TechEd Day 1

So, back in Barcelona for another teched!

Arrived late last night to a warm city and despite the 30mins delay on departure an on-schedule landing. Quickly out (5th bag!) and caught the last Microsoft ot Placa Catalunya. Quick tube trip and 250yd walk to the hotel and ahhhh. Rest!

An easy morning and got on Commnet as usual (well done Cheesy and co) to find most of my chosen sessions do not have ppt slides yet :-(. For me the slides give a great heads up on true content and the fewer the better. So my ability to discriminate has been taken away. See how it goes.

Lunch upstairs (less busy and better views) with a brit now in Redmond in the architecture world. Simon's speaking tomorrow and being impressed i'll try to catch it. We conversed widely on relocation, UK/US differences, redundancies, Hawai'i, Vancouver, the sub-prime problem, the penalties of choice (who needs a choice of 80 olives?) and much more.

So to the keynote. A return (in part) to the 1994 buzz of Channel 4's Big Breakfast with a VJ and 2 graffiti artists doing their thing and gently fillong the hall with the odour of spray can paint (sweet, acidic (like acid drops) yet almost OK).
The as expected "this is were we are with dev tools" and a couple of punky demos geared to World of Warcraft. A lonf queue out and then a couple of sessions on sql express and office business apps. Good but not inspiring - microsoft is so big a company these dyas that everything seems to have a party line and the presentations suffer methinks.

After the exhibtion meet and greet with booze (not for me - water!), a few nibbles and a wander rounf. Frenzied queues a couple of times as GASP free gifts were handed out. People queue and grab without evaluating - just how many free baseball hats do you need? I quite like waiting, having a look, and then handing back- the looks you get! Looked at a good book for mobile sql on my phonr - I must put my CD db onto the phone so I know what I've got when out of the house- but did not buy now as my bag was too full and heavy already. Will return Wed for it.

Off back to hotel by tram/metro. At the metro I fell foul of the BCN "sometimes left, sometimes right" ticket barrier, and laughed about it with and then fell in with a couple of US nurses on hols; Donna and Ivana (Czech). Donna spotted my Hawai'ian Honu earring and we discussed holidays and so on. I missed my stop and as we parted I gave them my card to email about what to do in the UK on hols.

Wandered back to the hotel with sense of direction absolutely perfect looking out for the gangs of villains Microsoft warned us of. None tonight. Some water from these small supermarkets that are here on street corners late at night in Barcelona and done.