Finally back, lost luggage and all. Good to be home.
HIGHLIGHTS: the view from my room (see attached pic), meeting Mike Lazaridis (see attached pic), sending Audit a picture of the swag bag, running into my Domino Admin at Disney Hollywood Studios (he was there on vacation with his family; what are the freakin' odds?!) and a few other things that I prolly should discuss.
LOWLIGHTS: Broken zipper on swag bag, lost luggage, meals that didn't cater to the diverse crowed.

Overall, a good educational WES.

People seen at WES 2009:
AlanM
pinjo
jletendre
knottyrope
canadiancrack
jibi
hdawg
jsanders
jules
and many many more.....

Hey Darth, glad you made it home - was good to see you. I can't believe you got a pic with Lazaridis - he completely blew me off when I asked for a pic with him. Said if he took a picture with me then everyone would want one. Pffffffttt!!

How was Universal and the House of Mouse?

And I was the one standing with Jules when she asked... I think he was actually slighting ME as the "everyone".

Anyway, He has too much hair, looks a like a baptist preacher from Alabama.

You do have that 'stalker' look, Joey. Maybe he had a point :razz:

I think the hair is actually a small animal. Looked a little like roadkill from Michigan's Upper Penninsula in January.

Looks like you had a good time, and a very nice view ;-)

He only had one of his entourage around him at the time and was heading from the conference floor past the escalators thru where the Admin Training was being held. Knowing I may never get another chance, I called him by name and he turned around. I thanked him for the developments in BlackBerry and for such a wonderful means of communication. (Yeah, suck up.) He read my badge and asked about where I was from, number of users, e-mail platform and how we use BBs. He was very nice, patient and personal. THEN I asked if I could have a picture. I got his handler to take it too!

And to make it better, I ran into him again on my way back from Universal Friday night. I was wearing the 10th anniversary of WES T-shirt. Mr. Lazaridis saw it and turned to somebody else in his party and asked, "How come we didn't get t-shirts?" They shrugged. I recommended, "Maybe you can call somebody at RIM. I'm sure they can hook you up." He laughed and replied, "That's pretty funny!" Very cool guy!

hahaha, great Story Darth, funny.

You think he ever get's pre-release devices to play with, if he can't get a Tshirt?

Funny story, Darth. I didn't figure he'd still be at the hotel on Friday (figured he'd leave after the main conference wrap up).

Lost luggage?
 

Well my luggage turned up in Orlando the day before I did. After cancelling my connection from DC to Orlando they threw me on a plane to Chicago to catch the later flight to MCO.

After 45 minutes stuck on the tarmac we were unloaded because of engine failure. Two hours later we were loaded onto another plane (after a tortuous re-issue of boarding passes). After another half an hour or so the dreaded 'is there a doctor on board?' call went out for some poor guy having some 'trouble'. About 90 minutes later he was carted off by the paramedics leaving us free to get to Chicago. I missed the last connection from there to MCO so I was doomed to spend a night at a hotel in Chicago.

The morning brought a little bit of cheer as I managed to get on the standby list for the first flight to Orlando. It's nerve wracking as you watch the number of people checked in go up and up and the number of available seats going down and down.

Finally, finally I get to Orlando around midday on Monday, find my luggage sitting there since god knows when and pick up the rental car.

I managed to make the last few hours of the first days BES5 training course and then continued to have one of the best weeks ever! 8-)

As for United I hope I don't ever have the misfortune to fly with them again but I will do all I can to get back to WES2010. (y)

After you left, I did some shopping, rode Bluto Bilge Rats and got soaked. Worse than Kali River Rapids. Walked around a bit more to dry out and went to the NASCAR cafe for an early dinner. Then caught the late afternoon showing of Star Trek. Cab ride back to the hotel and bumped into The Laz. Down to High Velocity for another dinner and watched hockey. And no... Shawnessey was NOT there that evening, dammmit! :x I was hoping she was.

Waterlogged
 

Hi Darth

I did the Bilge Rats too and ended up with a soaked 'Bold'. It took some drying out before it worked again... :?

Oops

Ha ha.. as AlanM can verify, I carry a Zip-Lock bag in my backpack just for rides such as that. (Kali Rapids) In went my personal cell, the BB, watch, and wallet. Wrapped the bag in a nice hotel towel and then put it all in the backpack. Mr. Backpack then went into the water-preventing center section.

Guess you learned the hard way!