So today is the official 1st day of DevCon. It was launched with a General Session where at Ben Forta among others from the Macromedia team spoke about the companies current products, their history, and some insight into the future.

I will post a few picutures here from the Day (it's not over yet), and give a more detailed recap when it's all over. I will also be posting all my DevCon photos to: http://www.allcoldfusion.com/devcon.cfm

So within hours of me leaving yesterday, my son (just turned one year old) picked up his stuffed Curious George and said, "Monkey". I can't beleive I missed him speaking for the 1st time! I am so proud that his 1st word was "Monkey" too. I love my son.

So I am in Florida now at DevCon 2002. They have a room with about 20 tables setup, and multiple Wi-Fi (wireless internet) access points setup. So I just sat down, booted up, and BLAM I had connection. I didn't even need to adjust my settings. That's how I am connected right now.

I spent the great part of yesterday traveling here. Once here I settling in my room. Walked around and explored what I could see of the conference area. I asked a half-dozen people who were at the conference booths about the wireless internet access room, and no one had a clue about it. One person told me that they didn't think it would even be available until Monday morning... I am extremely relieved that I didn't have to wait another day. Now I can IM with my wife.

So last night I walked from my hotel to the ESPN Club located here on the Disney Boardwalk. The place was about 65% Giants fans Vs. 35% Angels fans. I am not a huge sports fan in general. So instead of making any type of judgment about a team and deciding who I will root for, I just always root for the home town team. My whole life I have lived in Southern California, and even more specifically, Orange County. I work less than I mile from Edison Field. And the company I work for has a luxury box. Oh yea, I said this already, even recently. I forgot. So anyways... back to last night. Game 6 of the World Series. I was there rooting with all the Angels fans. And I was very glad the Angels won. The announcers were all like "and the Giants are only 9 defensive outs away from winning the world series", I think it was the same inning the Angels scored 3 runs and changed the game. Here's a picture:

It may sound stupid, but I can't sleep right now. I am all pumped up about leaving for Florida to attend this year's DevCon. I think I get like this every time I go on a trip. Usually it's the night before I leave that I can't sleep, but this time it's two nights before.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that my wife isn't going with me. Normally when I go on a trip, she goes. So I know that she is going to take care of packing the basic necessities of the trip. She is very thorough. So I tried for an hour or so to sleep, then I decided to just get out of bed and make a list of what I need to bring. It starts with "2-3 (Pairs of) Pants" and ends with "Master of Disaster labels for badge". But I realized I need to add some personal hygiene products to my list (I planned ahead and left room the page for write-in items).

Here's the background of the Master of Disaster labels: Every year while working at Price.com with Mike we would attend events like Comdex or Internet World. If anyone has never attended, the whole purpose is for the sponsors to sell you stuff. Or at least get your name on their list so they can contact you later about their products/services. We figured that we could be funny and track which convention produces the most junk mail at the same time. We would just give ourselves a unique Job Title when signing up, and when ever we got mail sent to "I CARRY THE BLACK PLAGUE", we knew it was from Mike from the '99 Internet World. And we could chuckle about it for months/years as the mail came in.

So... this year for the DevCon I put down Master of Disaster as my job title, and I actually got a call from a very nice person named Jennifer or something or other. And she said that "this year" no silly job titles were allowed. And that her boss wanted her to call me to get a different title for myself. I tried convincing her of how I was really the Master of Disaster at my work. My co-worker Joel even started to pick-up at what was going on and yelled out in the background, "Hey Master of Disaster can you come over here?", but that didn't help. So I decided that I would make labels of different sizes and bring them with me, and which ever one fits best to the badge I would place it on there myself. Who da man now? Huh?

This past weekend my son turned one year old. On Saturday we threw a little party at the park, and watched him devour a slice of cake, which upon finishing he cried outrageously because we wouldn't give him anymore.

Then yesterday we went over to my in-laws home and gave him even more cake, this time a huge piece so he could make a nice mess. He definitely experienced a sugar-high... and then a sugar-low.

We returned home and had our usual night of friends joining us and watching Alias and Max X. After our home cleared out my wife and I watched the "birth video" and re-lived the whole experience over again. It was great. It's amazing how much growth and development takes place in just one years time. He is walking now about 60% of the time, has twelve teeth, and will be getting his 1st haircut tomorrow (and he needs it).

So right now in life, I work for a pretty good company. I like my boss, and only have a few problems with the people I work with and what not. But that's another story. This story is about how my company has a box suite at Edison Field (where the Anaheim Angels play, and where games 1, 2 and possibly 6, and 7 of this year's World Series will be played).

Earlier this season I got to go to a game against the NY Yankees. All I can say is that it was a blast, the suite is stocked with all the food you can eat: Hot Dog, Nachos with more fixin' than just the standard cheese, popcorn, fresh fruit, peanuts, soda, etc...

So today there was a company drawing, where everyone's name was thrown in and a few lucky people were selected to go. The suite holds 16 people. Subtract the company owners and their families; there is only room for maybe 6 more people. Our company has over 80 employees (a guesstimate on my part), so having your name drawn is slim pickings.

Well, my name was chosen. Crazy huh? But there was a catch to the deal. Since I was the last of the names drawn, there was only room for one person. So if I wanted to go, I would be going by myself. No wife. No kid. No friend. Just me.

I was told that if I turned down the ticket I would be eligible for Game 6 tickets. I wouldn't automatically get the tickets, I would just be in the drawing next week. In the few seconds I had to contemplate this offer, I for some reason thought to myself, "OK, I will just win those tickets then". So I declined on the ticket.

Some may ask, "Dude! Why didn't you sell it?!" A quick look on eBay would show that I could get $500 - 1000+ for the ticket. Well, to be honest, I did think about that, but every thought ending with me getting fired. This is like a treasure to the people within the company. I have had people from other departments coming up and saying things like "Hey E, I heard you got in for tomorrow's game". So if I didn't show up, and then some drunk stranger is in my place, people would know it, and it's more than likely I would get canned, or just have my life made miserable.

To make the situation worse. Next Saturday, when Game 6 is on I will be in FLORIDA at the Macromedia DevCon. So even if I have my name drawn miraculously again, I will have to turn down the tickets. Life's crazy like that.

This morning before work, on my way out of the gym parking lot, the guy in the car before me apparently didn't have any cash to pay the parking attendant at the booth.

The line of cars trying to exit the parking lot started to grow, as the attendant lady was not going to let this guy get out without paying. Then I see the guy hand over 3 apples to the lady. She smiles, and pushed the button to raise the arm blocking the exit.

I think this can teach us all a invaluable lesson on life: Keep a basket of fresh fruit in your car.

Think about it... next time someone does something nice for you... throw them a banana.

So I am helping Alpha Test this Game Neverending. It's fun... And addicting.