Many have wondered but, I am happy to report I am actually not
dead.  I went for a short stint in DC for the frameworks conf,
where I learned I need to spend some time building apps with ModelGlue,
and evaluating Spring so that I can make better use of ColdSpring.

My
flight back to portland made a stop in DFW.  My plane from DC was
delayed which put my connecting in jeapordy.  Now normally this is
not a big deal, its just a friday night, right?  I have all
weekend to try to make it home.  The problem with this scenario
was that I had to meet with the caravan at 4am the next morning
(Saturday) to head out on our week long camping/hunting trip in eastern
oregon.  So when I finally landed in portland at midnight, I was
anxious to hurry home.  I am new at this whole traveling thing and
i made a rookie mistake.  When I parked in long term parking, i
didnt write down which section I parked in.  So I spent the next
hour wandering around in the rain in the middle of the night looking
for my truck.  I thought i did remember, so about 10 minutes
before I found my truck I was starting to panic because I was pretty
sure it had been stolen.  However, after spending a couple minutes
thinking about how terrible that would be, it dawned on my that when I
parked i didn’t remember there being a fence a couple rows away. 
So I decided to expand my search and find look in the next
section.  My truck was just where I thought it was, in reference
to the next bus stop.  So I finally got home around 2 AM. 
After loading up the pickup with all the gear my wonderful wife had
gathered together, I had just enough time to lay down for a bit before
leaving to meet the caravan.

We made it on time, and had a great
trip.  I was dead on my feet for a coupld days but it all worked
out.  After a week back at work i am now ready to head out to
MAX.  I fly out tomorrow and I should be in town just in time for
the evening festivities.  i have met a lot of people over the last
year and i am so excited to see everyone at this event.  Beyond
that i am so impressed that around 12 people from my CFUG group are
also going to the conference.

I have my flickr account all set up
and i am fired up to be blogging and fireing of photos from the
event.  See you all there!