Neatloaf in Seattle

I realize that most people who read this blog aren't physically located in Seattle. That said, I had an amazing lunch that I have to rave about for the next 15 seconds...ready, set, go. In Freemont, near Seattle, there is a restaurant called Silence, Heart, Nest. I went there for lunch and grabbed something to go after an appointment today. They have the best dish called 'neatloaf'' which is vegetarian meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. I've had it many times before and each time leaves me looking forward to the next visit. I shared some with people from my office who told me they want a full order the next time I go back. Five out of Five stars!

Should we send holiday cards?

So I have a question for you...we're trying to be more environmentally aware. We take public transportation to work, use cloth towels and cups instead of paper products and have found lots of other ways to be more thoughtful. But one thing that has left us scratching our heads is holiday cards. We can purchase recycled cards and we've found an organization that donates a percentage of the sale to worthwhile charities but the card production and mailing still leaves and environmental impact. What are your thoughts? Should businesses send out holiday cards?

Windows 7 Article

I was one of those people who went to Windows Vista and experienced a lot of problems with compatiblity early on. Those memories remained long after the problems were fixed. So when Microsoft started hyping Windows 7, needless to say, I approached the release with excitement but with caution as well. After installing the final build however, and spending time going over it, it appears that this is the stable and most well thought-out build that’s come out of Redmond since – well, I can remember. 

Here are just a few of the keyboard shortcuts that I've found useful. There are a lot of features and functionality that I've been writing about in articles, and we plan to offer some webinars on in the near future. Also, if you are planning to attend Virtual LegalTech (the first of its kind) on November 19th, I'm speaking on Microsoft Office and Windows 7. 

A Few Shortcuts

Windows + D - Toggle showing the desktop

Windows & T - Cycle through applications on taskbar (showing its live preview)

Windows & M - Minimize all open windows

Windows Key & P – Opens Projection Screen windows where you can toggle between Computer only, Duplicate, Extend, and Projector Only. 

You won't believe all of the hidden tips and tricks you can do with this operating system - plus check out WordPad and even Calculator. I'm writing a follow up article on administrator and network security tips and there are too many to fit in the article. 

Where is this photo?

As mentioned in a previous post, I can't figure out the location for this photo. It was suggested that I post it and see if anyone else can figure it out. So here goes.

School Tours - Very Impressive

Today we toured a Seattle school that offers pre-K through 5th grade. It's wonderful to see bright, eager and enthusiastic children learning through play. The teachers were having fun too, and it made me realize that this should be what education is about and that I want my children to be a part of it. The fact that there are only 16 spots for children is the biggest travesty. I wish more school programs could be modeled after this one because what they are doing seems to be working.

We will apply and see what happens.

Unidentifiable pictutre

For the past couple of years, I've had a picture up on my office wall. It's of a thatched roof hut/room/bungalow - whatever you want to call it. It's in a tropical setting over water with a mountain in the background. I remember pulling the page out of a luxury resort book that came in the mail and thinking that I'd like to go there some day.

The other day I pulled the picture down with the intention of turning it over and researching making reservations at the resort for a vacation. But the problem is, the information on the back doesn't match the picture on the front. 

Alas, the only thing to do is to re tape my picture back up on the office wall and safe the research and reservations for another day.

Dawn has Seahawks spirit

At our headquarters in Seattle Washington, Dawn in the development department has long been one of the most ardent Seattle Seahawk fans.

Last season she dressed up as a Bride of Seahawk, wore helmet and make-up, the wig and everything in between. Today, to celebrate the last day of preseason of course she had on her custom Seahawk fan jersey and Seahawk green boots. If you talk to Dawn on the telephone or e-mail her, if it's game day, you can bet she'll be sporting her favorite colors - blue and green. Let's go Seahawks!

Why do certain songs stick in your head and others not?

