Day Two

I am going to be away this week attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC this week. These blogs this week will reflect my time away from home and my experience there. Enjoy

I am in day two of the Federal Users Conference and this may be a longer day than yesterday.

There is a short keynote session this morning, but then it's going to be a day full of me sitting in classrooms and learning a few new tricks and seeing what is new and what is going to be introduced in the near future. I have already went through and made a number of sessions favorites and put them on my calendar.

This evening there will be a meet and greet at the Smithsonian History Museum. Usually at the end of every big conference there is a big meet and greet session and I've always missed them. I intend on making an appearance this year and see if I can run into an old friend or co-worker or two.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Day One

I am going to be away this week attending the ESRI Federal Users Conference in Washington DC this week. These blogs this week will reflect my time away from home and my experience there. Enjoy

I go in this morning and get my conference credentials and free gifts that they give us (usually a map book, an awesome pen, a notebook and a nice carrying bag) for attending. It;s day one of the conference and it's going to be a long one.

Jack Dangermond, the founder of ESRI will once again be the keynote speaker at the Plenary session as well as Vice Admiral Robert D. Sharp, Dr. Healy Hamilton.

This will consume our morning until lunch, then after lunch it will be either me speaking with vendors or setting in on a few classes until this evening when the Department of Energy User Group will have their semi-annual meeting with the other being in San Diego.

It's going to be a full day for me, that's for sure. Watch Facebook as I'm taking my 360° camera with me this trip.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

ESRI Users Conference Day 4

This week Michelle and I will be traveling to the West Coast as I attend the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego. This weeks blogs are pre-written and just a bit of information as to where we are and what we are doing for the week.

While this is not the last day of the Conference, it pretty much is as there are a couple sessions tomorrow morning and it winds up at Noon. This will be my last day here as Michelle and I will be heading back to West Virginia tomorrow.

I'll be attending one more day of specialized training, and maybe spending a little time with Michelle. With Sunday being a travel day and tomorrow being a travel day, my billable hours are going to be way up this week, so today may mostly be our day. There are a few things I would like to see however, so I'll probably be going to the convention center for part of the day.

There is a big social gathering tonight, Michelle and I are still debating if we want to attend or not. I guess we'll play it by ear.

Have yourselves a great day.

ESRI Users Conference Day 3

This week Michelle and I will be traveling to the West Coast as I attend the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego. This weeks blogs are pre-written and just a bit of information as to where we are and what we are doing for the week.

Today is going to be another day like yesterday, a continuation of seeing new technologies and a chance to see in what ways others are using this technology in innovative ways. I think I am on the cusp of one myself with the development of a Federal asset validation tool that I have been working on for the last year or so. There is one other National Lab that has done something similar, but I'm wanting something robust, accurate and that can produce real time information and have the spatial database to support the numbers.

There are a number of sessions today that will help me address that and beyond. I'll be attending about any and all training I can fit into my schedule where there is no conflict. Printing out the full agenda, it's 187 pages in length, now it is up to me to determine what I want to see and where and hope it doesn't conflict with other things in the same time slots. I'm just a kid in a candy store here, but I have already planned what I would like to see.

This evening I'll be attending the Department of Energy's GIS Users group. We met in January and it's nice to be able to meet, put faces and names to some pretty important people including those at Headquarters.

I may even find a few RTI people here.

Have yourselves a great day. 

ESRI Users Conference Day 2

This week Michelle and I will be traveling to the West Coast as I attend the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego. This weeks blogs are pre-written and just a bit of information as to where we are and what we are doing for the week.

With a day of Plenary under our belts, now it is time to bet into the nuts and bolts and meat of this visit. Now is when we can choose to visit a number of more specific topics that are being addressed and also get some hands on training.

This is also when we get to see first hand the new state of the art innovations that are being rolled out. I know Trimble who is one of the big sponsors should have SiteVision fully functional by now. When I spoke to them in DC in January, they were still in the development stage. It was something that really caught my attention earlier this year and I'm a little excited to see it in action.

Have yourselves a great day.

Day One of Users Conference

This week Michelle and I will be traveling to the West Coast as I attend the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego. This weeks blogs are pre-written and just a bit of information as to where we are and what we are doing for the week.

