Photos

Pre Conference: Tuesday, February 26

On board the plane from DFW to Miami. I felt like a sardine, but at least I was a sardine with a window seat.

Coming in to land in Miami, FL. Yes, I know it looks like I flew in Dilbert's "Duct Tape Class", but I assure you that Microsoft is not that stingy. I was actually velcro'ed to the wing.

After I checked in at the hotel (the InterContinental Miami Airport Hotel), members of the Program Committee started to filter in. I ran into Andy Phelps and Yousef Pisan in the lobby and persuaded them into a sushi dinner at a nearby restaurant. We took a taxi there and back. Getting a taxi back was a bit problematic, but we made it eventually by snagging a taxi that dropped somebody else off. I don't know what happened to the taxi we ordered... maybe that was it but I ceased to care.

Pre Conference: Wednesday, February 27

The next day the Program Committee were treated to a day out at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. This is the house from the back.

The gardens were paved with this incredible limestone made from fossilized coral.

The back of it looked like something from the Barber of Seville. Why does it make me think of Bugs Bunny? The high point of this part of the trip was seeing a family of puffer fish (four in all) grazing on the seaweed of the edge of the dock, with three pipefish and a brief appearance by a manatee. Cool. Billionares' houses bore me (if you've seen one, you've seen them all), but give me wildlife any day.

Speaking of wildlife, here are some of the Program Committee on the back steps of the mansion. Left to right, Andy Phelps (texting), Yousef Pisan (foreground, either texting or examining his fingernails), Michael Young (with the cool shades), Ken Perlin (waving), Tiffany Barnes' husband (examining his feet and feeling around in both pockets), Tiffany Barnes (also examining the contents of her pocket for something she obviously couldn't fit into her small black pocketbook, seen here).

The PC leaves to explore the gardens.

My out-of-focus attempt to be artistic with a spiral staircase.

The PC waits for the bus back to the hotel. Notice Tiffany's husband is now holding the bag. Isn't that just a dandy metaphor for marriage? Not that my wife (on the right) is known to overpack, but at least I've been married for long enough to insist that if she packs it, she carries it.

Dinner at the Versailles Restaurant, with excellent Cuban cuisine. The plantain chips were just to die for.

The Program Committee and some Microsoft employees at Versailles. Left-to-right are Jamie Cromack (Microsoft), Kent Foster (Microsoft), John Nordlinger (Microsoft), Bruce Gooch, Steve Feiner, on the right-hand side of the table the only person I can recognize is the motion-blurred Ken Perlin being noisy again (that's an in-joke).

Conference Day 1: Thursday, February 28

Thursday, February 28 we took a bus out to the ship, the Celebrity Century.

Getting closer.

There's the ship. It has an X on the funnel. Is this an accident I wonder? Or merely a coincidence?

Almost immediately we started attending sessions.

At dinner we were served by a waiter named Emo. Not everybody thinks this is amusing, but some of us do. My daughter claims that the key difference between Emos and Goths is that Goths want to hurt other people, whereas Emos want to hurt themselves.

Conference Day 2: Friday, February 29

Yes, it's Leap Day. The boat docks at Key West. I take a tram (a bunch of carts pulled by a tractor) to town with a bunch of Microsoft ADEs. In 30 minutes we managed to ride into town, eat lunch, and ride back. Waiting in line for the tram a bunch of drunk female cruisers (not associated with the conference) are convinced that I'm a rock star going incognito. I denied it, but I suppose I shouldn't have. That's probably my 15 minutes of fame, and I screwed it up. I attend conference sessions for the rest of the day in penance.

Conference Day 3: Saturday, March 1

The ship docks in Cozumel. My wife has booked a tour. We see scale models of interesting things. The most interesting thing for me is this Godzilla-like lizard.

It's quite surreal having the guide towering over these models.

Somebody must have too much time on his hands, or a government grant.

Then we move onto a beachside resort, whose name I can't remember right now. There's lots of lizards here too. A green one.

A yellow one.

Then we snorkel. The water's about 15 feet deep. I pick up rocks from the bottom We are surrounded by fish ranging from tiny up to about 2 feet in length. I get bitten on the finger by one of the big ones. It leaves teeth marks. I decide that it is payback for all of the sushi I've eaten over the years and decide to let it go. My daughter also gets bitten, but punches out the fish. I guess she's more Goth than Emo.

The beach is pleasantly deserted.

It seems to be a good place to catch a nap after all the frenetic activity.

On the way back to the ship we must wend our way through endless Mexican-themed, tourist-oriented commercialism.

At the dock we find that the cruise ship docked next to ours is the Grandeur of the Seas, which was the ship we rode on for the first Annual Microsoft Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education in 2006. Small world.

Ship Canyon.

Conference Day 4: Sunday, March 2

More sessions. I'm getting tired of this 8am-to-midnight attending sessions thing. It does give us time to go onshore during the day, but I'm getting too old for this.

The Program Committee debriefing lunch, where we gripe about what went wrong and what we'd do better next time.

Meanwhile, we continue to chug through the Gulf of Mexico.

My wife and me, a little backlit.

The closing reception for the conference.

Post Conference: Monday, March 3

We're up at an unholy hour of the morning to prepare for docking.

Cruising into Miami at sunrise.

Did I say sunrise? Gack.

I guess everybody must be exhausted from 4 days of 8am to midnight conference presentations and functions.

Except for these guys. I wonder what they're queuing up for? Maybe they want to take turns biting me in return for all the birds I've eaten in gravy. Mindful of Alfred Hitchcock's experience on the matter, I offered a sincere apology instead, which appears to suffice.

Leaving the State Room. At least that's what they call it. I'd call it a pokey little cabin, but that's just me. Of course, I only spent a few hours there, and most of those sleeping, so a real State Room would have been a waste of money.

Back at DFW, where the baggage briefly goes astray to an unannounced baggage conveyor. But eventually we get it, and head out into the North Texas weather, which has coincidentally turned to freezing and it is starting to snow. Bummer.