What's currently buzzing around in my head and what's been there for days is CHUMBAWAMBA – Tubthumping  

It's a Small World After All

In order to catch a nonstop flight back from Florida to Seattle we took a drive to Orlando. And since we had the kids along, we stopped at Disney World to pass some time. The plan was, arrived at 10:30 AM, flight at 6:25 PM - pack the day with fun and excitement so they would be exhausted and sleep on the airplane ride home. What we forgot however was how hot is gets in Florida during the day in August and how that zaps your energy. 


The park itself was a lot of fun and the best part was seeing the look of the children riding the roller coasters. Three and a half years old and putting their hands in the air and they zoomed along the tracks. And each time, when the ride came to an end they would say, "again, again". We rode the roller coaster seven times, back to back. 


Before I close the Disney chapter of this post, I just have to thank the man sitting next to my son and I on the airplane ride (MCO to SEA). You were very kind to let him stretch out. We were lucky to have a seat companion with three children of his own. Thank you!

Social Media

One of the most popular topics at the ILTA conference this year was social media. I'm going to create and post a list of must follows soon but for now, you must follow Sharon Nelson sharonnelsonesqJeffrey Brandt jeffrey_brandt Jenn Steele @jennsteele. 

Tour of DC airports

What a day for travel. I had a meeting in DC this morning so I decided to stay over and fly out on the 3:15 PM flight out of National. I get to the airport, check my bag and check in around 12:30 PM (thank goodness for Internet connections to kill time) and get an automated telephone call from the airline telling me "This is an automated flight update from US Airways. Your flight is cancelled. Thank you for using us. Have a nice day." Well OK then... So I go to the ticket counter and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Finally, their information gets updated and they can sort through what's going on.

The system automatically rebooked me through with some connections which isn't good so I decide to get a refund and try my luck on another airline. The only problem is that there aren't any other flights going to my destination from that airport. No problem, I'll head over to Dulles (IAD) where there are lots of flights going out. But then I have to get my bag and the US Airways person downstairs is cranky and I have to keep reminding her to talk nicer to me because it's not my fault that she has to get my bag to me.

Now I'm off. Information, please tell me, what's the best way to get from this airport to that one...Super Shuttle. They don't mention the bus that goes between the airport. OK, does Super Shuttle stop..."well yes", how many times, "well, a few we can't tell you that"...yea right...so I grab a taxi. $75 later but I'm there and I make it on a flight with no problem. In fact, United Airlines gives me exceptional service. Thank you United and your flight crew. You did a nice job.

Joy steps down as president

The saddest thing about ILTA 09 being over is that Joy Heath Rush is no longer the President. Joy is a remarkable woman and she will be missed.

Yacht Club Dinner Event

I've never stayed for the Thursday night ILTA closing event before. Guess what? It's fun! It's a lot of games and regional contests that I'm happy to have experienced. The family feud game as fun, as was the races (North Pacific won!). The jump rope people were so much better than I could have done it. And fun was had by all. Congratulations to everyone at ILTA and to the conference committee who put together a great conference.

Finally, I had a blast sitting with my friends from Alabama - especially Rhonda and Janice.

Leadership and Motivation Presentation - My last one at ILTA this conference

Wow, Thursday afternoon at 2PM and I'm still presenting. I'm really nervous and excited about this session; mainly because I normally talk about software and this session is very different. Also, I created the presentation so if it fails...well, I guess we know who to blame.

My co-panelists are a group of guys some of whom I've not had the pleasure of meeting except over the telephone. They are Tony Hatchett, Brent Reeves, and Steven Skidmore. The moment Tony walks in the room, I know the session is going to rock because I can feel he has good energy and we'll be able to play off of one another during the panel interaction. The same with all of the others.

When Track Chair Jim Bertotti introduces each of us, the room is cheering - wow, that's pretty unusual, right?  They were with us from the get go and we were loving it. It made us to some pretty unusual things (like my asking JAG officer Reeves to drop and give me 20 which he did successfully I might add).

I would love to speak with these guys again. Thanks ILTA for making this magic happen and for letting me be a part of it.

