Here are some of my thoughts regarding Rubi-Con 3. I hate prose, even though I tend to write it well. I'm going to keep my thoughts organized into neat little bulleted lists. They're more fun to read and you get more bang for the buck. I have broken them down into "Good Stuff" and "Bad Stuff"

GOOD STUFF

• I met a lot of great folks over the weekend and had a great time interacting with everyone.
• I really appreciated the support everyone gave to my org (The Geek Empire... no, we're not out of Grand Rapids, we're from Cleveland). I hope everyone felt they got some good deals.
• The hotel staff was unusually understanding and nice. I made sure to say "Thank You" each time they buzzed us in.
• The generator was a fantastic idea!
• The price was right.
• I'm glad NFF is still alive
• Talking with the Mobsters.net crew on FRS down 75 until we parted ways in Detroit and trying to make sure they didn't get their asses in trouble by broadcasting activity on my laser/radar detector (even though I think that's a crime).
• Smuggling 2 cartons of cigarettes into the country with Tyger that we bought at the duty free store even though we weren't in Canada for at least 48 hours (and a beanie baby) (What I do for friends is amazing sometimes)
• Heading out with my crew on a Meijer's run through the ghetto of Detroit just so we could save a few bucks on food... and because Jeff forgot to bring real shoes (dumbass!)
• Knowing NFF's room was right next to ours.
• Not getting hit on or solicited by any crack whores.
• Everyone was curteous and helpful
• Seeing the cash regsiter receipt printer do a Windows test print page. That rocked.
• Seeing that Magic Drive thing actually get opened.
• The talk on ECC was fascinating. Of course, I have a Bachleors in Comp. Sci. and live and breath that kind of crap.
• The Neural Net (er... the candid one BEFORE the "real" neural net talk) was interesting.
• The talk by the consultant was worth my time. Dennis Salguero was a nice guy to talk to. Very inspiring and down to Earth.
• The information packets were unique and fresh. Definitely 01d sk001. However, if it's ever done that way again I swear I'm going to break the author's fingers.

BAD STUFF

• Tagging makes the group look immature. The tagging of hotel property needs to stop for good.
• I'm a huge techno/trance/DJ fan, but the DJs needed a little work and some of the music was either too loud or just plain sucked. Some of it was good, though
• The band needed a better venue.
• The smokiness and heat of the conference room was unbearable. People did not go to talks because they couldn't stand it. I'm not suggesting that you make the con smoke free, but at least keep the smoke to the network room or whatever. The conference room is just too damn small for that kind of stuff.
• Not being able to easily the elevators from the ground floor SUCKED, especially with folks with a lot of gear.
• Some speakers didn't stay on topic
• Some speakers were just plain wrong during their talks.
• Some speakers proved that they really didn't know anything about their topic.
• My hotel bathroom had a bathtub that you could tell had a LOT of water between the plastic veneer and the underlying tub structure. It felt like you were surfing the whole time while takign a shower. In fact, the whole shower/tub thing really sucked (shower head sucked, faucet sucked.)
• NFF in his state failed to recognize my answer of "TechNet" as the correct answer to one of the questions for "Win NFF's t-shrits", thereby ruining our chances of getting the bonus question (which was easy) and, therefore, of potentially winning *grin*.
• Losing money at the MGM grand.
• Losing money at the Casino Windsor
• Losing money at the Greektown Casino (which is an abyssmal casino that I found disgusting and would never voluntarily visit again).
• I forgot to tip our waitress in the cafe for a relatively decent breakfast on Friday (oops.)
• I forgot to tip the maid, who put up with a lot of crap.
• I forgot the AC adapter for my laptop in Cleveland and therefore only had one half full and one full battery to work off for the whole con. Major suckage.
• I didn't get to spin because I didn't have my turntables or vinyl (maybe next year?)
• The traffic getting in and out of Canada SUCKED.

Froggy (froggy@thegeekempire.net)