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.

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

Finals.

So I have 2 weeks left till finals and completing my third year at Chico. Amazing how far I have come and still have a long way to go. Feels good though. I intend and will make my last year in Chico the greatest and most filled year. I have finally signed a lease with somebody besides University Housing. Not that I don't love living at University Village, I think it is time for me to move on. I didn't get a house for my last year but instead will be living in a town house, located near campus. It will be a fun year living with my dear friends who I met last year at, surprise, University Village. I am still figuring out what exactly I will be doing during the summer. I have had many interviews well three at least for internships this summer, one even in Seattle, Washington, but wasn't chosen for any. I am also in search of a job next year as they are cutting the hours of the lab due to budget cuts to the school. So sad. I think in the end I will be going home to Kingsburg for a few weeks and than treking back to Chico in search of a summer job in the least. Well wish me luck.

-Quincy

listening to Kid Cudi.

SAPopsophy

First off I would like to say that I do my best thinking at night for all the professors out there. And that my philosophy shouldn't be taken verbatim. They are more like a set of guidelines I try to set myself in and I will also adjust my philosophy as I grow and continue to learn more everyday. So now off to the specifics.
Also not in any particular order and I also will add to this list as I go. I will write a sentence or phrase and try to explain my reasoning or a definition of what I mean by it.

1. Treat others as you would like to be treated. I might not do this everyday, but it makes good practice to try at least. I would hope that you would like to be given respect and kindness and that would reflect in how you treat others and if you don't think that you should treat others with respect and kindness than you might want to reevaluate yourself with what you expect of others and yourself. (kinda hard to not write a thousand word explanation on this, maybe some day)

2. Being Prepared. I think that this one needs a little further explanation than what it just says. Being prepared might mean doing research. Like knowing thy enemy, if you have them which everyone should have a couple. There is a quote somewhere that goes something like this, "If you have enemies than that means you stood up for something in your life" don't quote me on that but that is the gist of it.

Preparation might mean planning ahead. This is where I want to get into it. I have recently read about Buddha in my religions class and would like to start out by saying Buddha was an egotistical guy, now listen to my reasoning. If you know the story of how a young Indian prince Suddharta became enlightened than you should know that he was given everything (physically). He might be looking for the intangible but he was given everything else. This made him unhappy for some reason, but if he had planned ahead he could have seen what a wonderful situation he was placed in and he wouldn't have had to go out and desert his wife and child. After seeing "life" (death, disease, etc) he gave it all up in search of enlightenment. Now this could be interpreted as him being brave and self-realizing himself but I would argue that he had the best of things going for him. He might not have been self-rich, full of purpose, but he had everything a person not in his position could dream of, better welfare, family, food, etc. He was a prince and someday king, now I don't know how exactly that feels but I can imagine it was not exactly the tough life. Trying to fill in those shoes might be difficult and I can see how he might not even want to do that, but you don't have to throw it all away and go beg for food and harm your body and mind in seeking enlightenment.  Another thing that bugs me is that he gave up his wife and child. In the story I read it said he was fully in love with her and that one-day when they were making love on a rooftop they fell off and into a bed of lilies and they didn't even notice. Now I don't know about you but that sounds like happiness to me. Buddha didn't plan ahead. He could have imagined his life as a future king with a beautiful wife and child and continue his father's legacy or create his own but instead he chose a life of solitude except for maybe hanging out with a few monks, all guys by the way. If he had planned ahead it looks to me like he could have had a wonderful life. Lesson: plan ahead and don't end up like Buddha, no. Plan ahead and know what's coming so you can correctly adjust making if any painful occurrences less painful and so forth.

3. Live your life to the fullest each day because it might be your last. Now what this means to me is to try your best. I also wouldn't go as far as saying be the best at everything, but live because you have been given a chance to become something and people will remember you for it. I know it might be hard on somedays like being sick or sad because of a lost one or something else. But for the rest of the time if you try your best than that is all anybody can ask for. "Carpe Diem" like the Greeks said seize the day.

4. Be optimistic. This has helped me a lot through troubling times like the recent tsunami/earthquake or even in times of uncertainty. Being optimistic means you tend to see the good things in life, future prospects and opportunities.

5. Seize the moment. What this means is that if an opportunity should arise with careful consideration you might want to take it. Sometimes the window of opportunity is short and you have to think and act quickly (this is where optimism comes in) and sometimes you have a little longer lee way and can wait. But if you try to be impatient and/or hesitate than that opportunity may never come around again. You can plug this into a lot of situations but I'm not going to list them all. I'll let you use your imagination.

6. Never stop learning. I think this one is pretty self explanatory. Each day I find myself learning something new about life and myself. So never stop learning for if you think you have reached the top the only place left to go is you know where.

7. Stand behind your words and take responsibility for your actions. Again I think this one is self explanatory. Choose your words wisely and do what you say not say what you might do. Like my mother told me if you tell the truth than you never have to look behind and cover your tracks. You can have a free conscious. It will relieve a lot your stress in life. Do what you say and own up to your actions.

Also in writing this it will help me not only remember some of them for later but give me something to read if I get lost along the way. The circle of life. :) <-- dont know why I added this but I think I will keep it in here.