SAP TechEd, Las Vegas

I'd like to share my wonderful week at the SAP TechEd Conference 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. For those of you wanting to see just the conference jump to the break. I finally had some time to put my thoughts together after a wonderful conference. My first time back to Las Vegas since I was a child and I have to say I will miss Las Vegas. Vegas with all its glamour and sparkle really gets you into a different mindset. The Venetian is quite the hotel not what I remembered. Lots of people were out and about spending like no tomorrow. You really wouldn't know that their was an election going on, everybody was more concerned whether or not the Giants were going to make it to the World Series. Maybe, you go to Las Vegas to forget about your normal lives and enter into your new role as Bond, James Bond. Whatever the case may be for you being in Las Vegas I'm sure you'll have a good time. The food was simply amazing, I had a fantastic meal at Morel's French Bistro and Steakhouse. The servers and waiters are very knowledgeable about the menu, as they should be, but could detail the entire wine and cheese list. I had such a good time my first night that I went back on my last night as well. If you ever have the chance to eat at this joint I highly recommend it.  

I've also included a picture of their cheese list and a half bottle of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which went quite well with my lamb.

The first night I had an exquisite surf and turf, a medium-rare filet and a in-shell lobster, both were superb. 

Next time will be hopefully with some better company. I did hate to indulge by myself, but it was definitely worth it. My friends and family were their in heart and in spirit. 

Now for those wanting to take a look at the conference side of things, I've included photos of this as well. Over 6,000 people at some point joined the conference locally, not to mention the few thousand that had to help organize, manage, and scoot these folks along in a mannered way. I have been a part of a much smaller conference and putting something together like this can be scary challenge. This was really well done and the venue was incredibly large as well.  

 The opening keynote, where SAP HANA in the cloud was announced. I was very surprised and please to hear that announcement with AWS.

 Feeding this many people is quite a feat. Getting them to the spot you wanted them to eat, sit, and leave was very well done by this place.








Overall I had a great time. I met a lot of folks that were very much interested in the same stuff I was. I always enjoy meeting new people and this was a very good opportunity for that.

Dallas 18 Bears 34

Last night the office offered some tickets to the Monday Night game so little ole me, with nothing to do on a Monday night, picked up a ticket. :) I had to pick up a buddy who also got a ticket and we were off. Note this is probably 3 hours notice prior to the game. Hey I wasn't gonna miss this chance. I've had less time to get to an airport. My co-worker lives in Dallas about 25 minutes from Arlington where the Stadium resides. I've never driven to Arlington let alone the stadium so I was in for a surprise. My nerves couldn't have been more wrapped up in anticipation. Off into the sunset, perfect driving conditions. If you didn't know Six Flags amusement park originated in Texas. Well it's quite the site to see driving on the 30 headed East with the sunset as the backdrop. As we move closer I have no idea where we are going to park and then the stadium pops into view. Now I've seen a few stadiums but the gravity of the size can't be shown in pictures. This is truly a top-notch stadium which blows the Candlestick out of the water. Cowboys Stadium has set the bar pretty high for entertainment and technology value. I hope whoever is building the new 49ers stadium knows this is the stadium to beat. If they do I might consider getting season tickets to their new stadium which is supposed to be named after a notable software company, SAP. To make it short my expectations were way below par for this event.

Our seats couldn't have been better. The size of the jumbotron is about 60 yards wide. Take a second and think about that. That makes for some big viewing. Ill add some photos to stir your imagination.

It was hard to root for the opposite team with cowboy fans sitting all around you. We were definitely in the home section if there was one. The crowd was a lot classier than what I remember from my 49er games in SF. Beer wasn't cheap but what could you expect. At least they had Shiner. The food wasn't bad either. Texas barbecue, a tri-tip sandwich for 12 bucks plus some chips. You could eat inside there air conditioned sections with again multiple screens staring at you. You actually didn't have to go outside to enjoy watching the football game. You could have sat inside and enjoyed the bar and atmosphere from the inside. Which wouldn't have been too bad. We sat outside of course we weren't used to sitting inside yet. The crowd kept getting quieter as Romo threw away pass after pass. Eventually leading to the mass exodus during his last interception in the fourth quarter. Getting out of the stadium wasn't too bad if you knew where you were going. We on the other hand had no idea on how to get back to the highway. We finally made it after 30 minutes of traffic. After dropping my friend off at his place I ended up getting back to my place a little after 11:30. 

Well that was quite the night, definitely will need to go again with a little bit more preparation. 

-Quincy   

SAP TechED Conference

Guess where this guy will be headed in two weeks? If you said Las Vegas, then Winner Winner,  chicken dinner! Unless you neglected to read the title which I doubt you did. I'll be going to my first and hopefully many more SAP related conferences. This year the SAP TechED Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. I haven't been back to Las Vegas since I was younger and I look forward to seeing it again after all these years. I'll be staying at the lovely Venetian, which I've heard is quite nice. My company is sending me to learn about SAP Mobility, all the craze this season. Everybody likes a little mobility in their life and so do companies. I think that this will be a great opportunity for me to see SAP outside of the classroom and what industry people think about SAP. I have heard great things from my professor's in Chico who always seem to find time to go during the semester. Now it'll be my chance to bring home some stories of my own. Back to Mobility, the cloud, the words you hear in catchy advertising ads in magazines. Picture of doing your work from the airport or the plane for that matter. But do we really work in these places? We might maybe glance at a few e-mails and write some notes. But I can't comfortably tell a colleague I'll look over the slide deck from these places. Too much distractions. You have the bar twenty feet away and glaring television screens promoting their propaganda. Where as in the office you have people actually working and hopefully have closed all the social media tabs. It takes a really dedicated individual to keep the computer or tablet or any other mobility device business oriented. Hopefully SAP has some of those answers. Not only do I think they need to make work more appealing via Mobility services they have to stick to their standard of excellence. Our minds are constantly floating around to where we will be in the next twenty minutes that its hard to consistent work through out the day. And I'd assume this feeling would be amplified if you're working on the road. I'm not sure exactly how to define mobility yet. It gives you the freedom to work from anywhere, theoretically. Which gives it a huge advantage over traditional avenues of working. The freedom part is what scares me. Where will we be working if its going mobile. Does that mean working from home? People already do that without the need for new technology. Putting things on our phones needs development but can you actually type that powerpoint from your phone? I don't think so. So how does it really benefit your company when you go mobile. I think this is the bigger question than what the actual software does. This will be my food for thought. Other than that 3 Doors Down will be the headliner at the end of the conference pretty sweet. I'll make sure to let you all in after the event so look forward to my next post.

-Quincy

Working

I have been neglecting this blog for quite some time now. I will have to remedy that. I am now a graduate of CSU, Chico. Wow, did the last four years fly-by. It seems like yesterday when I walked onto that beautiful campus. Now I am off and gone to Texas. Who would have thought?

Texas is definite change in scenery from Chico or California for that matter. Flat and more flatness. If you get to a high spot you can see more than half the state. The weather here is hot and humid. It just so happens that the United States is also experiencing one of the worst droughts in history which means higher temperatures. I'm glad I work inside in the cool air-conditioned place.

I was hired in May by ABeam USA.. I am currently a new consultant working on several projects in the Dallas area. I chose ABeam because of their international presence. They have offices all around the world including Japan, Germany, Malaysia, US, and Brazil. Hopefully with time I will get to go to all those places. I definitely want to travel the world and see and meet new people. That is part of who I am. The world is my home and I'd like to see as much of it as I can.

I will have more later.
Here's to a new beginning.

-Quincy