ISTE 2010

Since I returned home last July from NECC (now called ISTE), Amy kept asking me if I was going to go to ISTE 2010 this year. My wife is wonderful, and very supportive of my interests, but I kept telling her no, I was not going because it cost too much. Finally, in April, she said, “You should go. I am going to look up the airfare and book it.”

I immediately tried to run through all recent events in my head to figure out when I had behaved so badly that she would want to be rid of me for 5 days. Did I offend the neighbors? Act obnoxious in front of her mother? I was worried, I do these things so often that I had plenty of examples to choose from.

Then I realized that Amy was angling for a Christmas time New York City trip. It all made perfect sense! Yes, I am terribly obnoxious, but Amy just wants to go on a trip with the ladies. So I dove right in and made the arrangements.

Forgetting that I was being kicked out of the house, I began to relive last year’s experience and plot my return to the biggest educational technology conference this year. Last year, I made no plans and had an awesome time. So this year, I thought I would try to do a better job of planning and see if I could squeeze in more fun. Is it possible to have more fun than last year?

I do have concerns about the money involved with this little trip, but I have a theory that if I attack the SWAG, I should be able to break even in pens and free stuff I collect from the conference. Right? Last year I cleared 12 T-shirts and 20 lbs. of random stuff. Maybe they will be Christmas and birthday gifts for friends and family. Who doesn’t want a blaze orange Promethean T-shirt? They are awesome! At the very least my kids will get a kick out of wading through all the stuff I bring back.

I must be on mailing lists now, and this combined with my Twitter account have helped me to line up meals and beverages day and night at ISTE. It feels kind of strange to have people I don’t know feed me and give me free drinks. However, this year I am going to see if I can live off of the generosity of companies that supply my school with the hardware and software that keeps me in a constant state of confusion. It does seem only fair.

Last year at NECC, I had a plan to meet many of the people I follow on Twitter, know from Second Life, or people who write the blogs I read. I decided this year that was just way too creepy. It felt like I was studying to become a stalker, and with the anti-stalking laws that are out now (and for good reason), it is probably something that I should avoid doing. Besides, being approached by an enthusiastic stranger is more of a deal breaker than a relationship builder.

I am a little upset that I waited so long to get my reservations because I think I ruined my chance at getting a roommate. Maybe that is a good thing because Amy says I snore. I think she is making that up, but it makes me uncomfortable to think that I would subject someone else to that noise. I think my wife has earned the right to enjoy that noise all by herself. On the plus side, having a room alone with two big beds allows me to live my dream and create “Mega-Bed” by shoving the two beds together I can make one ginormous bed. I don’t plan to spend a lot of time in the room but seeing one big bed when I walk in the room will make me laugh.

I am very excited about my upcoming trip to Denver, but I am trying to downplay it so my children don’t start calling me a geek again.

Tomorrow I will begin to pack, but I am leaving the Star Trek shirt at home.

Free Day

This morning I woke with a mission. It was going to be a beautiful day and I wanted out of the house. My wife Amy, and our daughter Savannah, were leaving for Richmond to have a girl’s day at my step mom’s house. The only problem was that I had no plan. Amy is the planner of the family and left up to me the day could be full of nothing. Today must be different. And cheap.

As a family we have committed to go to Disney World this summer. This is going to be a real stretch for us financially, but we are doing it because it is going to be fun (WARNING- link is NSFW or sensitive ears, audio file from Vacation, one of favorite lines of all time. I just couldn’t resist.). To prepare for our family vacation we have agreed to cut back on spending.

After Amy hit the road she called back to say that “The Point,” a local radio station, was giving away Busch Gardens tickets in the Haygood area. Bingo! The mission was set. Swag hunt.

First stop was some small auto shop in the Haygood area. Sam and Calvin both a got a cool hat from NAPA auto parts, I got a free oil change coupon, a $5 Starbucks gift card and the kids got to play inside a inflatable dragon. Not too bad. I was feeling pretty good about the mission.

Even though I wanted a free day I knew we would need cash. We swung by the bank (free lollipops) to pick up cash, because you really must have some on you to do anything, before heading to Friendly’s. I remembered that I had saved free Sundae cards from Friendly’s since last year. Greenbrier’s Friendly’s was happy to hand us our free ice cream, and the Doss men ate lunch.

Over lunch Sam, Calvin and I discussed the next leg of free stuff hunt. I mentioned that there was the Azalea Parade at Town Point Park. The boys were game. After finishing up the Ice cream we were off to Norfolk. Only one problem, no parade. We were about 6 hours too early.

Luckily for us there was swag to be had! In the park there were little stands for all of these different countries. I felt like a pirate raiding each table for writing pens, lapel pens, and maps of far away lands that I will never get to visit. The kids were slow to pick up on the procedure of swooping in and grabbing anything that looks like it might be good, but when they spotted the candy bowls, the game was on!

I made the mistake of sampling cheese from some foreign land where lederhosen is popular. As I bit down on the horrid little lump, my nose was over taken by the smell of moldy gym socks. I didn’t want to spit out the nasty cube of funk, for fear of starting some sort of international incident. So I swallowed it whole. Thank god I had practiced eating the worm in college.

Saved by my lightening quick ninja like swallowing reflexes, the trek continued on and I collected posters, little flags, key chains (Canada gave out bottle opener key chain), stickers, tattoos and kid’s coloring books. I had a bag to carry everything plus I had my cargo shorts. The amount of crap we collected is absolutely ridiculous.

I did have to purchase gas $30, one bottle of water $3, and pay for parking $1.50. Kind of an expensive free day, but my children learned an important life lesson. How to acquire a bunch of free stuff in table raids. When they get older and visit trade shows or conferences they will know exactly what to do.

The kids had fun but now I need to figure out what to do with all of this stuff. If you, or anyone you know, are planning to go to Athens anytime soon, you can borrow my guide book and map of Greece. I am keeping the Canada bottle opener key though.