Ali's Space

Its a very strange time for me.  I have been working in technology for so long and consider myself an advanced user and even and enthusiast (but not a SUPER enthusiast)!  I work at Microsoft and have been used to "eating our own dog-food" and even had fun testing some of the newest devices.  In my life, I  been known to be considered a social butterfly and I don't find it insulting. 

I remember when e-mail first came around, it saved me many hours a day waiting by the fax machine for a document that I needed.  I even worked at one of the first national ISPs when the fastest speed was 14.4 and we used to IM via a shell account.  Its amazing to me how fast the times have changed and just how far technology has come. 

I have small kids and we often talk about the "old" days, which I think is funny because I am not that old, but to see the world through the eyes of children is so great... Anyway, we were talking about how the first VCRs to have remote controls, were remotes that had CABLES and had to be plugged in and unrolled to actually work.  I explained to my son that the first mobile phones were large and strong enough to hammer nails.  My son is 7 and he can not even imagine a time before cable TV (at least 10 kids  channels to choose from PLUS all of the On Demand options to choose from.  He often asks me how we were able to learn things if our parents didn't know if we did not have the Internet... he quickly tunes out when I tell him we used books called encyclopedias.  He often ends these conversations with I am glad I live now as he likes electronics (a true male - even this early).   I actually get "cool" points from my kids as they enjoy checking out my web-page to see pictures of himself and his sister.    When I started my SPACE, it was so long ago and I really only used it to update pictures of my kids so the grandparents and family could see them.   I thought I was ahead of the time.. I had my own web page and did not have to code to maintain it.  :-)  

Somehow I was able to manage to stay away from the MySpace craze when it hit.  It was not really hard for me to stay away as I did not have a spare moment in my day to do anything but work or take care of my family.  As I developed more time, I created a page, but mostly so I could view what was going on as my sister and other close friends had pages.  I logged on, checked them out and have barely been back on since then (seriously just once or twice since).  Then I changed teams at MS and my new team and the "older" part of society was using FaceBook, so I created and have been trying to keep up on it.   I truly love seeing what other people are up to and checking out new pictures.  What I have a hard time keeping up with is all of the fun applications, game, quizzes, etc.   Every time, I now go to my page, I am amazed at how many cool things people are discovering and inviting me to participate in.  I am trying to figure it out and really use it to stay connected with friends and family.  At Mix08, I attended some panels that discussed the future of social networks, etc. and am excited about some of the new possibilities they discussed, so hopefully it will get easier for me.  Time to run, but I think I will try to write more often.  

So I am sorry tehat I was not able to blog for the last couple of days.  Thanks to those of you who are playing our scavenger hunt.  We did have our first winner on day one (very late on day one), but we still have one more prize package!! 

If you are trying to fill out the questions concerning my first TechEd, I thought I would spell it out here to help make it easier :)

My very first TechEd was 2001 in Dallas - I was the overall event owner.  In 2003, I moved into content management at TecEd and was the Windows, Security and Management track owner. 

Stop by to say hi!

--Ali

I arrived in Florida on Thursday to visit one of my best friends who moved here several years ago.  My timing always seems to match one of the tropical storms and this year was no exception as I was here for the arrival of TS Barry.  I actually enjoy the storms out here (as long as they stay storms) as I like the thunder, lightning, etc.   

Now I am here at the event.  This year the Security TLC is actually the color we claim it to be :) 

I personally love yellow and I am very excited about eh feeling in our area as it is bright and fun!  Mark (the co-track owner) and I are sitting at the Security Track Info counter getting ready for the event to kick off.  One might wonder what we do to get ready...

1. We attend on-site required meetings
2. We check in and make sure all things look the way they should
3. We then distribute all of the SWAG and collateral to the booths
4. We get our info counter ready for our promotion
5. We start drinking "hurrincanes" (just kidding)
6. We meet with all of our staff and temp staff and get ready and on the same page.

Actually, right now we are sitting in one of those meetings and we are ready.

Tomorrow we have an added chalk talk being presented by Michael Howard during the FIRST session.  Michael will be handing out signed copies of his latest book "Writing Secure Code for Windows Vista" plus one or two additional bonus prizes.  Stop by to get your copy! 

Gotta run for now....

Ali