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Man, I love this time of year! There’s beginning to be a nip in the air, football is starting up, the days are shortening. I’m sure that many people lament the end of summer, but I relish it. Fall is my time of year. Everything getting cold and the foilage dying really appeal to my inner goth I guess

🙂

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been this way. I’ve always felt more alive during this period of the year (despite the increase in my allergies.) Waiting at the train station, drinking my coffee and drinking in the cool morning air. I can’t help but smile.

I’ve got some friends going through tough times right now, and I want to share my enthusiasm with them. Things WILL be okay. Things work out in the end. And when they do, you’ll be sitting on your deck, petting your dogs and enjoying a fine cigar. It’s going to happen.

Welcome to fall. Welcome to my time of year!

Just because I hate ending the week on such a downer note, here is a picture of my co-worker Jason. Today was his last day, and in celebration I bought him a going away donut!

We’ve gone to Huck Finn Restaurant for months and have marvelled at the size of these things. Today, finally, Jason had one. Goodbye dude, nice working with ya!

I posted a thread last week in the certification forums asking if there would be a Certified Lotus Professional discount for Lotusphere this year? The silence from official people in the forum has been deafening. That said, James Roysdon wrote to the registrar about this and got the following response:

We are still offering discounts this year. What’s new this year is – ALL discounts are based on dates, and are no longer unique to particular sub-groups. Please refer to the table posted at www.ibm.com/lotus/lotusphere for further details. We encourage all of our loyal Lotusphere constituents to register early for the best price.

So, if I go early bird this year and get the BEST discount, it’s $1695. Which is exactly $500 $300 more than I paid last year. I’m not fond of this decision at all. Why do this discount for years and then drop it? This was one of the only tangible benefits I’ve gotten from my gazillion Notes certifications… [sigh]

EDIT: Ed is trying to help here, and I commented about the pricing on Rocky’s blog here. Thanks guys!
EDIT 2: My figures were off and Rod Stauffer let me know in the comments here and over at Rocky’s. Thanks Rod!

This site is for all you Chi-Town folks that love a good beef, dog, or chili! I’m telling Bigs because he WILL use the site, and I’m telling Mike just to rub it in since he lives in the middle of nowhere now. Muwahahahahah!

Behold www.greasefreak.com!!!

And in keeping with the theme, here’s my lunch from yesterday. Mmmmmm… Al’s Beef!

I know I’ve been copping out a little on Show-n-Tell Thursdays, but hopefully my latest article in Intranet Journal will “show and tell” you a little bit about what is coming up in version 7.0.2 of Notes and Domino.

Once again, for the real die-hards, you probably know all this info, but for the casual folks, hopefully it’ll bring you up to speed. Either way, I’m personally looking foward to this release. Look for more in-depth articles on the new features in coming months!

Since Lotusphere registration has officially begun, what caught my eye was the pricing. Early bird is the same as the high prices last year I believe…

Our pricing scheme is easy: The earlier you register, the more you save.

• Now until October 13, the fee is $1695. This is the lowest it will be for all members of the Lotus community. The early bird saves money!
• On October 14, the fee will go up to $1895.
• And on December 9, the standard conference fee of $2095 will apply.

In year’s past we also got a $500 discount for being Lotus certified. No mention of that anywhere yet… I’ve got a forum post out there to see if it’s coming. The thing I don’t like is the “This is the lowest it will be for ALL MEMBERS of the Lotus community.” Grrrrrrr….

The hotel prices seem the same or cheaper this year though, so that shouldn’t be bad… Time to go talk to the boss 🙂

Today at LinuxWorld Expo Lotus will announce Sametime server for Linux!  Check later for my article about it on IntranetJournal!

EDIT:  Full story can be found here:  IBM’s Sametime IM Expands Linux Support

Well…looks like I’ll be attending another funeral here soon. My wife’s grandmother has probably less than a week to live. She’s being transported here today, and will either finish her days in a local hospice or possibly our house.

Why our house? Well, it used to be her’s. We own my wife’s grandparents house. It was built by her grandfather, and her Dad and uncles grew up here. Her grandfather even died here (in our bedroom to be exact.) The house has been in the family nearly 60 years at this point, and it only seems fitting that Anna may return here to pass on.

Needless to say, it’s not a good situation, and I’m not looking forward to another death around here so quickly, especially when it might happen in my office. But, Anna hasn’t been doing well for some time, so maybe this will bring some peace. I feel really bad for my father-in-law who seems to be taking it hard, and I know that Jen is being a real trooper, but probably not doing so well on the inside.

In a couple weeks we’re supposed to visit one of my best friends and his wife and kid. Well since this may throw a wrench into things, I wanted to let him know. Well, his wife just found out that her mother only has two weeks to live due to cancer. So the trip is called off, and they have their own things to deal with.

[sigh] Not a good few weeks… Hopefully this is the end of the proverbial trio of bad things…

Okay, I know this is a little belated, but I wanted to let you all know that you should go see Clerks II. Well, unless you’re easily offended that is. And if you are, I imagine you aren’t reading this blog.

Anyway, I’m a Kevin Smith fanboy, and my wife really isn’t. We both LOVED the movie. It was an absolute riot, and the scene where Elias explains his sexual habits with his girlfriend to Randall had both of us crying with laughter. I think Randall’s expressions while listening to the explanation may be one of the funniest reactions I’ve ever seen to on-screen dialog.

Also, if you have EVER worked fast food, you have to check it out. There are some very familiar and very funny subtle things going on at Mooby’s, the McDonald’s clone that they work at. One of the things I got a real chuckle out of was their slogan. It wasn’t “I’m lovin’ it” it was “I’m eatin’ it.” Do yourself a favor and go see it, you won’t be disappointed.

Oh and Tim, I love you man, just had to reiterate it after seeing this flick 🙂