o Sleeping Late

Missed (from what I've heard,) Carly's Monday video
speech.  I'm glad to hear the positive mention of the
HP e3000.  Also from what I hear, the parting shot by
Ann seemed to be a final attempt to quench the HP e3000.

o Tales From The Vendor Show

I spent most of my time at the vendors show.  Being
specifically tasked by my company's management to
check out "Reveal", I did so.  While their immediate
solution is to put an NT box on the side to
support the product.  I pointed out that I'm
becoming slightly sick and tired that every
enhancement to the HP e3000 requires an extra
box on the side.  I got the standard reply
that the software would increase the overhead
on the HP e3000.  Whilst I thought to myself,
"If everything added to the HP e3000 increases
the risk of increased overhead, that leaves
very little for the HP e3000 to do!  However
I was also provided the rumour that such a
concept was being worked on this latest
iteration of Reveal.

Note "Reveal" is being marketed by both O'pin Systems
AND M.B. Foster.

I got cornered for another half hour at the
QAD booth, an ERP application.  When asked
about MPE, the vendor openly said he did not
know what it was.  I pulled out the convention
Program Guide, turned to the "Monday at a
Glance" pages and showed the horizontal row
marked "MPE" right above the "HP-UX" row.
Aside from sparking the curiosity of the
vendor, I was informed his software works in
Chinese, and made a mental note in my offline
storage.  (China requires certain financial
documents be reported in Chinese, which my
current app cannot do.)

o Mid-Morning Eats.

Having remembered the "Texas Weiner" gut-stop
on 13th Streen from Sunday, I dropped in.  I
ordered two-eggs over-easy, potatoes, toast,
and coffee for a total of $3.15.  Inside the
convention center, just the coffee can cost
you $2.00.  What a bargain.  Meanwhile the
owner came came in to relieve the breakfast
cook.  I noticed he spoke Greek.  Visions
of John Belushi on Saturday Night Live saying
"Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, chip, chip, no
Pepsi" danced in my head.  It was the perfect
greasy spoon dive.

o Afternoon Eats

The official Interex lunch was buffet style.
Sponsored by called "Remedy Inc." (I think.)
I'm used to the sit down affair where the
plate is served.  There was also no guest
speaker like at other cons, I missed that.
But since it was also in the same big room
as the Vendor Show it was rather noisy and
probably would not have worked.

o Seminar of Note.

"MPE System Config" by Joe Diercks was
refreshing, even if you're an experienced
System Manager on the HP e3000.  You are
reminded of things sometimes forgotten
until needed.  If you're a new HP e3000
System Manager, it would have been
worth the effort to attend.  Given the
lack of formal HP e3000 training on the
market I'm surprised at the low attendee
turnout.

o More Vendor Shenanigans

Interex had a flyer that offered to win
a Kayak or 1 of 5 Jornada handheld PCs
if you joined Interex.  (Why I would want
a Kayak, I don't know.)  Anyway I went
over and asked "Whether that implied that
if I'm already an Interex member, I'm not
eligible to win a Kayak?"

o Evening drinks

I listened for the most part to a Vendor
talk about the absence of Carly and her
being at New York for "SuperDome".
Supposedly it's going to be a big surprise,
although why it isn't being announced at
HPWorld makes no sense to me.  The excuse
that all the press is in New York seems
rather lame.

I saw Chuck Shimada en passant, knowing
his love for Chinese food, asked if he'd
found any?  He replied that he was looking
for a good Philly Cheese Steak.

o Coming Up

"How many vendor goodies did we all get?"

Tracy Johnson
Justin Thyme Productions
Sponsors Empire on the Web at:
http://198.190.228.6/