Today I will be at the San Diego Convention Center and on the agenda is a day of Plenary Sessions with some very special guersts. Jack Dangermond the founder of ESRI will speak and will have some very special guests to also speak to us today. Being that this is my third users conference, I've been to two Federal Users Conferences in Washington DC including the one earlier this year, I kind of know that this first day is a day of listening to people speak and this particular one is going to be the largest one ever. It's also the 50th Anniversary of ESRI and this is the Super Bowl of GIS.

Today will be filled with me sitting and listening to people speak, Michelle on the other hand is probably going to be enjoying herself at the San Diego Zoo. We're both going to have very memorable days.

We'll probably grab something to eat this evening somewhere local, as we can get a good nights sleep in anticipation of tomorrows festivities.

Flying to San Diego

This week Michelle and I will be traveling to the West Coast as I attend the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego. This weeks blogs are pre-written and just a bit of information as to where we are and what we are doing for the week.

We will be leaving Pittsburgh International Airport this morning on United Airlines Flight 519 at 8:05. We are making our first stop at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. We shall have a minor layover there and will depart Chicago at 10:15 (11:15 EST) on United Airlines Flight 1590 to sunny San Diego and the San Diego International Airport. We should arrive at 12:30 Pacific Time (or 3:30 EST).

We will be staying at the Four Points by Sheraton San Diego for the week. It's in Little Italy and about a mile from the San Diego Zoo. We will be there a few hours before checkin, so this may be my best time to actually get to see the city a little bit. Michelle will have the week to enjoy the sites.

Have yourselves a great day.

Coming Home

All good things must come to an end, and for me that means that our wonderful Federal Users Conference is over with and I will be returning to West Virginia and will be in the office for at least part of the day.

I'm going to try to get out of here before traffic gets too heavy on I-495, I was fortunate enough to do that a few years ago, today I won't be leaving the hotel at Midnight and will be heading back at a time when more people will probably be commuting to work. Washington DC is a very busy area, and now that the Government is back open, it's just going to be that much more chaotic.

I will however be back home sometime today, and most of my time today will in fact be travel time as I'll be fighting with DC traffic. Good thing I brought a Federal Car rather than my own, I have a 5 speed and that could be a pain in the butt especially if I get stuck in traffic.

Have yourselves a good day today, I'll be cruising home and listening to some music on my road trip home.

Hi ho hi ho

Conference Day 2

Well day one of the ESRI Federal Users Conference is in the books, and now we are on day two of the conference which could be just as long as yesterday.

Today is going to be a day filled with Professional Development Workshops and visiting the Expo exhibits to see what new and innovative things companies are trying to sell to the GIS Community. Hopefully Trimble will be there as I just got a Geo7X a few months ago and would love to talk to a few people about it now that I am more familiar with it. I know Nearmap is going to be there, and it is a subscription we are considering buying, but our area is so specific, I'm not sure that they could provide anything more detailed than I pull in from WVU.

There is a get together this year after the Conference is over with at the Museum of History (Smithsonian). Three years ago I had to be back in Morgantown in the early morning hours as Michelle was going to have surgery that morning, so I went back to the hotel and got some sleep before I made it back to NETL to drop off the car and pick up mine, then come back home and pick up Michelle and have her at the hospital by 5:00 AM. Tonight I don't have to rush so much and I can go and network a little bit and learn what types of projects others are doing.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Conference Day 1

Here is where I will be for much of this morning, I'm at the ESRI Federal Users Conference and will be in the Plenary Session all morning watching and listening to new innovations from Jack Dangermond, who is the father of GIS. He is the Bill Gates of Microsoft and the Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the self made multi-billionaire founder of ESRI and GIS.

I got to meet the man three years ago as he was getting out of his cab on the second day of the Conference a few years ago. He's very approachable, very kind and friendly and one heck of a nice guy. I can say in my profession, I have met the founder and the innovator.

After the Plenary Session this morning, we will break into training, where you can go and sharpen your skills with the new technologies that are being developed. Last time I went and picked up quite a few tips and tricks that I use to this day still.

