Hello from Orlando!

I'm sitting here in a hands-on lab for system troubleshooting practices. Seems that they've planned it well since the system wasn't prepared for the lab and we're troubleshooting the problems with it. Cable problem. Stuff not set up. Kind of fun - more than I'd probably learn from the lab otherwise. The purpose of this lab is to teach you the process of troubleshooting, not the tools to troubleshoot with. Why did I sign up for this? I was in support for 4 years and know how to troubleshoot. I was the one who told him that he probably had a problem with the cable - and dammit, I was right! Oh well. He also told us how to access the internet while the systems being fixed up. So, here I am!

Orlando has been ok so far. Yesterday was a bit hellish though. Silly me, I offered to be bumped from my flight so I could get a free ticket (thinking Vegas in December). The next flight was at 4 PM, so I would still be in by 6:30 PM and all set for the conference today. Ha ha - what was I thinking. The first flight went out on time, but my new flight was delayed almost an hour. They were able to make time up on the way, but I was afraid that the shuttle to the hotel would stop running since it was only scheduled to run until 7 PM. Luckily, they extended it and I got to the hotel.

Now, if that was only the hotel I had reservations at, it would have been much better. :-) It seems that there are two Courtyard Marriotts at Lake Buena Vista, and I was booked at the other one about 5 miles away. Great. It might as well have been 500 miles away since I didn't have a rental car and the conference shuttle didn't run to that hotel. The desk guy was great and got my reservations cancelled at the other hotel, then made new ones at their site. I made sure to send my boss an email and let him know it was going to be $30 more a night. Hey - I tried to follow company policy and look where it got me. Damn corporate travel agents.

After an awesome dinner of cajun shimp pasta (yum yum!), I crashed. (Actually, I tried to get onto Full Tilt, but their "high speed" internet access sucks. It was timing out trying to find websites like google and aol.) I figured that since I actually had to look presentable today, I had to get up early. Like an hour before my usual time. I actually IRONED MY CLOTHES today! I thought hell was going to freeze over with that one. My clothes didn't have any burn marks, so I was happy.

I get to the conference by 8:15 AM (after the continental breakfast at the hotel) and start with the meetings. Yawn, for the most part. I've learned some cool things for work, and I definitely have plans running through my brain. After a pretty good lunch (lots of veggies and roast pork tenderloin), I've ended up here. Drinking my Diet Pepsis (for caffeine to stay awake) and messing around on the internet. Of course, I thought of you, my dear reader. (Yeah, I know there's only one of you out there, and I appreciate it Al, but I already married you.)

More to come, I'm sure. I don't plan on doing much tonight except study. I have a 3 hour span tomorrow where I should be able to take my certification test. Wish me luck - I need to pass this! (If not, I'll be spending my own money to take it again on Thursday. I need that money for Vegas!) Yeah, that, and there aren't many cool people here to hang out with. I'm surrounded by Geeks! Usually that's not a bad thing, but I haven't found the cool ones yet. I'm going to keep looking...