At this point, I need to do a few shout outs – the first being to GSX for their Tech.Ed ticket competition and for picking me as their winner. Freakin’. Awesome. Was blown away by the fact that I’d won – in fact, I was speechless for the hour or two after getting my email! Seriously, huge thanks to you guys! ^_^ (Proof – I’m in their blog post!)
The next shout outs are in no particular order and are to the people who made Tech.Ed 2013 awesome (and I really mean no particular order, I’ve just written down names as I’ve remembered them while writing these blog posts!):
- Will & George – for being patient and waiting for me when I first arrived so that I could grab a drink at their hotel (and for Will for buying me said drink!).
- Ken – for walking me back to my hotel on multiple nights, for putting up with my insane Twitter friends, for not judging me for me consumption of sparkling wine and most of all for being nice and not speaking about this at work đ
- Corey – for coming down and trying to hang around for as long as possible, even with sick kidlets!
- Mahnaz – for being another lady to talk with, coming to the WiT lunch with me and coming on all the rides at MovieWorld!
- Jeff – for putting on an amazing Tech.Ed, being brave enough to eat my cupcakes (I’m glad you enjoyed!) and for asking for my feedback đ
- Dutchy – there are so many things to thank you for. Consuming my cupcakes in an alarming way, hanging around with me for most of the conference, licking Orin’s head, being generally insane and an awful lot of fun (you dirty, dirty man!)
- Macca – amazing session, great for chats, taking an interest in my laptop and chatting about games (yay! games!) and being an awesome lunch buddy ^_^
- Orin – for gracefully allowing Dutchy to lick your head (like you had a choice!), being a bit of a laugh and for your awesome sessions, even thought I didn’t get to go to all of them!
- Damon – for hanging around with me, letting me drink with you guys, and letting me have your awesome splunk shirt (that I will be wearing to work on casual Fridays with pride!)
- Mick – for being nice enough to put up with me, for being really cool and for sitting up the back of the bus on the way to MovieWorld đ
- Chris – for *not* ignoring me like you said you would and for being extremely amusing to be around…even if you did have a case of “foot in mouth” disease a few times!
- Nick – for generally being fun, able to have a laugh and I still like you even if you won’t give me the Surface you won…
- Michael – lots of things to thank you for! Getting me out of bed on the Tuesday night to go to the BAVARIAN BIER CAFE (still can’t believe there was one there that I didn’t know about!), letting me come out to dinner with you and your work mates, and generally being awesome
- Fran – for being another woman who I could talk to, being generally fabulous and for being Michael’s “Wife to be” at dinner đ
- Rick – your awesome sessions, letting me hang with you a few times and most of all for your AMAZING maple syrup (I’ve been tempted to drink it straight from the bottle…)
- Pete – for just being you, leading me to the speakers room to deliver my cupcakey goodness, for listening to me when I needed to rant to someone and most of all for your amazing sessions (and I attended all of them!)
- Mike – for being a cheeky sod and winning two Surface Pro’s and for creeping the hell out of me by spending an ENTIRE speaker sessions talking about the shinyness of my hair đ
- Wayne – for being super awesome, one of the best trainers I’ve ever had the pleasure of being taught by and for having a great sense of humour!
- Karen – for being an amazing speaker at the WiT lunch and inspiring me to ensure I do follow up with my mentors!
- Pip – for being amazing at the WiT lunch and especially for coming over to our table and thanking all the guys who came along, it really meant a lot to them and to the two women (myself included) at that table!
- Aaron – for coming ALL THE WAY DOWN to go to the vendor party with us! Super cool that you ended up coming and drinking with us!
- Marc – for also coming down after coming all the way UP for work to then come and party with us…and pull up for work the very next day!
- Alan – for being awesome to hang with, for giving great presentations and for giving me mad props for my cupcakes!
- Adam – for putting up with our antics, for allowing us to call you ‘Flower’ and for sticking it out even though you were sick!
- Brian – being absolutely insane on the bus…making me feel less insane in comparison!
- Cameron – for coming and finding me at the party *just* to talk about Lego. Was very very cool!
- Sonia, Paul and other Paul – for playing along on Twitter while not actually at Tech.Ed. Your tweets kept us all entertained! ^_^
- To all my new followers on Twitter – it’s super flattering to know that other people (especially colleagues, peers and other techno-enthusiasts!) feel that I’m interesting enough to pay attention to. I’m always surprised when I gain a new follower! So big thansk to you guys for hanging around and putting up with my random crap đ