http://www.flickr.com/photos/27467900@N05/sets/72157605557437194/

Upon arrival we quickly regged up Sumeeth, and we headed over to the special press room. DAMN! I’m loving my presscard! A nice large room with nice leather seats, couches and special workdesktops for pressmembers to work at. In this special area we got nearly everything we need including a 5-star buffet for breakfast and lunch. It is a shame tough tomorrow will be last day it’s available.

After a quick break and logging on the press room wireless, we left to attend the keynote. We had special seats on the front row reserved just for us, the press. We also got to bypass the main waiting line at the entrance which was nice.

The keynote itself was really interesting and it covered a lot of ground. I’m not going to repeat myself with all the quite boring IT blah again. If you want to read, head on over to Bink.Nu: http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-teched-2008-it-pro-usa-keynote.aspx

After the keynote we left again to  freshen up at the press room and write up the keynote summary that’s online on Bink.nu right now. Had to fight with the admin system to upload all the photos and insert them in the article. Ultimately it worked and we finished it up.

After that I headed on out in the center booths on the conference. Saw a lot of interesting booths out there on Windows server, Windows client, security.

After that I headed on over to the  “Tricks of the Windows Vista masters” session. The session itself .. the content .. was a bit basic. Nearly every tip they demoed I already knew. However the presenter himself was great. Very funny and good jokes to lighten up the mood. Halfway through I made a couple of pictures of the session (as I do with all) and he stopped presenting. Told me to give him a headsup next time as he wants to pose for every photo. Later on I took a couple more and he ahw’ed I didn’t notified him J Good laugh.

After the Vista session, I met up with fellow Dutch reporter Raymond Comvalius. Had a good laugh with him and hit up the System Center Ess. Session. (which was .. boring). Here we also met up with (another Dutchy) Marco Timmermans. Both are Microsoft Certified Trainers and we walked around talking to a lot of people from the MCT world. We walked through the booths again, talking on IT in general, specific products and problems in de modern IT.

To end the working day we headed on out to the Partner Expo partner. Every expo exhibitor had some nice stuff at their stand and we had great fun at multiple stands. Had a good time with Marco and Raymond.

Around 2PM it started to storm outside. There were big thunderclouds out and it rained like hell. Luckily when I started to go to the hotel it stopped storming. On my way to the hotel, I met a fellow TechEddy (of who I just forgot his name).

Wrote some more, slept some more…  

Later on around 10 I left the hotel to check in at the convention center. It was HOT. Hot as hell. Had to walk for about 15 to 20 minutes in the smoking hot sun to get there. On-site they have great air conditioning tough so that’s great. Checked in real quick.. got my press pass and my goodie bag.

All looked good .. walked around .. asked some quick questions and took some photos of everything getting set up. Sorry for not having more photos. The internet at the hotel is real slow.

Later in the afternoon I went back to the hotel to check out the Apple keynote (which totally sucked in hindsight) and took a quick swim in the pool. After that I went around an shopped a little bit. Ate lunch at Subway which was real nice but a bit overpriced.

Ended the day by prepping for next day and eating out the Village Inn again … hmmm American steak goooood

Shortly after 06:30AM, I checked my bag and I was ready to go. Well .. ready to wait to go that is. My flight didn’t go until 09:30AM. Ultimately I was on my way with a 757-200 plane. It was a nice flight, staff was friendly, food wasn’t bad, service was great. Had a Dutch couple next to me which were real friendly and nice to talk to.

I was up for about 30 hours straight before I finally could get some rest. Slept for a few hours, seats were OK I guess.

Later on I arrived at Newark, New York a tad early. I was lucky with the security and customs, very short line and lines were often cut open for me and few others. Guess that tip from Klaas really helped after all.

However I didn’t like the staff and cleanliness of the Newark airport. The restrooms were a mess, staff weren’t very nice/friendly, food there was a mess. Not sure if it’s just bad luck or it’s because New Yorkers are less friendly by nature?

Also .. since when does one have to take of their shoes when going through security. What the … Really guys .. you can take it too far..

Had to wait another 3 hours for my flights to connect. I’m writing this as I’m watching the CSI-LV episode for the second time today on the inflight entertainment system. The system on the second flight (Newark -> Orlandlo) just simply sucked howver the system of the first one was great! It had a large touch screen with a large library with on-demand media. Tv episodes, movies, music etc. Real nice system! Enjoyed Austin Powers 1 yet again! Also .. inflight entertainment system + touch screen + soduko (and other games) = total win

Overall I’m liking the service of Continental Airlines. Looking back at the online checkin system, I could easily reduce my layover time. But that could also be luck as all my flights were on time, and arrived early at destinations. I’m hoping the rest of this last flight in won’t be too shabby. Can’t wait to hit up my hotel in a couple of hours. Ugh.

Update: Ok finally in my room now. It’s 09:26PM now and I’m really tired now. Got some more sleep on the second flight which was nice. Staff could have been nicer on the second flight tough. Waiting for the shuttle took FOREVER. On top of that, there were like 10 people in the mini-van, each with different hotels all across Orlando. There is a small family-diner next to the hotel, Village Inn, great stuff! Cheap and great food. Really helped after such a long journey. Staff was great. If you’re ever in Orlando à Village Inn Restaurant.

Ps. Took a bunch of photos and made a mini video of the flight thingy. Upload them tomorrow.

pps. Rick, your camera rocks Thanks for all your help!

Leaving tommorow for Orlando, Florida. I will be reporting on Microsoft TechEd for IT Professionals on behalf of partner blog: Bink.nu. Will update this blog on more personal matters.

Check out Bink.nu for latest updates on TechEd 2008!