Last Week in Orlando
Hey Everyone! I figured I should post about my trip to Orlando last week which I have been meaning to do for the last couple days. So last week I was in Orlando to go to Microsoft's TechEd conference that my work sent me, Jason and another coworker to. I was there last Saturday through Friday. It is a huge yearly conference where Microsoft talks about what is new and has lectures, seminars and labs on pretty much all of Microsoft's software. There were over 10,000 attendees there which was crazy. Outside of the normal conference schedule which was pretty much 8 to 6 Mon - Friday there were other events in the evening.
So some highlights from the week:
· Went to the Groove club near Universal Studios Monday night for a Microsoft Jam Sessions event. It is a club with a stage up front where anyone can go up on stage and play Guitar, drums, sing... etc. So people would try to play songs that everyone knew. I played some percussion instruments for a little while.
· Went to dinner Tuesday with my cousin Mary who lives about 10 minutes away from Orlando.
· Went to a Microsoft's Influencer Party Wednesday night at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville near Universal Studios. It was limited to about 300 people but I was able to get in because I am awesome and have connections :-). Plus I am a TechNet Plus subscriber and on our Enterprise Agreement at work so they really couldn't say no either.
· Thursday evening Microsoft rented out the entire Islands of Adventure park in Universal Studios for all TechEd people from 7 to 11:30. It was crazy because it was just us there and everything was provided including food and drinks. Think about the situation of an Open bar at a wedding reception but to the 9th degree and that is what it was like. You could walk up anywhere and ask for anything. I do and don't want to know how much the evening cost.
· Friday afternoon our flight back was delayed 2 and half hours but I only list that as a highlight because the delay allowed us to see the Space Shuttle launch from the Airport. The launch was only about 40 to 50 miles away so we could see it from our Terminal and I took some pictures.
· Seeing many thousands of people all go to lunch in a huge area in the conference area
· Christopher Lloyd (Doc from Back to the Future) was a part of the Keynote speech Monday Morning. They even did a small Back to the Future video skit and drove a DeLorean on stage.
So overall it was a good week. I was glad to get back though. It was a very busy week and being in hotel for a week got old. Anyway I have a few pictures I may post somewhere later.
Cya!