Happy birthday to Jess Stratton, the true inspiration for “Rapper’s Delight”!

On January 10th, 2008, my ‘brother-in-beer’, Devin Olson, posted a entry on his blog entitled “Bleeding Yellow”. It explained his love of Lotus Notes and announced his new position at Lotus 911. I posted a comment on it congratulating him and lamenting my plight. I went for an interview that day for a great job, but one that was not in Lotus Notes. I felt his pain. It IS hard to find a job in Michigan in Lotus Notes/Domino. I was doing what I needed to do for my family, even if it meant leaving Notes/Domino. Devin replied in the comments, “I understand about protecting your family. I’ll keep on praying for you brother.”

Well, because of your prayers, the prayers and thoughts of others, and some help from a different kind of Lord, I’m heading to my orientation at a new company this morning!!!

Yes, I’m working again, and I’m still using Lotus Notes/Domino!!! I’m still BLEEDING YELLOW!!!

I don’t know how much I can say about where I’m working so far. (I’ll ask at orientation.) I can say that this is a great position at a great organization. I get to stay in Michigan also.

I don’t want to take anything away from the other offers I received. (I was especially intrigued with one from a well known company in the Lotus community.) Everything was just a matter of timing, and during Lotusphere, while I was keeping track of everything that everyone else was doing, I was getting this great offer.

Hopefully, I will be able to speak more about it later, but for now, THANK YOU ALL for your efforts, your thoughts, your prayers, your words of encouragement, and for putting up with me. The new door opens today, and all of you were the key to unlock that door! Now let’s go start that next chapter, shall we?

Today is my niece’s birthday. She teaches in Chicago, so I don’t get to see her much, but everyone here in the Pridelands misses her and hopes she has a great birthday!

Today is my former co-worker’s birthday. Right now, she’s hopefully having a great time, and I hope that she has an outstanding birthday and 2008!

First Devin Olson, then Rocky Oliver and now the dashing Bob Balaban…

Unlike many of you (I assume, anyway) I came back from Lotusphere with a new job. That’s right, as of January 29, I have resigned my position at IBM. My new job is Vice President of R & D at Binary Tree.

Oh, and if you want to see bloggers try their hands at acting… you’ve got to read the comments here… I know someone (Perry Hiltz) that works for Binary Tree, and they’re a great company. It’s going to be neat seeing what comes out of there next now that Bob involved.

I doubt that it’s over… who knows? Maybe someone you know and love is next to work somewhere else…

For those of you fortunate enough to go to Lotusphere 2008, Stephan Wissel has come up with a way to get all the presentation downloads from Lotusphere Online in a batch… all 177 of them! Volker Weber has the instructions for doing it on the Mac. Thanks Stephan and Volker!

For those of us not at Lotusphere, things will take a lot longer… Hopefully, the speakers have blogs or sites where they placed their presentations… Hunt, click, download… Hunt, click, download… Hunt, click, download… Another reason to go to Lotusphere…

I’m getting over some kind of bug. Don’t stand too close…

So it ends… Another exciting Lotusphere 2008! This marks the beginning for many relationships started there. It also marks the growth of a seeds planted by Lotus in 2007. The plants that are now growing will get bigger and bigger. The roots will go deeper and deeper. We, as the gardeners, must continue to do what we can to make this garden strong and bear fruit.

It saddens me that I was not with my friends, but they kept me (and everyone) ‘in the loop’ on what was happening. Thanks go to the bloggers too numerous to count for giving us their take on things (and for some great commercials… I’m Ed Brill). Special thanks go to Planet Lotus (Yancy Lent), LotusphereLive (Chris Miller and Carl Tyler), IdoNotes (Chris Miller again), Twitter, and Flickr. They gave us the sights and sounds of Lotusphere 2008. Don’t forget to upload your photos and tag them ‘Lotusphere2008’. Last year on Flickr, there were 2794 photos tagged ‘Lotusphere2007’. Let’s see if you can beat that!

I hope that the bloggers get together at the end of the Closing Session (like last year) and take a couple of pictures. Maybe someone can video everyone saying, “Hi! I’m Ed Brill!” or something. I have a photo of my friends in the hallway after the Closing Session walking away… all heading back to their own homes, families and lives. When I see that photo, I think of this song by Green Day:

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test
and don’t ask why.

It’s not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.

Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.

For what it’s worth,
it was worth all the while.

It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

I hope that YOU ALL had THE TIMES OF YOUR LIFE! I will see you next year!

My daughter and I are both fighting some sort of bug. The ‘stuff’ (also known as Tchokies) I brought home from Lotusphere used to make her happy, so I thought that I’d throw out this request. (I figured that just telling her I asked would make her feel better.) I’m not too proud to beg, especially if it’s for my daughter.

