by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2005/07/07 18:50 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/07/07/436643.aspx
Ok, I went back to the party, but could not find any of the people I knew among the 1000+ people milling about. I settled in to get a drink, maybe people watch a bit by the band, and figured I'd perhaps see somebody. Then, a bit behind me on to the left, I overhear someone doing that 'I think I am being quiet but instead am being loud and drunk' thing and asking the girl he was standing with "What, is he going to take his moped onto the dancefloor?" and starts guffawing.
I did perhaps turn a bit sharply at that, but he was a little too drunk to notice. She was mortified, though. I decided to leave, I had plenty to do back at the hotel room (not least of which was to do a couple of intro slides for keyboard BoF that I hope some people show up for!), and it did not look like anyone I knew would be coming by anytime soon. Better to leave without being a target for the drunk guy anymore.
I make my way as far as the hallway outside the party room and the girl who was so embarrassed catches up to me and apologizes -- "he is not usually this much of a jerk, or this much of a drunk," she says. "Oh, my name is Annette," she continues.
"It's ok Annette," I assure her. "I could not find any of the people I knew, so I was leaving anyway." She asks if I want to talk about it (though honestly she seemed a lot more upset than I felt, by that point). I tell her that I am okay and that she get back in to the party. She gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and tells me I am a good guy. I slink offscoot back to the Okura.
Probably the whole thing was not worthy of a kiss and a hug, but she might have just been a little drunk, too. Maybe a little out of place, since she was a total stranger. But I guess it was nice, in any case. Kind if sweet....
Tomorrow night is the Speakers' party, that might work out a little better (usually fewer insults, and I know a bunch of them).
Plenty to do though, including a little work (a few engine tweaks to do!). And those slides, but they are not really needed. I mean, Julie Lerman did not have any for her BoFs and if you ask me those rocked. Plus, the day I cannot talk impromptu about the good and not-as-good about keyboards is when I'll be saying 'stick a fork in me; I am done.' So maybe I will not bother.
Anyway, I went to see 1.5 of Kim's talks today -- VLDB Availability and Recovery Strategies for SQL Server 2005 and the last half of Understanding Transaction Isolation in SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. I would have seen more but the Ask the Experts booth required my presence there. And today was actually the first day I felt useful there, with people finding us (and me!) and asking questions. So that was very cool (and of course I have a few customer questions to f/u on when I am back in Redmond, as well!).
And I went to see another BoF -- one on whether user group memberships should be paid or free. The attendees were: one guy who was thinking of starting a group who was not in one now, one guy who was in a small group that had no dues, one who had a huge user group, and me (a technical VP of PNWADG, where dues are there, but non-members get to come to the meetings and all, too). Oh yeah, and Pauline (I mentioned her before) who came in late. Not a whole lot to work with, but they did their best....
Ok, then I went to the party, along with Pauline, which brings everyone up to date (see the prior post to get the story after that!). Maybe I will tell the story in order next time!
I was going to give the set list at Paradiso but I can't find where I wrote it down. I hate that I do not remember stuff like that anymore -- I can remember the set list of a Kinks show from 1993. One that (ironically enough) Aimee Mann opened for. Heck, I think I even remember most of her set from that show and I did not even know who she was til the end -- Put Me On Top, Will She Just Fall Down, It Could Have Been Anyone, and a jarring version of Voices Carry which made me realize that this was the spikey-haired blonde from MTV a decade before.
Maybe it is Early Onset ALZ.
Grrr, let me try here: Dear John, Goodbye Caroline, Going Through the Motions, Humpty Dumpty, Save Me, Wise Up, Video, Driving Sideways, She Really Wants You, King of the Jailhouse, One, and then she closed on Deathly. I know there was no Ray, or Susan, or Invisible Ink, or It's Not. But there are at least five songs I am missing there. Where did I put that piece of paper? :-(
I'll talk about the keynote tomorrow....
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# Julie Lerman on 7 Jul 2005 7:38 PM:
# Nick on 7 Jul 2005 8:03 PM:
# Michael S. Kaplan on 7 Jul 2005 10:47 PM:
# Michael S. Kaplan on 7 Jul 2005 11:03 PM: