Seven days of AU? You probably didn't realize it was that long? Well this was my travel day home. I drove to AU and therefore...drove home. At the valet I waited and waited...then a valet shows up with a piece of paper in his hand, uh oh! I'm thinking it was stolen, or damaged or...I'm not sure...
He says, "The battery is completely dead and this paper needs a signature for him to "jump the battery"". Oh is that all...sigh of relief... signed and I got my car back. I topped of the gas tank and left the car running, just in case. I drove four hours, even...home at last! I was very pleased that the several serious traffic jambs that I saw on the South bound lane of I-15 last Sunday were not to be found on this particular day.
The reason for my "panic" is that two weeks earlier this same car was vandalized while I was teaching a class. Someone with some pent up anger decided that the paint job needed some alterations. They scratched up the hood, the trunk, the passenger door and passenger rear quarter panel. They also etched a frequently used four letter word on the hood too, nice touch!
They apparently lacked the time or skill to write the accompanying "You" and just left a "u" instead. I was angry at the time, frustrated now that the car will need to be painted completely to fix it. The lease ends in a few months so we may just work something out with the dealer... I don't think I've made anyone mad enough to do this so I'm inclined to think it was just a random act of stupidity.
Revit is so much easier than real life!
Showing posts with label #AU2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #AU2008. Show all posts
Sunday, December 07, 2008
AU 2008 – Day Six – Friday
I began my day as a lab assistant for Paul Aubin's Family Editor session. I got their early and discovered a few pc's with “problems”. The other two assistants from DC Cadd were able to get a couple up and running but two pc's had no pc...a much harder issue to overcome. Autodesk scrambled to get them sorted out but we ended up without one of them for the duration. We were able to keep these from delaying the class at least.
The session maintained a comfortable pace and everyone did their best to keep up. Paul planned more material than fit in the time slot but that's pretty easy to do, I did it every time I did a lab too. Better more than too little eh? In a quick thank you email Paul wrote that the class survey results were very good with a pretty high ranking, congrats!
When that wrapped I rushed to make my lunch meeting with Cyril Verley and his gang of trainers for CDV Systems. We seldom have a chance other than AU to all be in the same room so it was both nice and necessary to get together. I left the meeting early to have another AUGI session, an AU wrap up meeting. At 4:20 I bailed from that meeting in order to catch the ride to the CDV dinner and show that Cyril's “right arm”, Carolyn, arranged. We enjoyed Tenderloin at the Luxor followed by the Chris Angel “Believe” show. Very nice end to AU! Thanks Cyril and Carolyn!
The session maintained a comfortable pace and everyone did their best to keep up. Paul planned more material than fit in the time slot but that's pretty easy to do, I did it every time I did a lab too. Better more than too little eh? In a quick thank you email Paul wrote that the class survey results were very good with a pretty high ranking, congrats!
When that wrapped I rushed to make my lunch meeting with Cyril Verley and his gang of trainers for CDV Systems. We seldom have a chance other than AU to all be in the same room so it was both nice and necessary to get together. I left the meeting early to have another AUGI session, an AU wrap up meeting. At 4:20 I bailed from that meeting in order to catch the ride to the CDV dinner and show that Cyril's “right arm”, Carolyn, arranged. We enjoyed Tenderloin at the Luxor followed by the Chris Angel “Believe” show. Very nice end to AU! Thanks Cyril and Carolyn!
AU 2008 - Day Five - Thursday
I managed to steal some Revit time for myself and attended two Un-Plugged sessions sponsored by Robert and Krista Manna, a husband and wife team that work for different firms but whose sessions dovetailed together pretty well. In fact two other sessions by two Scott's (Brown and Womack) did as well but I couldn't attend them, my loss. Each of the four presenters are AUGI members naturally!
AU Party featured the conclusion of the AU Design Slam where various participants designed either building or products using Autodesk software in a short amount of time. The event began the night before and AUGI member and blogger Craig Barbieri won the design portion from Wednesday night.
I was disappointed in the audio during the party, too tinny and very difficult to understand Lynn Allen at all. Fortunately the comedic talent's of Don McMillan were able to transcend the poor audio. Don is a gifted story teller and his somewhat distorted view of things as an engineer turned comedian contribute to a laugh riot. If he didn't pause now and then his audience could become physically ill from continuous laughter.
I got to spend a little time (too little) with my friend Bruce Gow (BeeGee at AUGI) from Brisbane. I managed to miss each of his classes this year, oh well. I hope to see some more of him in Melbourne in June 2009 at the Revit Technology Conference. His cohorts from Karelcad, Shane and Adam...among others were also present and they are always fun to hang around with.
Later I traded text messages with Wesley Benn trying to find each other in the hall during Don's show. Funny how hard it can be until he realized that the columns are numbered...we wrapped up the night with a stop at the Grand Lux, the all purpose "diner" at the Venetian.
AU Party featured the conclusion of the AU Design Slam where various participants designed either building or products using Autodesk software in a short amount of time. The event began the night before and AUGI member and blogger Craig Barbieri won the design portion from Wednesday night.
I was disappointed in the audio during the party, too tinny and very difficult to understand Lynn Allen at all. Fortunately the comedic talent's of Don McMillan were able to transcend the poor audio. Don is a gifted story teller and his somewhat distorted view of things as an engineer turned comedian contribute to a laugh riot. If he didn't pause now and then his audience could become physically ill from continuous laughter.
I got to spend a little time (too little) with my friend Bruce Gow (BeeGee at AUGI) from Brisbane. I managed to miss each of his classes this year, oh well. I hope to see some more of him in Melbourne in June 2009 at the Revit Technology Conference. His cohorts from Karelcad, Shane and Adam...among others were also present and they are always fun to hang around with.
Later I traded text messages with Wesley Benn trying to find each other in the hall during Don's show. Funny how hard it can be until he realized that the columns are numbered...we wrapped up the night with a stop at the Grand Lux, the all purpose "diner" at the Venetian.
AU 2008 - Day Four - Wednesday
AUGI all day. We met with all the international members who make up the chapter leadership for each of AUGI's Country Chapters. At first it seemed as though we were an organization divided in direction and mission. Quickly however we all began to realize that we are not divided, that we share the same goals, ideals and mission. At the close of the day we shared a solidarity that felt both good and invigorating.
At five the AUGI General Meeting opened. Lynn Allen, designated AUGI Sweetheart, began the session and she turned over the mike to President, Mark Kiker. We delivered Wishlists for AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Inventor and Revit. Buzz Kross (Inventor) showed his counterparts how to accept a wishlist by upping the ante with a prepared video showing the features that were directly from the wishlist he was just handed. Nice!
Mark and the board presented the outgoing board members (me and Chris Lindner) with a nice plaque thanking us for our service. He also announced the voting is now open for the next board, and open through the 14th.
He wrapped the meeting with the anticipated “It's Beer Time”...the annual AUGI Beer Bash. Everyone grabbed their AUGI beer mug and headed to the trade show hall for food AND Beer or at least a beverage of their choice!
I attended the Avatech party at Tao on the coat tails of RTKL staff, primarily Hiroshi Jacobs. We ran into each other at the Beer Bash and decided to head to Tao (head to toe?) afterward. Too loud at Tao, such that you have to yell at each other to be heard...definitely strained my voice that night. We closed up the party hanging out with Beau Turner (Avatech and Will Render for food blog). When they asked us to leave so they could open up to the public again I ran into Willem from the publisher Wiley/Sybex and Eddie Krygiel (Wiley/Sybex author). At this point I decided for reasons of self preservation to go back to my room and sleep!
At five the AUGI General Meeting opened. Lynn Allen, designated AUGI Sweetheart, began the session and she turned over the mike to President, Mark Kiker. We delivered Wishlists for AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Inventor and Revit. Buzz Kross (Inventor) showed his counterparts how to accept a wishlist by upping the ante with a prepared video showing the features that were directly from the wishlist he was just handed. Nice!
Mark and the board presented the outgoing board members (me and Chris Lindner) with a nice plaque thanking us for our service. He also announced the voting is now open for the next board, and open through the 14th.
He wrapped the meeting with the anticipated “It's Beer Time”...the annual AUGI Beer Bash. Everyone grabbed their AUGI beer mug and headed to the trade show hall for food AND Beer or at least a beverage of their choice!
I attended the Avatech party at Tao on the coat tails of RTKL staff, primarily Hiroshi Jacobs. We ran into each other at the Beer Bash and decided to head to Tao (head to toe?) afterward. Too loud at Tao, such that you have to yell at each other to be heard...definitely strained my voice that night. We closed up the party hanging out with Beau Turner (Avatech and Will Render for food blog). When they asked us to leave so they could open up to the public again I ran into Willem from the publisher Wiley/Sybex and Eddie Krygiel (Wiley/Sybex author). At this point I decided for reasons of self preservation to go back to my room and sleep!
AU 2008 - Day Three - Tuesday
Started out the morning in the Managing Large Projects session hosted by Lonnie Cumpton of Friedmutter Group. He went through a list of key items first and then started a Q/A session. No real surprises from my perspective but I'm sure other attendees who haven't yet wrestled with a large project yet were quite happy to be listening in. Lonnie assembled a panel for the Q/A consisting of Bill Debevc, Friedmutter, Lance Kirby, Autodesk Consulting and Beau Turner, Avatech Solutions. The good news is that there are some options when dealing with large projects, not without cost, but options.
At this point my Day Three at AU started to change hands from what I wanted or intended to do to what I ended up doing. I had intended to take in the session for interiors projects but only managed to catch the tail end. I also started to see Kyle Bernhardt's class for Revit MEP but had to leave early in this case.
I spent the evening in the AUGI booth on the trade show floor. Much of the time was helping members find their log in information again and signing up new members. I stole what time I could to visit with friends and other attendees.
At this point my Day Three at AU started to change hands from what I wanted or intended to do to what I ended up doing. I had intended to take in the session for interiors projects but only managed to catch the tail end. I also started to see Kyle Bernhardt's class for Revit MEP but had to leave early in this case.
I spent the evening in the AUGI booth on the trade show floor. Much of the time was helping members find their log in information again and signing up new members. I stole what time I could to visit with friends and other attendees.
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