feeling -- without the Expo the lights seemed a little dimmer, and with the bulk of the people recovering from the party, the aisles between the cabanas seemed a little emptier. I saw some old friends but many I knew were already gone. It feels very much a cat is on the roof kind of situation, with fate telling me that soon it would all be over, and that I would have to deal with that sad truth....

On the way over (before I even made it to the Convention Center), a friend confided to me that she was really sad, since it was almost over....

Maybe I should have gone to the party after all.

The Dr. International clinic was mostly quiet, though a few people did come by and there were several cool conversations to be had. Including two people who read this blog. I guess I do have fans!

I then scooted around the community cabana area a bit, and even scooted Teresa over to one of the track cabanas, as she sat sidesaddle. Since I am a Microsoft employee, I said it was all about 'Where do you want to go today?' but Julie told Teresa not to be fooled, it was really all about 'Your potential, our passion.'

Clearly I get no respect. :-)

But I did get to do my talk, and no heads did explode. People seemed happy and the questions asked were good ones, clearly by people who found the material revelant (why else would they stay? <grin>). It was a lot of fun though, and the only glitch was a technical one (I had some demos I had done on a VPC image that would not load, so I had to quickly shuffle to another machine that did not have the demos. Hopefully no one will judge it to harshly!).

I even pointed them to that String.Compare is for sissies post and talked a bit about getting  SQL Server, Windows, and the Common Language Runtime all speaking the same language.

On the way out someone came up to me and asked if I was the same Michael Kaplan who used to post about replication in the newsgroups. The world keeps getting smaller!

All in all a great conference with great times, great customer contacts, and a whole lot of cool stuff to think about.

Tonight, I will go out to dinner with a friend and maybe hang out. My flight does not leave until noon so I can be leisurely this evening....


# Luke on 10 Jun 2005 7:49 PM:

You mentioned fans - I read your blog every day, so you could count me as a fan I guess. I don't want to get all gushy - but I like your writing style and just reading your postings has helped me greatly on several technical fronts.

# Joe Fallon on 10 Jun 2005 9:41 PM:

Michael,
I recently found your blog. I am now one of your ghost readers. I have been a fan for over a decade. The reason people are "confused" about your identity is the extra "p" you added to your URL, etc.

You were world famous as Michka.
Just who the heck is Michkap? <g>

It was great meeting you in person a couple of years ago at the Access dinner at the MVP summit. At that time you walked with a cane. Now you are blogging about scootering everywhere. I am very sorry to hear that.

It seems like you are having a great time at MS and really love working with some many smart and motivated people. The main thing I took away from the MVP summit was how passionate the MS employees are about the technology. They really want to do a great job. You fit very nicely into this group.

Take care,
Joe

# Michael S. Kaplan on 10 Jun 2005 10:29 PM:

Luke -- welcome! And glad to be of help....

Hey Joe, I remember you. :-) I still sign newsgroup posts with michka and it is still my nickname and my other email address. But the name was taken here, so the only choices were michkap or mkaplan. I still pronounce it meesh-kah-p rather than mish-kap, some stubborn belief that I am a michka at heart....

# Suzanne E McCarthy on 11 Jun 2005 2:34 PM:

That last comment helped - I knew you as Michka also and realized you were the same person but then I thought Michael, Mike, Michka hmmm.

Internet does cause identity problems. I am Suzanne or Suz in email but I have recently added E to my blog since otherwise I have a very common name.

# Michael S. Kaplan on 12 Jun 2005 10:58 PM:

Hey Suzanne -- now you have me curious. Do I know you? :-)

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