The Eye of Kris

Once again I have neglected to update my blog during one of the best times to update a blog - while on a trip. I went to Orlando, Florida this week to attend (and speak at) the Business Objects 2006 International User Conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort.

Sunday was travel day, and although I had a morning flight, I was able to teach my Sunday School class and then go straight to the airport from there. The flight was pretty good, and even though I was one of the last people on the plane, I managed to get a front row seat (with extra leg room) because there was a couple sitting there with a young child (probably about 12 months old) and apparently no one wanted to sit next to a baby on the plane. The kid was pretty good, though, and I had my MP3 player just in case.

It was a little different flying this time because since I have joined the Middle Tennessee Ultralight Group, I've been learning about flight rules and landing patterns and such. As we took off and landed, I knew why we went the direction we did and what leg of the landing pattern we were in, etc. It made it a little more interesting for me.

My parents picked me up at the airport, along with my brother, Keith, and we went out for lunch before heading to the hotel. I immediately noticed that the Gaylord Palms is identical to the Gaylord Texan (where the conference was last year) except for the decor. That was a little disappointing, since I'm used to the Gaylord Opryland hotel here in Nashville, and assumed they would each be unique.

One thing that was unique, though, was that they had about a dozen alligators in the lobby area, along with a handful of turtles. They have public feeding times several days a week, but I didn't get to see any of that.

The conference was pretty good, and my presentation was well received. Having attended this particular conference several times over the past 6 years, I ran into several people I have met before. There were also a number of people from our local user group, and some consultants that I have worked with over the years.

The big conference party was at Islands of Adventure, where we had exclusive access to several of the rides and game areas, and that was a lot of fun. I managed to acquire a free guest pass for the party, so my brother Kevin came over and joined me. It would have been nice to have gotten some pictures at the park, but I didn't want to have to carry a camera around.

By Wednesday, I was pretty wiped out, and I had to leave the conference a couple of hours early in order to catch my flight home. The return flight wasn't quite as comfortable, and was about a half hour late leaving the airport, but I got to enjoy some great views and a beautiful sunset from my west-facing window seat. I took some pictures out the window but they are still on the camera (I'll update and post one later if they turn out well).

So, that's a short summary of my week. There are a lot of details left out, but that's all I have time to write at the moment.