If you happen to stop by the Product Showcase or any of the Labs and you see something that would be cool for a little girl (or her daddy), grab an extra one. The Labs and Product Showcase close at 5PM today, and most of them don’t want to ship any of that stuff back. (I received a case of shot glasses that way one year.) Email me, and I’ll send you my address. I will pay for the shipping, and will somehow give you a finder’s fee. Thank you in advance!

While I’m on the subject, what is the coolest ‘tchokie’ that you ever got from Lotusphere for a family member, a friend, or yourself? Reply in the comments.

I know I’m not there, but I can still help out. I created a Lotusphere 2008 Flickr Group. Go check it out and join! Also, just a reminder… to make it easier for everyone, make sure you tag your photos with something like ‘Lotusphere2008’. Game on!!!

As my friends journey from around the world and descend upon Orlando for Lotusphere 2008, I thought that it was time to share my wishes to all of them. As many of you know, I won’t be there physically, but I am now committed to be there in spirit. I started this today (Friday) with a few beers while wearing an OpenNTF t-shirt. I will continue this on Saturday by drinking a lot more beers and wearing another shirt. On Sunday, I plan on wearing another shirt and a hawaiian shirt and of course, more beer. (I need to go shopping.) You get the idea… different day, different Lotusphere shirt and more beverages.

Now what will I miss?

• Singing ‘If I Had a Million Dollars’ with Greyhawk
• Being a ‘member of the band’ at JAMFest (Did anyone remember to bring cowbell? I gotta have more cowbell!)
• Jamming and singing along (to myself) while watching ‘White Chocolate’ sing ‘Rapper’s Delight’
• Racing on a boat with my brother and ‘partner in crime’, Spanky (Good luck Devin and John!)
• Having a good cigar with Greyhawk, my brother
• Having some excellent microbrews with my drinking buddies (Can someone buy Gregg Eldred a beer from Big River Grille and Brewing Works on the Boardwalk? I owe him one!)
• Seeing Bruce and Gayle (and getting lucky to be in a Taking Notes podcast)
• Trying to keep up with Julian
• Feeling a positive vibe from jonvon… it’s gotta be the Florida sunshine!
• Having a beverage with Duffbert and Joe Litton
• The Worst Practices Session with Paul Mooney and Wild Bill
• Talking about Michigan Sports with Lord Lotus and Phil (Go Wings!)
• Calling someone a geek… a LotusGeek
• Hangin’ with the Hoss (Macian)
• Following Warren and Kitty Elsmore anywhere they go… but not in a stalking way… just to review hotel accessories (I never did find that cool lion!)
• Somehow… some way… getting Declan (or Terri… they’re married after all) to say 33 and a third
• Talking device lust with Rob Wunderlich
• Learning a new trick about my Blackberry Pearl from Volker Weber
• Having Saturday lunch/dinner on the Boardwalk (the B.A.L.D.)
• The Gonzo Lotusphere Gathering (It won’t be the same without Turtle!)
• The BOF’s
• Sunday night
• Wednesday night
• Sampling fine spirits courtesy of Wild Bill and Newbs
• The anticipation of Monday morning’s OGS (Steve Jobs? Really? Nice!)
• The announcements from Monday morning’s OGS
• The labs
• IBM Certified Instructor Day
• THE SWAG!
• Getting the C.U.L.T. shirt (Great job again, Andrew!)
• Getting a shirt from Lotus 911 (I never did get the one from last year…)
• The SWAG (I’ll take anything that anyone sends me… REALLY! I WILL PAY POSTAGE!)
• Celebrating birthdays that I missed over the year, and Wild Bill‘s on Sunday
• The food
• The exercise I got speedwalking from place to place
• The sushi and karaoke at Kimonos (still the best sushi I’ve had)
• Having conversations with my Lotus ‘idols’ like they are just regular people
• Lotusphere Online
• Taking frantic notes during sessions… and getting the slides later
• Going to sessions where I see brilliant people do amazing things with Lotus products
• The Florida sun (It just ‘feels’ different down there…)
• Seeing Turtle!
• The bloggers group photo (Can anyone just Photoshop me in?)
• The coffee and snacks during the breaks
• The Lotus Stuff Store
• SpeedGeeking
• GURUpalooza and Ask the Developers
• The Closing Session… always worth it! It’s like getting your marching orders before going out to the front
• Feeling a sense of belonging (I will miss that most)
• HANGING OUT WITH THE COOLEST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET… AND PEOPLE I AM PROUD TO CALL MY FRIENDS!!!

Since I’m not there, how will I keep up? Besides the shirt wearing and the beer drinking, I plan on utilizing the awesome website, PlanetLotus.org from the web and my phone. Twitter will also keep me up to date on who’s doing what where and when. Chris ‘IdoNotes’ Miller is planning on some live and near-live videos from IdoNotes TV and Carl Tyler and Chris are also going to have a persistent session up during the OGS via LotusphereLive.

Remember… be safe… have fun… learn something… don’t forget… and most important, BRING ME BACK SOMETHING NICE!