BUILD 2012

Daddy took me along on his most recent trip to Redmond, WA to the Microsoft BUILD conference. Since I am a police officer Lego man, I wanted to make sure Daddy was safe while he was gone and also to explore the world outside our house in Nashville, TN.

The plane took a long time. We had to take two airplanes in order to get there. One plane stopped in Los Angeles, CA and then another one went the rest of the way to Seattle.

Once we got to the Microsoft campus we registered for our badge and then we eventually checked into the hotel. They gave us the above red BUILD badge just for this occasion.

Each morning we would meet at the coffee shop in the hotel before heading off to the conference. I'd try to get a cup of fruit and get something health to drink. As you can see in the above picture, I am surrounded by yummy looking fruit.

 The temperature in the Seattle area was consistently around 55F and raining pretty much all week long. The above is a picture of what it looked like outside our hotel early in the morning.

The above picture is a really long line trying to get into the main keynote (a fancy name for an important class). It is a good thing Daddy was with me otherwise I might have gotten lost.

Microsoft provided a lot of complimentary umbrellas for people to share when walking between buildings to attend their next class.

Most nights we had plans with various people at Microsoft. The above picture has Joshua Allen, Grant Skinner, and Rey Bango.

You can also see Rey Bango in the above picture making an 8 sign with his hands to represent the new Windows 8 software that Microsoft released on the computer.

As we were getting food one day on the Microsoft campus we saw a huge pig king, so Daddy and I stopped for a picture with him. 

One of the gifts that Microsoft gave all of the attendees (a fancy word for students) was the above Surface with Windows RT. I have been enjoying playing with it and I think you all will enjoy it as well.

One thing about conferences that are interesting is that there are lines everywhere. It is almost like the lines we saw at Holiday World, but much longer. The above line was for the men's bathroom!

The above picture is of Jonathan Sampson and Daddy on their computers. They worked a lot throughout the day and night to make sure the program that Mike showed during his session (fancy word for class) went really well. There was one night where they were programming until 2:30am and had to then wake up at 6:00am to get started again.

It was somewhat a challenge for Daddy and I to eat within our guidelines, but every once in a while we were pleasantly surprised. The above picture was of some fish, green beans, and quinoa salad.

The above picture is of Mike Hostetler speaking during his session and he is about to show off the code and programs that Daddy has been working on for the last several weeks.

Once the talk was over we were able to relax and the pressure was much less. The conference was very well done and there were lots of really great talks that we went to. We met with many different people for lunch, had meetings with people that wanted Daddy's company to them with projects, and we were able to chat with many of the speakers from the conference.

Daddy and I miss you all very much and we are about to head back to the airport and start our journey back home. We look forward to hearing all about what you've been doing while we've been gone. Daddy says that he loves you all!

See you soon,

Police Officer Lego Man

DevLink 2012

Turquoise Turtle let me go with Daddy to DevLink this year. My name is Luigi the Lego Man.

There are over 500 people at DevLink this year. 5 other people from Daddy's work came to DevLink as well, which is really special because he doesn't normally get to seem them.

On the left you can see me inside our hotel room with the Chattanooga Convention Center behind me out the window. The convention center is so big and has lots of meeting rooms for all the classes that take place.


By the time it got to bed I was pretty tired. Daddy stayed up pretty late talking with his friends an co-workers. He tucked me into bed and I slept well through the night.



On the morning of the first day Daddy ate a pretty healthy meal with fruits and eggs. He was going to give his first presentation soon and he likes to eat light before then. Daddy let me have a couple of pieces of fruit. He put hot sause on the eggs and that was a little too spicy for me, but I'm glad he likes it.



After all the sessions for the day a group of us walked downtown for dinner. Wow, it is such a beautiful place. There is a walking bridge we could cross and there was lots of neat things to see.



Once we got to the Hot Dog place it was amazing! As you can tell Daddy and I stuffed ourselves with fries and Hot Dogs. One of them was spicy and one was not. We were pretty satisfied after that.



Daddy and some others (Jim Cowart, Jonathan Creamer, and Jonathan Sampson) decided that instead of walking back that we would rent some bicycles and ride back to the hotel. We thought we could beat those that walked back, but it took us a while to figure out how to check them out. We had a great time riding around. Daddy took a video while we were riding and you can watch some of it in the below video.




As you can tell, we had a blast riding around and thankfully we were all safe!



The next day Daddy didn't have any classes to teach so he decided to have a heartier breakfast and this time have some BACON! I took a couple of pieces myself and ate them too ;)



Daddy and I were so glad that we could connect with you all on FaceTime while we were out of town. It was great to tuck you all into bed and chat with you for a while. We miss you so much and love you all a lot!



On the last day Daddy had one more class to teach. The air conditioning was broken so it was very hot in the room. The presentation seemed to go pretty well. Several people asked questions and some came up afterwards to talk with Daddy.



