UPDATE: Congratulations to David Hafey from Michigan Catholic Conference on winning the $50 Gift Certificate to Border’s. It’s nice to know that they use Domino.

First off… I KNOW SOMETHING THAT YOU DON’T KNOW!!! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) Ed Brill mentioned some cool stuff coming, but I promised him that I wouldn’t blog about it, and I WON’T. All I can say is that I’m happy I’m still working with IBM/Lotus. Can’t wait…

I’m writing this from the West Michigan Lotus User Group Meeting and Lotus Notes/Domino 7 and Beyond event in Grand Rapids. It was a capacity crowd. There were actually more people there than who signed up, and everyone who signed up showed up. That’s a rarity for free seminars. I saw some familiar faces, and got to see Ed Brill present in a much smaller room than I would normally (at Lotusphere).
A few years ago, Gatoraid put out a commercial with a song that went something like, ‘Like Mike… I wanna be like Mike…’. Well, I’m singing a similiar tune, ‘Like Ed… I wanna be like Ed…’. His presentation was outstanding! He’s also a great guy! Like a boob, I forgot to bring my Creative Zen Micro, so I didn’t have anything that I could use to interview him. (Maybe someday in the future…) Thanks to Ed for the presentation, thanks to the user group for having me, and thanks to my employer for allowing me to come.

All I’ve got to say is that I’ve got to figure out a way to get to Lotusphere! I’m looking for a sponsor…Any volunteers?

I’m going to be at the COMBINED West Michigan Lotus User Group Meeting and ‘Notes Domino 7 and Beyond’ launch event in Grand Rapids, MI. Speaking at this event is none other than Ed Brill, Business Unit Executive, Worldwide Lotus Messaging Sales, IBM Software Group. In other words, he’s ‘our voice’…the voice of all of us who uses and advocates Lotus Domino/Notes. I can’t wait! Hope to see you there…

Mike Wendland is a tech guru here in Detroit. He has a syndicated report he does for NBC, he writes articles for the Detroit Free Press, and he talks at area user group meetings. He also rode his bike back to fitness, and has a pretty cool ‘spiritual’ side. He’s one man that I admire A LOT!

Well, he and some other volunteers are heading down to the Gulf Coast to help with the relief effort. He’s blogging about it at:

http://freep.typepad.com/katrina/

Check it out when you get a chance….

Last night on the news, I heard that a lot of scammers are sending emails claiming to be from the Red Cross regarding donations for disaster relief. A spokesman from the Red Cross said that they do not send email solicitations.

Please do NOT consider donating to anyone that emails you asking you to go to a site to make a donation. Just go to the Red Cross site yourself. Many of the scammers are actually making their sites look like the Red Cross one…complete with the ‘Verisign Secure Site’ logo on it.

Once we clean up New Orleans, let’s grab all these scammers and put them on a deserted island where they can rot!!!

Be careful when donating, but PLEASE CONTINUE TO DONATE!!!

Adam Curry and the gang at PodShow want you to help…

I mentioned this a few days ago on this blog, but I guess there were no takers. It’s up for sale again. I’d buy it, but there’s no way I’m going to fit into a large anytime soon. Besides, I have it in XL…

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7181406371&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1

Happy shopping!

Hope that everyone had a good weekend. I spent this weekend with family, hugging them a little more than usual, and thanking God for the good fortunes that I have….

There might be a chance that I will be in Grand Rapids, MI when Ed Brill is in town for a Lotus Notes/Domino 7 seminar. Too cool…. Maybe I found someone to interview when I start my podcasting career…

I just got off of the phone with my wife. She seemed to be in a bad mood.
She worked her buttocks off yesterday placing out for bulk collection (which Detroit collects once a month) A TON of junk that we had in our basement. It didn’t help that I promised to help my brother-in-law and sister with their DSL/wireless setup when I promised to help Jennifer when I got home from work. What started out as a quick 1/2 hour setup turned into a 4 1/2 hour battle… which I won. By the time I got home, Jennifer had most of it done, and she still had a smile on her face (sort of). We threw out some of the bigger stuff, and in the two hours we worked on that, I realized how much work Jennifer got done before I came home… WOW! She did an awesome job, but despite the fact that I mentioned what a great job she did, I don’t think she realizes how much I really DID appreciate what she did.
I know that this isn’t much, but maybe she’ll believe it now that it’s out there for the whole world (ok… three of you) to see.
JENNIFER… THANK YOU & I LOVE YOU!!!

For a limited time (September 6th), you can get a copy of one of the biggest names in Desktop Linux…LINSPIRE. Just follow the link below for more information:
http://linspire.com/freespire

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7179792106&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1

Size Large. Oh, and by the way, not mine…