My travel filled year is ending on a biggie.
 The day after I get back from Admin2008,
I will be heading to the Philippines until Christmas working on a customer
site.  The project looks interesting, and I have never been to that
region before.  Compared to some of the guys in the bubble, I don’t
travel globally much, so will be happy to take advice on the region if
you have been there.  Feel free to comment or drop me a line.

This leads to another offer.  Since
I will be there full time (its not like I can pop home!), I will be available
to meet up if any readers are based in the area.  Is there a user
group?  Any Notes houses want to meet up?  If you are interested,
let me know and I’m sure we could sort something as soon as I get settled
in.

Sitting in Dusseldorf Airport now, waiting
for a flight to Heathrow and then to Belfast.  I had not been to Admincamp
in 2 years, and the event has
matured and grown very well.  Rudi and the gang have managed to put
together a deeply technical, fun conference with people from various parts
of Europe, in English and German.  Smart scheduling, excellent food,
and a free bar (for those that could use it – I was not too well) lead
to excellent networking opportunities.  Sticking to an excellent venue,
near airports and train stations made the event easily commutable.  Rudi
covers all expenses for speakers, and cannot offer to do enough to help
us all out.  Any requests we made were actioned upon instantly.  A
good variety of young and old people, from networking specialists to business
decision makers, all there, all interacting in a fun atmosphere.  Rudi
has managed to pull off the correct mix of ILUG type fun, with a paid-for
event.  It has become the dark horse of the European conferences,
and I expect to see it grow in numbers and frequency in the next years.
 Job very well done.

Some points:

• Was great to meet Bill, Andrew, Gab
  and all the other gang.  As much as that is good, meeting new people
  is always great.

• Food was excellent, beer was (apparently)
  excellent

• Greg Engels "Presentation Karaoke"
  game is hilarious and much harder then it looks.  

• DAOS has everyone interested.  I
  can see us having to hold customers back from rolling the feature out

• Teamstudio, as ever, are one of the
  best sponsors in a European event – non intrusive, passive, interesting.

Bill and I are just prepping (yea…) to
present "Admin Worst Practices".  Actually in conversation,
we think this is the last time before that elephant is finally dead.  Turn
out at the event is excellent, with lots of new (noticeably younger) faces
in the audience.  Always a good thing to see. Even nicer is the fact
that the development version of this camp (Entwicklercamp) is much larger
then the admin one.  

Tomorrow I’m back at work (although its
a public holiday in Ireland) and will spend most of the day en route to
Admincamp.
 Most of the speakers/delegates are there already, and it is lining
up to be its usual focused event.  The following week, I will be attending
DNUG
for the first time in many years.
 The following week, Admin2008
in Amsterdam.  If you see
me at any of the above, be sure to say hello.

I have a few blog posts to put out aswell,
continuing on the technical side of 802, and I’m sure there will be the
usual antics that will make it to Flickr.  So, before an insane few
weeks, I’m gonna take a book and a bottle of wine and absorb both.

Made me laugh out loud.  Thanks Eileen.

How I really … REALLY wish I could do without this product.

In response to a few questions.  Yep
- got behind the stick of a plane for the first time in 10 years today.
  The current economic climate does not lend itself to "fecking
off for flying lessons" (average cost of lessons in Northern Ireland
is 100Stg per hour) but I wanted to give it a go again.  Since I am
near an airfield and the PPL was always something I wanted to do, I just
had to try it.  So a Cessna
152 (2 seater training plane really)
for an hour.  Great fun…  I was terrible and had forgotten
everything but the instructor from Ulster
Flying School was patient and
forgiving.  Anyways.. here is a picture of the plane that surprisingly
didn’t crash (but my first circuit landing was harsh!).

Yes, like the
ND7 one, its a tough exam.

Before I disappear, I was interviewed in
advance of the Admin2008
conference in Amsterdam a few
days ago.  Its available for download from here.
 One or two admin tips in there and me going on.. and on… and on…
for 20 minutes or so.

Taking a week off guys, before Admincamp,
DNUG, Admin2008 and Lotusphere prep.  Expect little or nothing at
all for the next week.

P.