Daddy was also invited to speak on the closing keynote panel. He was very honored to be chosen to answer questions alongside and Douglas Crockford, Jim Cowart, Brian Hunter, and James Kovacs.



Now, Daddy and I also had a nice milkshake to share as well. As you can tell I almost dove right into the shake and took a swim!



As a speaker for DevLink they gave out huge chocolate bars. Daddy thought you all might like to help us eat it so we didn't open it up just yet, but this is what it looks like. We missed you all so much and look forward to getting home very soon!

jQuery San Francisco Conference 2012

Daddy and I headed to our second jQuery Conference located in San Francisco, California. That is a long way from our home in Nashville, Tennessee. Thankfully our plane trip was mostly comfortable and problem free.

The above picture is what it looks like inside an airplane. There are lots of people lined up in rows throughout the plane.

There are trays behind each seat that you can use to eat off o or place your computer. Daddy worked on the material for his talk most of the trip and then played a game on his iPad for a while.

I wonder how many toy animals are aboard the plane? I didn't see any others, but I wasn't looking very hard ;)

The above picture is the view from our hotel room! We were on the 22nd floor and the top floor was 40, wow. Our house only has 2 floors. Can you imagine how high in the air we were? If you look closely you can see the bay that goes to the Pacific Ocean. Can you find that on the map?

We stayed in the same room as Doug and Ralph. There wasn't a bed for us so we slept on the floor. It actually wasn't too bad. We placed 6 pillows and numerous blankets on the floor to make it more comfortable.

It was good to talk to you all on the phone the other day. We miss you all and look forward to coming home soon.

The above is a picture of Daddy during his talk. There were lots of people in the room watching. I would guess anywhere between 400 and 500 people, but I didn't could them all ;)

As you can see on the above list there were lots of other speakers at the conference too. In the above picture Daddy had finished his talk so he is feeling very relaxed at that point ;)

There are lots of lights that come on during the night. The above picture is what he city looks like after you all are in bed.

The airports are so big that many of them have trains you ride to get from one part of the airport to another, as seen in the above picture.

Once you get to a different part of the airport you still usually need to walk a lot to find the gate where tour plane will arrive so there are these really long walkways that move along the ground moving you from one place to the next. Daddy likes to walk on these pathways because he can go really fast!

We are getting close to home. It has been a long day. By the time we get home we will have traveled for 12 hours from the time we left our hotel early this morning. That is about 12 Sesame Streets long or 24 Curious George shows!

We miss you all very much and we look forward to seeing you very soon! It sounds like you all have been having a good time. Daddy and I want to hear all about it when we get home See you in the morning!

Love,

Turquoise the Turtle and Daddy

Attendee Party

Tonight after all the sessions there was an Attendee party at the CenturyLink baseball field. You can see a picture of it below behind Daddy and me.

The had a picture booth and I convinced Daddy to take a picture with me. You can see the special scarf that we got to stay warm in the cold... brrrr!

After it got dark the had fireworks shooting off in the sky... Yay!

I hope you all are doing well. Mommy sent me a picture of you all this morning with your matching Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. So very cute ;)

We miss you all very much!

Lots of Sessions

Today there were lots of sessions today that we attended. Some of the stuff is super secret which is kind of fun ;)

After the sessions Daddy and Dan played a couple games of chess. I tried to get involved in the game, but the chess pieces are so big and I felt surrounded. Thankfully Daddy won the first game so he saved me from those mean chess piece warriors!

We enjoyed seeing you all again last night. Seeing your smiling faces goes is a lot of joy. We miss you very much and look forward to coming home soon.

The MVP Summit Has Started

This morning we had a healthy breakfast of eggs and fruit. They also had a nice herbal tea that was refreshing.

We went to a session this morning and them headed to the Microsoft Regional Director luncheon, but unfortunately we got lost on the way. thankfully we finally found our way and had a good time meeting new people and catching up with those we've met before.

After the sessions Dan and I went out for sushi. There is a place close to the hotel that has a conveyor belt around the restaurant with sushi on it! Each plate has a color and is a different price. Hmm hmm it was good and thankfully I didn't see any turtle dishes ;)

Daddy and I really enjoyed seeing and talking to you all tonight on the iPad. Those were really cool looking airplanes that you got at the dentist!

We love you and miss you very much!

Seattle Here We Come

Daddy and I are off to Seattle, Washington again. This is my 2nd time and Daddy's 3rd time attending the MVP Summit.

We left really early this morning before you even woke up so we could get to the airport in time.

Our first flight is from Nashville, TN to Salt Lake City, UT and from there we take another airplane to Seattle, WA. Can you find those places on the map at home?

Dan Mohl is going to be our roommate while we are gone. I'll make sure Daddy takes more pictures to share with you all.

We miss you already. Take care of Mommy and obey her while we are away. Love you!