Lotusphere 2008 Report Day 0 - The Hoss has landed!

I got lucky today. Instead of flying through Atlanta on Delta, I had instead opted to fly the non-stop AirTran out of Akron-Canton. Which was a good thing. It appears Atlanta got nailed with a snowstorm today and when they get hit, they get hit hard. The south is never use to an old fashion snow storm and when it gets some, they basically shut down the town. As I walked into the airport, I saw that all of the Delta flights and one of the AirTran flights to Atlanta had already been cancelled at 6 A.M. (And speaking of AirTran, I have to say that they are probably the most customer oriented carrier out there that I had ever flown on. Nice people, they actually talk to you and don't treat you like crap. The flight staff is genuinely nice during the flight. The way flying on an airline should be.) Sorry, the ADD kicked in there, back to the story. So the flight down was not too eventful, except for the fact that we had 170 MPH headwinds and the Captain had told it that it would take about 30 extra minutes. So after landing and gathering the luggage, it was off to the Dolphin to check in. I was lucky enough to get a room with a balcony that overlooks the beach area where the party is tomorrow.Ended up getting the "white" badge which means that I go to the second OGS. Wanted to go to the first one, but oh well. With all the checking in and other things done, the next item on the list was shopping at Downtown Disney which wasn't too much of a hassle except the fact that I forgot the camera in the room so I couldn't get any pics while the sun was out.
After getting back from shopping, I had set my sights on the next important task, meeting up with everyone over at the Boardwalk. Got to the brewery and hooked up with Phil, Bruce, Gayle, Chris, Sean and many others for food and drink! Before we knew it, it was 6 PM and we headed down to the ESPN through a heavy downpour. Phil took a spill and took a layer or two of skin off his arm. But I reminded him that chicks do dig scars ;-)
I did come to the realization about something tonight. I'm a lightweight. By 8:00 PM, I was ready to call it a night. Full belly from a really good Reuben and only 3 hours of sleep last night will do that to ya. So, back to the room I came. Tomorrow begins the fun. I best get some sleep.

Oh, one more thing we realized over dinner. Check out the back of the card in your pouch. A new addition this year. RFID. Does that mean that our management can check up on us over the web to make sure that we are actually in sessions?