Protected: Seaside Park Beach Pics
SysAdmin Day 2010 in NYC
If you detected a hint of apprehension in my last post you weren't mislead. So let the record be set straight - SysAdmin Day 2010 was a blast. My feeling toward the SysAdmin meet up is similar to the feeling after having installed a program upgrade for a user and having it be accepted with open arms and minimal follow-up support. Especially when in the back of your mind you were expecting the follow-up to be an afternoon of "Well the old program did x, y, and z like a, b, and c" with a few "Are you sure you can't leave the old program installed?" mixed in for cheer. Dilbert sums up an accurate representation in the following clip of such a situation.
But I digress, SysAdmin Day was awesome on so many levels. First, it was encouraging to meet such a diverse group of admins from departmental IT techies to gurus at Google and Etsy. Regardless of system size and complexity everyone was open to talking shop or kicking back and meeting new people. There were numerous people from all over the world who attended the meetup because they were in the city for DebConf (I had no idea Perl was still so, alive! *wink*). Second, it helped foster the desire to give back to the community and made me just a little more thankful for some of the open source projects I've come to love and depend on. Last, well, I may not frequent bars but The Ginger Man was great (a large part due to the company). My only regret was not being able to hear better above the crowd noise and having only a couple short hours to know a bit more about my fellow IT workers.
Uncovering My Geekness – SysAdmin Meetup Here I Come
It's Friday night and in just under 2 hours I'll be at the Standalone Sysadmin's SysAdmin Meetup in NYC. Just to prove I'm conforming to the east coast and being proud of my geek roots this entry is being typed up from a Starbucks near NY Penn Station. It's a long way from where I was 2 years ago at this time and I feel like a little fish in a big pond... one that has lots of concrete, pigeons, and other fish just trying to make their own way.
A Day in the Life of a Techie – Post Las Vegas
Ideas, dreams, and long things-to-do lists are bumping around in my head. Most of my ambition for the past month has been preparing for the 2010 Revelation Software User's Conference in Las Vegas. There is a nice article along with some pictures on the Revelation.com website.
There are more pictures and stitched panorama images waiting for posting to my blog. As one of the designated photographers I took the opportunity to try out some of those "advanced" features on my camera. The end result, nice pictures, most of the pictures of me with my eye's closed (I sense the flash), and some pretty cool shots. What's even better, I figured out how useful the correct metering setting is (i.e. 1/4 of the pictures were not the best 
.
So much could and should be said about the Revelation Conference and Las Vegas but it comes down to this - you should have been there for yourself.
After spending almost 5 days in the desert my nose was able to smell the color green when I landed in New Jersey. What a rich and wonderful smell.
But just for the record - I came back from Vegas just as chaste, a little wiser, and immensely thankful.
2010 Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival Panorama Pictures
The 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. was amazing. The trees were prime and the weather was beautiful. Sporadic breezes would send a cascade of white petals falling through the air. The crowd under the trees made it impossible to take any close multi-picture panorama images. All of the images were taken free hand from a distance and then stitched.
Below are several stitched panorama images. Click on the image to view it full size in a new window.
Wide panorama of cherry blossoms looking north from Kutz Bridge.
West view of tidal basin with cherry blossoms at either edge of panorama.
JFK Grave in Arlington Cemetery During 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival.
There are a couple more pictures to stitch and post, check back later in the week to see them.
Tips I Learned For The New York City Subway
Just a couple tidbits I learned while trying to figure out the New York Subway.
- Referring to a particular line by its color instead of the alpha or numerical designation you immediately let every local around you know that you have no idea what you are doing.
- Know the last stop on the line you want to take.
- Uptown and downtown, get it straight. North, South, East, and West mean nothing. Streets and Avenues.
- Local trains can help you get to the next stop if your train hasn't arrived.
- Express trains that follow the same path but have a different designation can be used as long as there is a all trains stop along the same path where you can catch the local. Otherwise, you'll pass your stop and end up back tracking.
- Streets can have west and east designations. Sections of Manhattan could be "X West Xth Street" or "X East Xth Street". 5th Ave is the east/west divider.
Good Luck!
NYC To Do List
In no particular order, with no rhyme or reason:
- See the World Trade Center site - DONE
- Ride the subway - DONE
- Ride a crowded subway car - DONE
- Get lost in the subway - DONE
- Meet a nice New Yorker - DONE
- Go to the Good Morning America Show
- See Times Square -DONE
- Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art - DONE (want to go back)
- Visit the Cloister Gardens
- Go to the top of the Empire State Building - DONE
- Visit Rockefeller Center
- Get dressed up and have a fancy dinner with friends
- Visit the Botanical Gardens
- Go to Bernie Madoff's office in the Lipstick Building - N.A. Lost Interest
- Take the Ferry
- See the Statue of Liberty (close up)
- Take the NYC city tour bus
- Meet someone famous - KINDA DONE (LJ)
- Don't get mugged - DONE
- Sail remote control boats in central park
- Bike the 6 mile loop around central park
- Goto the IBM tower
- Walk Brooklyn Bridge - DONE
- Get off the street. Maybe eat at 230 Fifth
- Take circle line tour (Boat ferry?)
- Find Google Headquarters in NYC
- Goto Times Square Church on Sunday
- Ride in the first subway car and look down the tunnel - DONE
- Be NYC tour guide - DONE
- Ride Staten Island Ferry - DONE
- Check out used book stores
- Buy a vest from the garment district
- Go to FAO Schwarz - DONE
More to follow as they come to mind....
07/14/10 Revised. Added and scratched 29, 30, 33. Added 31 and 32
05/11/10 Revised. Added and scratched 28.
04/25/10 Revised. Added 22-28, Scratched off 14,18, 10
08/05/09 Revised
01/25/09 Initial post
Day Tripping in NYC
First real day trip to New York. Rather spontaneous but MA and I took the train to Penn Station and then hopped the subway downtown. We didn't have an agenda and just went with the flow. Here are a couple pics. More on my Facebook page.
I also started a Things To See and Do List
