Geeky fun is fun!
Happiness is...
- knowing the contract for my shiny new job is on it's way
- getting to know new people
- doing some real networking *gasp* and making some worthwhile contacts *double gasp*
- loving a piece of computer software in a seriously geeky way
So, Brenda and I set out from Liverpool at about 8.30am yesterday and arrived in High Wycomb at about 12.30pm, just in time for lunch. It poured with rain for most of the journey and in some places the visibility was zilch. The conference organisers still went ahead with the barbie, though :D Actually, it was raining on and off by then so the food didn't get too soggy. Our rooms were clean and comfortable - not as spacious as Thornton Hall, but fine for just crashing out in.
Yesterday, I went to the sessions about the new functionality - the Excel map-writing table and the stencil - and fell in love all over again. It's going to be so much easier to get people to write things out in Excel and I can see ways we could customise the stencil, even though we can't do too much with the appearance due to the 'corporate style'.
Then we had a 'getting to know you' type session - apparently, if you get over 50 people in a room, there's a 99% chance at least two of them will share a birthday. There were about 70 of us and at least three pairs did share birthdays - and I was in one of them! So, I got to share a bottle of bubbly with my new-found twin, Malcolm. Then Brenda and I did a case study session that was recorded on film *dies* - for which we received a bottle of bubbly each! So, I donated the first bottle to Malcolm, vowing to open mine when I got my new contract.
After that, we just had time for a wash and brush-up before dinner. I thought I was looking pretty darned drop-dead gorgeous when I left my room - my peacock-green eyeshadow makes my eyes look green, too - but every time I looked in a mirror after that, I thought I looked bloody awful. Can't decide whether make-up is my friend or not *sigh* During the 'drinks reception' Brenda and I fell into conversation with Graham who seemed nice and stayed on my table for dinner.
I ended up telling my life-story, which I haven't really done for ages. I forget how impressed people are by me having kids so young and still getting my degree and being the main bread-winner and now doing my Masters. And still being with my husband after 23 years. To me, it's just my life *shrug* I am impressed that we're still together, though, when you think about all the things that seemed to be against us - but that's no less a credit to Colin than it is to me. Sat up talking to the people from Cambridge University who are using Triaster and UPK (which are the programmes I'm going to be running as part of my new job) and Campus Solutions (which is the new student record system our Uni is going for) and got an invite to go down and see how they're using them.
Went to bed at 3am, which was a mistake, really - I was running on API team away-day time, where the second day is much less work than the first one. But today was at least as much work, if not more. Still, got all the freebies I could lay my hands on and had a nice breakfast. The morning session included a run down of how some of the companies at the conference have implemented Triaster - gave me lots of ideas although I was really spaced out from not having much sleep. After lunch, there was an interactive session on how we've found working with the product so far, which was also useful.
Made sure I had contact details for Graham, Malcolm and Linda before I left. Go, go Networking Rosa!
Left about 3.30pm and got home about 7.30pm, tired but happy. It's good to be home :D But my contract hasn't turned up, yet *sulks*
- knowing the contract for my shiny new job is on it's way
- getting to know new people
- doing some real networking *gasp* and making some worthwhile contacts *double gasp*
- loving a piece of computer software in a seriously geeky way
So, Brenda and I set out from Liverpool at about 8.30am yesterday and arrived in High Wycomb at about 12.30pm, just in time for lunch. It poured with rain for most of the journey and in some places the visibility was zilch. The conference organisers still went ahead with the barbie, though :D Actually, it was raining on and off by then so the food didn't get too soggy. Our rooms were clean and comfortable - not as spacious as Thornton Hall, but fine for just crashing out in.
Yesterday, I went to the sessions about the new functionality - the Excel map-writing table and the stencil - and fell in love all over again. It's going to be so much easier to get people to write things out in Excel and I can see ways we could customise the stencil, even though we can't do too much with the appearance due to the 'corporate style'.
Then we had a 'getting to know you' type session - apparently, if you get over 50 people in a room, there's a 99% chance at least two of them will share a birthday. There were about 70 of us and at least three pairs did share birthdays - and I was in one of them! So, I got to share a bottle of bubbly with my new-found twin, Malcolm. Then Brenda and I did a case study session that was recorded on film *dies* - for which we received a bottle of bubbly each! So, I donated the first bottle to Malcolm, vowing to open mine when I got my new contract.
After that, we just had time for a wash and brush-up before dinner. I thought I was looking pretty darned drop-dead gorgeous when I left my room - my peacock-green eyeshadow makes my eyes look green, too - but every time I looked in a mirror after that, I thought I looked bloody awful. Can't decide whether make-up is my friend or not *sigh* During the 'drinks reception' Brenda and I fell into conversation with Graham who seemed nice and stayed on my table for dinner.
I ended up telling my life-story, which I haven't really done for ages. I forget how impressed people are by me having kids so young and still getting my degree and being the main bread-winner and now doing my Masters. And still being with my husband after 23 years. To me, it's just my life *shrug* I am impressed that we're still together, though, when you think about all the things that seemed to be against us - but that's no less a credit to Colin than it is to me. Sat up talking to the people from Cambridge University who are using Triaster and UPK (which are the programmes I'm going to be running as part of my new job) and Campus Solutions (which is the new student record system our Uni is going for) and got an invite to go down and see how they're using them.
Went to bed at 3am, which was a mistake, really - I was running on API team away-day time, where the second day is much less work than the first one. But today was at least as much work, if not more. Still, got all the freebies I could lay my hands on and had a nice breakfast. The morning session included a run down of how some of the companies at the conference have implemented Triaster - gave me lots of ideas although I was really spaced out from not having much sleep. After lunch, there was an interactive session on how we've found working with the product so far, which was also useful.
Made sure I had contact details for Graham, Malcolm and Linda before I left. Go, go Networking Rosa!
Left about 3.30pm and got home about 7.30pm, tired but happy. It's good to be home :D But my contract hasn't turned up, yet *sulks*