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I made it home late Friday night. Got a late start from KC and then an unfotunate meeting between a Saturn and a school bus on I-70 in downtown St. Louis created hovac with traffic long enough to turn this trip into something quite a bit longer than I expected it to be. No biggie, my wonderful wife was still awake when I rolled in at about 11:30PM and I got to the best part of any solo trip, coming home and sharing the details with my wife. 🙂

Random traveling thoughts:

Why are fast food workers in Montana so awful? Now, normally I wouldn’t pass judgement based on a bad experience but I spent 2 whole days in Montana and made 3 fast food stops and they were all the same. Inconsiderate, incompetent, slow and just not worth it at all. I’ve had experiences like that before in other places but not every time!

Want to try something interesting? Drive to any metropolitan area, hit the SCAN button on the FM radio and try to guess what city you’re in? Just about all of the metro areas had the same set of stations, playing the same songs. A “rock” station, an alternative station, a Top 40 station, a country station, an oldies station, a “classic rock” station, an 80-90’s classics station, a rap/hip hop station and in the bigger cities a jazz and a classical station. Some of the further west cities, Billings, Cheyenne, etc. had 2 country stations and no hip hop station, but it was all basically the same.

I uploaded all of the pics using a laptop and dialup connection. Therefore, it took forever to upload, and I have no idea what they really look like on a nice monitor. I may have a few more from the trip back, but haven’t had a chance to look at those yet.

Chris, writing in Monday’s Windows Daily opens up the possibility of moving Gnomedex to Las Vegas next year. I think that would be a mistake. While it would probably make it more attractive and bigger, the best thing about Gnomedex is having everyone around to meet and hang out with for the entire weekend. Part of the reason that happens at Gnomedex and not at other conferences is that this is the place to be in Des Moines for the entire weekend. The most fun and exciting thing you can do in Des Moines is hang out with the speakers and other attendees. I think you’d lose that community aspect of it by having it someplace like Vegas, where speakers and attendees will be off to explore the other things to do in Vegas. Plus I really think that the large number of attendees from the Midwest who have been supportive and loyal to Gnomedex deserve better than to have it moved somewhere further away so that it’ll be easier for West Coasters. Aren’t there enough conferences like that already? Personally, if it gets moved to Vegas, I’m not sure I’d want to go next year…

I’m off to get some sleep, being in the Mountain timezone has totally fudged up my body clock. Good thing it’s a three day weekend!

Enjoy the holiday, at least those of you in the US!

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