SharePoint Development Best Practices Presenatation

We're about ready to start the morning presentation which is SharePoint Development Best Practices. The funny thing is, we had a last minute speaker cancellation and frankly, the last minute replacement is probably a much better fit than the original person. She is amazing. On the panel are Jeri Sires, Michelle Guyot, Dora Martinez and me (OK, Donna Payne but I'm just the moderator). We're going to go through how each person and firm got into SharePoint development and then show their projects.

When the original person dropped out, I started racing for learning development of web parts and thought I'd have to speak on that. Yikes, what a nightmare I put myself through. On the bright side, I can still do it if I ever need to.

The session just concluded and it went well. We had some tough questions from corporate people who wanted to talk about records management but I think we won them over. Then there were questions about MS Project and project management software with SharePoint. Not bad though, we had 51 slides and didn't get to only 5. So I'll chalk that up as a success since people seem to have liked it and it met our and the track chairs objectives.

Here comes the bride

After the last meeting and session on Wednesday, after the exhibit hall closed, we changed into our finery and climbed into a stretch limo to take us to downtown DC. No this is not normal. We did this to celebrate the upcoming nuptials for PayneGroup developer and longtime friend, Teresa Morris. The limo took us to the restaurant 701 Pennsylvania Avenue where we dine on an amazing dinner. Following dinner, the limo took us on a private tour of Washington DC monuments and sites including the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and more. One of my personal highlights was walking onto the steps and up the Jefferson Memorial and reading the inscription on the walls then looking back over the city. Being with people you care about and respect, in a city that is as special as Washington DC, celebrating such a monumental occasion - it just doesn't get any better than this. Congratulations and best wishes to Dan and Teresa.

DC Meetings

Today I felt like I wasn't at the ILTA conference at all because I was in meetings all day. I did have breakfast with an amazing CIO from NYC who may become part of a case study for their upgrade which is fantastic. Then it was off to downtown DC to work with a new client on getting their migration underway.

Next year, the conference is in Nashville. Perhaps I'll go a few days earlier and conduct meetings in advance so I can be at the booth a little more. I did miss that part of the show; however, I really enjoyed meeting one-on-one and talking with new and existing clients.

Sue shows MA 3 on Windows 7 with Microsoft

Our own Sue Hughes got invited to show Metadata Assistant 3 at an ILTA session run by Microsoft on Windows 7 today. That's pretty cool. The goal of the session is to show that applications developed for other platforms (such as Windows XP or Vista) work on Windows 7 - which is true for Metadata Assistant 3. Sue was amazing as always. She is honest and tells it like it is. And congratulations to the MA 3 development team for kicking out a great new product.

Donna sings - when worlds collide

So I mentioned that there was a band at the ILTA event that we sponsored. Here's the fun part. Many of you might know that I use to be in a rock band what seems like 100 years ago. So this night, I let my old world and my new life collide and sang with the band. They were going out into the audience asking for people to sing a Guns N Roses song and I got volunteered. So to my amazement - I did it. The song was Knocking on Heaven's Door. I guess it just came out pretty rocking because the lead singer from the band's mouth just dropped from what I've heard from the people around! It was funny.

Now I have a bit of the bug to sing again but I realized, as much as I liked the experience and the buzz from everyone coming up to be and saying how much they liked it, I wouldn't trade my life and what I have know for anything that I had or could have had back then. My husband, my kids, my work, it's all a much better life and I'm grateful for it. But every once in a while, if I can just grab a microphone and shock a lead singer and a group of 20 or 30 something hard rock musicians, I think it will all be OK.

We're Sponsors of the Big Dinner

This year, we again sponsored the big networking dinner at ILTA on Tuesday night. The theme was King Tut and it was off the hook per normal. The Gaylord National knocked it out of the park on the dinner that was served. They can do amazing things with mushrooms. The vegetarian option was amazing and something I'll remember. The band was different from years past. Their name is 7th Heaven from the Chicago area and they  had more of a rock edge. It was a little odd because they opened with a Poison song but some of their songs weren't fast enough to dance to. Then at the end they got progressively harder and more people got out on the dance floor.

Watch for the next post for something really bizarre about the band...and me singing.