Tech Ed : Day Zero

I arrived this afternoon in Orlando for TechEd Developer 2008. I checked into my hotel and hopped a bus over the convention center to check in. I figure checking in the day before opening will save me at least a half hour in lines tomorrow morning.

At least $40 of my tuition went to a great laptop backpack they gave me to carry all of the vendor CDs and brochures I later threw away in my hotel room.

Then, I ran into Wade Dorrel who was wandering around looking to get ready for his session tomorrow on the Performance Point API. So, we two Boise boys hung together and went for dinner at Fulton’s Crab House in Downtown Disney, which is a mall with mouse ears within walking distance of my hotel.

Why am I blogging about something so inane? Because of this:

I blew an entire day’s per diem (plus a little) on one crappy meal of reheated frozen fish that accompanied background show tunes and generally drove me crazy. If it weren’t for Wade, I think I would have slugged waiter.

Seriously! All of a sudden an appetizer also found at Chili’s costs $13 because I am sitting on a chair owned by Disney? Then I have to listen to an actual DJ cheerily spin “It’s a Small World After All” to the entire park as I walk back to my hotel?

When the people who work here wake up in the morning, do they say to themselves, “Time to go to hell?”

If they don’t they aren’t human.