Pb:J Ratio and Its Correlation To Age

As I was hurriedly making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, it occurred to me that there is a hitherto unexplored "golden ration" in our lives. In my statistical sampling of, well, one, I realized there's a direct correlation between one's age and how much peanut butter vs. jelly that goes into a PB&J.

When you're younger, it's all about the sweetness. The peanut butter mainly exists to glue the two pieces of bread together. So about a 1:3, even 1:4 ration? As you get older, you enjoy the flavor and texture of the peanut butter. Is this analogous to Stilton cheese and single malt scotch being adult's preferences? Plus, more PB makes for a sandwich that sticks with you longer (no pun intended).

Eventually you're up to the 3:1 or even 4:1 in favor of the peanut butter. Of course, it tapers off after that; you won't find many PB&Js with just a dash of jelly.

On whole wheat, mind you; I am an adult. But that doesn't extend to the PB - I'm still a Jif Chunky guy. I figure I can indulge myself in the little bit of added salt.

Technorati Tags: Peanut butter,PB&J

When will it sink home?

I'll know that expensive gas, and the impact of global warming, will have finally been accepted by the average North Texas suburban consumer when I no longer walk past at least one car sitting in a parking lot, windows up and engine idling, on a 70 degree sunny breezy day. I see this and think, "We're never going to turn it around in time."

Technorati Tags: Global warming,selfish idiots

Bellevue Denizen

Since joining Advaiya, I've been spending a fair amount of time in the Seattle area as I get ramped up with the company. Since they're based in Bellevue, I'm typically camped out somewhere nearby. This gives me a chance to check out how Bellevue has changed since I first came up here in 1989 to bicycle through North Cascades National Park.

Digression: Bellevue isn't in North Cascades National Park. It isn't anywhere near it; NCNP is about 4 1/2 hours north. Bellevue is an "east side" suburb, on the other side of Lake Washington. It's where my friend Craig lived when I first came up here. I introduced him and his friends to blue frozen margaritas. Oh, the stories...

Bellevue has become pretty hoighty-toighty since I was first here. This is synonymous with downtown and West Seattle-ites saying "<sniff> east side". The city bird, I think, has become the tower crane. There's no less than eight of them hovering over its small downtown as office building and (extremely expensive) condominiums are going up all over. Microsoft has a big presence here in a high-rise way; they have an office building whose cafe is on the top floor and commands a stunning view of Lake Washington and downtown.

I've been frequenting a restaurant here named the Tap House Grill, (tagline "Giving Beer The Respect It Deserves") a combination of good food and 150 beers on tap. Now there's a challenge I relish! It's nice to get back to the hotel from work and be able to walk wherever I want to go.

Technorati Tags: tap house grill,bellevue

DEC is a busy place

I get a great kick out of the fact that many of my fellow DEC attendees try to do a daily blog about the conference...and never get past the first day :). It's a really busy time, with sessions and events keeping you going from 7:45 to 11 or 12 or later. Much easier to just wait until the end!

Technorati Tags: DEC,DEC 2008

The First Annual Wook Lee IT Pro-Am Memorial Challenge

One of DEC's unique traditions, besides the ubiquitous rubber chickens*, is its annual Challenge.

Every year, Microsoft group program manager Stuart Kwan issues a challenge at the end of his keynote. This challenge was to Wook Lee of HP, who at the beginning of the challenge was HP's schema czar and directory architect. The challenge was typically to provide technical guidance of some aspect of Active Directory, but presented in an unusual manner...within 24 hours. Last year he presented secure authentication in the form of a Kermit the Frog karaoke sing-a-long, in Powerpoint, to the tune of The Rainbow Connection. And he did it remotely, by telephone.

This year, because Wook is in a different role at HP and HP IT won't let him attend, Stuart Kwan has altered the Challenge to be the "Wook Lee IT Pro-Am Memorial Challenge" ("Memorial" because Stuart declared humorously that Wook is just dead to him, because he couldn't attend either of two conferences). This evolution of the Challenge is now handled by volunteer committee, which I joined.

The Challenge is to talk about Active Directory forest recovery in the form of a movie poster. At least I think that's what it was, because we all only saw the Challenge once from Stuart's deck.

Our response was to create "Indiana Joe And the Forest Of Doom", a movie poster featuring:

• Joe Richards as Indiana Joe
• Dean Wells as Outa Ram
• Jorge de Almeida Pinto (aka Princess Jorge) as Willie Boot
• Stuart Kwan as Shortly Rounded
• Cameo appearances by Wook Lee and Guido Grillenmeier as the Phantoms

It was well received, hopefully setting a good standard for future Challenges.

 

*One of the speakers brought in 75 rubber chickens in his luggage from The Netherlands. Why Gil needed imported chickens I'll never know.

Technorati Tags: DEC,DEC2008,DEC 2008,rubber chicken,Wook Lee,Stuart Kwan,Dean Wells,Jorge de Almeida Pinto,Guido Grillenmeier,Pamela Dingle,DEC Challenge

DEC 2008, Chicago

I've spent the last few days up here in Chicago, at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Avenue, attending DEC (Directory Experts Conference) 2008.

It's unquestionably the premier conference for Microsoft directory and identity geeks. There are sessions that dive into directory topics deeper than you'll find anywhere.

DEC is a little bit of a different conference because, though it's expanded to nearly 1000 attendees, it retains its small conference feel and proudly has small conference traditions. Where else would you have

• Reverence for the recurring theme of rubber chickens
• An annual, and usually bizarre, challenge from a high level Microsoft program manager to a customer
• Over 100 Microsoft attendees, which is about a 1 to 7 ratio. This is the place where you almost have to avoid having lunch or 1:1 talks with Microsoft directory or identity service team members.

It's also the one time in the year you can be sure to catch up with a broad range of your fellow directory experts. The DS MVPs have a second chance a month or so later at the annual MVP Summit in Redmond, but for the many many really good and broad-ranging experts that aren't MVPs, this is the place. So, it's been nice doing the catch-up dance, especially as I've changed jobs and people are curious.

Technorati Tags: DEC,DEC 2008,DEC2008,Chicago,Microsoft,directory services,AD,rubber chicken