We went to North Carolina this weekend today to pick up my mother-in-law. It was great for the kids to get to spend time one set of grandparents. It was a 4 hour drive with 2 children, 2-years and 1 year old, so McDonald's definitely saw an increase in revenue for long car trips. My wife booked a room at Renaissance Charlotte Suites. What a nice place. I was expecting something on the order of a Days' Inn with an outdoor pool that had been green for months, and showers and toilets to match. Not only was it huge, but the rooms were impeccably clean. I even let my 1-year old crawl around on the carpet without freaking out.
I didn't take my laptop with me this weekend. Monday will be the 11 years dating anniversary for my wife and I, so I decided to spend some quality time with her. No laptop, but I did take along 2 geek books, "Eric Meyers on CSS" (excellent review forthcoming) and Don Box' "Essential .NET Volume 1" (just to re-read parts that I hadn't caught before). I honestly barely read much of Box' book, I enjoyed Meyers' so much.
After a weekend without the computer, I got online just after putting the kids to bed. I read through some blog entries first, and saw a post (referenced entry missed, I apologize) regarding Scott Hanselman's Tips for a Successful MSFT Presentation. I have done quite a few presentations to user groups, and speech class in college taught us early that even a catastrophic laptop failure is still no excuse for a boring presentaiton. It was just nice to see someone else re-iterate the obvious: not only must the show go on, but 1000+ people are staring at you wondering why you are the speaker and not them. It is up to you to show them why you are credible.
After I got through with blogs, I jumped over to Outlook to check email. I found a really cool email:
Thanks for you rkind words about Google Hacks! I'mglad you enjoyed the book. Best, Tara, researchbuzz.com
I just posted that review late Friday, and it is certainly not a quick search to find my posting via Google. This is a testament to the fact that Tara knows her stuff.
Gotta go spend some quality time with the wife and catch up on Alias, via TiVo.