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From the ispcon-2006 department:

Home of the Orioles

My company is making its presence known at ISPCON 2006 in Baltimore. This is gonna be a fun week! Let’s jump back in time a little:

SATURDAY
* Helped BCB move some stuff to his new place in the morning. Cool digs;
* Read some book on the couch for part of the afternoon (read: procrastinating from packing and stuff);
* Later in the evening (when my conscience couldn’t take the slacking off anymore), cleaned up around the house, packed bags and gathered stuff for the trip;

SUNDAY
* Wayne, a cow orker with whom I’m traveling, shows up at 06h30 as per The Plan. A quick stop for some breakfast for Wayne (some fruit from my fridge was sufficient for me) and we’re underway;
* 8 hours and one friendly state trooper later (”I’m gonna do you a favour; I’m cutting you loose”), we’re in Baltimore. Wayne has now officially used up all his lucky breaks so apparently I get to the driving on the way back d:)
* We went down by the harbor to find a place that will give us beer and food (in that order);
* In the evening I went into Silver Spring, MD to visit with my relatives. We chatted, went out for dinner, then chatted some more. I had a good time;

I gotta run now to get some breakfast and then head over to the convention center. Hopefully I’ll find some time to add quick little entries like this (yes, for me this is a quick post d:) along the way, and then maybe a more detailed highlights post later on when I can get my brain worked up. Of course now I’ve said it it’s officially on the list of Things That Norm Says He’ll Do on the Blog But Never Does.

UPDATE: MONDAY
Ok, it’s Tuesday night. We just got back from the bar, so this should be an interesting update. Anyways, on with what happened on Monday:

* Woke up at 07h00. Turned over and went back to sleep;
* Repeat above step 2x for every 1/2 hour;
* Wandered around Baltimore Harbor area; saw The Home of the Orioles, though from what we’ve seen on the TV so far it should be Home of the Place Where Boston Red Sox Cream the Orioles;
* Wandered around the Harbor; took some crappy photos in the overcast / drizzly weather;
* Drove down to the D.C. area; parked under the International Trade Center after an identity check, bomb material scan and strip search and overall good security;
* Wandered down toward The Mall. Walked around the White House oh, say, eight times. Wandered down toward the Monument but couldn’t get tickets to the top (all sold out for the day);
* Wandered down toward the Lincoln Memorial and then over to the Korean Memorial;
* Wandered halfway down the reflecting pool before we discovered that the Vietnam Memorial is on the left/North side near the Lincoln Memorial. By this time the need for beer is strong;
* Wandered back up the reflecting pool and Lincoln again, then past the Vietnam Memorial Wall;
* Went in search of beer; asked GPS where is the nearest Cafe; it pointed us north 3 blocks;
* GPS apparently pointed us to the basement of a hotel near GW University;
* Asked a local where we might find some beer;
* Roughly wandered in the general direction given us by aforementioned local until I said something to the effect of, “I believe we will find beer over by those tables with umbrellas”;
* Found beer and food. My quesadillas were good; Wayne’s sandwich was for crap;
* Wandered over to Smithsonian Museums; took many pictures; too much stuff to do in D.C.; so little time;
* Drove back to Baltimore;
* With sore feet from our D.C. journeys, we foolishly decided to seek out the nearest place for food and beers; DSX. Never again; apparently DSX is for Dis SuX. Aside from the crappy laminated particle board tables, the TVs that Wayne describes as “Thermal Imaging”, and the mediocre food, the final cap for the DSX experience was this big ol’ cockroach we discovered on the way out;

MONDAY
* Woke up around 07h00; shut off alarm; turned over;
* Woke up again at 09h00; commenced leisurely awakening procedures;
* Brought our booth over to the convention centre; got our passes and did the setup;
* Found lunch at nearby Chef Paolino’s pizza place;
* Wandered back to hotel to relax until Exhibit Hall opening time / change into RPS clothes;
* Met Derek over at the convention centre, finished the booth setup and started accepting visitors;
* Chatted with a bunch of people and captured a few leads in the three exhibit hall hours of the opening day;
* Wandered to a nearby Kinko’s to make copies of material that we were clearly going to run out of;
* Wandered down to the harbor area for dinner and beers;
* Wandered over to the Wharf Rat pub for more beers; watched the Orioles lose 5-6 against the Red Sox. Highlight: chatting with a cute blonde chick who ordered Sapphire gin & tonics for her and her friend;
* Wandered back to the hotel; wrote this updated post and went to bed.

I leave you with this picture from my hotel window on Sunday night:

The Clock Strikes Ten

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