As long as I pay AT&T, I don’t think it matters that I want to use my “unlimited” (5GB) iPhone data plan with my laptop. I pay them for Uverse TV/Internet, home phone and two iPhones. They get almost $350/month out of me. Really AT&T, would it be too much to ask you to just allow me to tether my iPhone via Bluetooth. I have done it before with an old Nokia phone so I know it’s possible on your network.

I am really looking forward to them being up. The putting up part, not so much.

I am still a little tired from the trip.

After making my connection in Dallas, I had a chance to fly over the new Texas Stadium home of the Cowboys. Now, while I do not currently cheer for them (still a Niners fan, sorry Mother), I was quite impressed with the structure. Very nice. I wanted to take a pic, but we were not allowed to turn on “approved electronic devices” on the plane at that time. Sorry, they only picture I have is my memory. That is not likely to make it onto the web anytime soon.  (but you can look at this guy’s pic instead.)

I did take this picture somewhere after leaving DC.

1. Some folks will have a hard time getting others at their institution to go along with the new change.
2. Getting an integrated product may be hard, but the benefits of updated and synced data can not be ignored (despite the problems mentioned in #1)
3. Despite my preference for open source products (read: MySQL, PostgreSQL), I like the move to a (mostly) standards compliant M$-SQL Server. It is much easier to become familiar with a system that you can read about and install on your workstation or laptop. This is my biggest complaint about UniData. It is hard to learn about since you have to use IBM manuals and Datatel does not offer data mappings on their site.
4. The move to a database-agnostic layer on the back-end is a great move. It will lead to options and eventual savings for the purchaser.

At the end of the day, the institution is looking for a good product and value for its investment. These types of conferences work to ensure that outcome by leveraging not only the company’s experience, but also the end-user’s invaluable ingenuity.

The opening speaker was John Powers, a motivational speaker from Chicago, now living in Wisconsin. He was truly funny and full of old school/traditional words of wisdom. He reminded me of my great-grandmother (Fina) and great-aunt (Cuca). Those women were wonderful and patient teachers. I really miss them both.

We were happy to be on the ground.

Apparently, this was a common occurrence for the weekend. In fact, some attendees did not have a chance to make the conference because of the weather. I hope everyone is fine. Traveling to a conference can be a nice break from work, but not if it takes a few years off your life.