After the Conference is over with, the Department of Energy will have their GIS Users gathering. This is mostly some people from the other national labs discussing what they are doing. I was in on the original meeting three years ago, so it will be nice to see how this has developed. I can also speak with a couple of my old bosses who are in Oregon and talk to them about how I had the software installed on a very locked down LAN and how it is working. I was the Guinea Pig, and made it happen. I should be downtown DC until later tonight.

Have yourselves a great day, I plan on it .

Hi ho hi ho

And I'm Off

It's been three years since I have attended, but I will once again be going to the ESRI Federal Users Conference again this week, woo hoo this is like Disney World for GIS Geeks like myself.

 I'll be heading out from my office later this morning to head to Arlington Virginia where I will be staying at the same hotel I stayed at last time I went down. I usually stay north on 270, but a couple years ago I stayed here and really liked the hotel. I was very close to everything, and could easily get to the National Mall with no problem.

I'm leaving later this morning to avoid the heavy traffic that goes with the Washington Beltway I-465. I'm going to be traveling at non-peak hours just after everyone gets to work and before the chaos when everyone will be trying to get home from work.

Have a great day and wish me safe travels.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Well I sit again in a quiet household, Phin and I are up and everyone else is sleeping. I'm collecting my thoughts for the day and writing my first blog in a while as all of them this past week were written last weekend.

I can't say it wasn't an eventful week, I did have a few OMG moments. The first was seeing the technology that is now being done with drones and creating 3D Models. Professionally the last time I was this awestruck was when I saw Google Earth for the very first time.

Thursday I had a my all time professional high before the days festivities started, I saw Jack Dangermond getting out of a cab so I walked over and introduced myself and had a moment that will forever be embedded into my head to speak with the man who my profession. In the GIS world. this is God so to speak and I had the opportunity to meet him. I was ecstatic.

From that high I had to call Michelle and then I hit the low for the week. I could tell something was wrong, and came to find out that her partner in Crime at work as they call themselves had just lost her 42 year old husband to a long, very hard fought and very valiant battle with cancer. Lydia is 37 years old, the same age Michelle was when she became a widow, so this was a very hard thing for Michelle. Our plans for today is to be with Lydia and her family as they lay Joe to his final resting place.

Yesterday Michelle had to be at the hospital at 5:00 for a surgery. I left washing DC around midnight on a couple of hours of sleep to drive about 4 hours through the snow in the middle of the night to avoid the heavy DC traffic around the beltway and all roads leading into and out of DC to surprise her and be with her when she had her surgery. She has lost so much weight that there is no layer of fat around her diaphragm and a bone was catching and snagging that she had to have it filed down. I made it back to take her to the hospital at 5:00 AM and be with her, I kind of surprised her that I was here as she did not expect me till after the surgery. She is resting and doing fine, but she is still in a great deal of pain. She's a trooper and will recover quickly.

I can't say that the past 48 hours haven't been very eventful for me because my life was eventful on steroids for that period of time. By last night I was just exhausted and crashed and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I slept straight through until about the time I normally get up.

I'm up and rested and ready for the challenges of a new day.

Have yourselves a great day and enjoy yourselves.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look through my 30,000+ lost moments in time that I have either captured with a lens, scanned or just stolen from some place on the internet. I like to post up one picture and relive it briefly for everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task like todays and sometimes it is a struggle to find that special picture, one this it always is is a whole lot of fun for this writer.

This weeks picture goes back a couple of years, Michelle and I headed to Washington DC to see if we could catch the Cherry Blossoms take bloom. We went down in 2013 around the same time period, however we had no luck. In 2014 when this picture was taken we hit it just right at the peak period.

This is a picture of my standing by the Tidal Basin and getting my picture taken. Right now ironically as this picture posts, I am not too far from where this picture was taken. I chose this picture because it was a great day for Michelle and I, we spent the entire day at the National Mall and the Smithsonian. I may be at the Smithsonian this evening as my conference finishes up.

Have yourselves a fantastic day.

Hi ho hi ho

ESRI Federal Users Conference.

Well I'm here in Washington DC getting ready to attend my first National ESRI User's Conference. I have attended a couple of the smaller state and regional ones before, but this is my first multi day Conference on a National Level. This is not the biggest one, that occurs in San Diego, but this one is one of the bigger ones other than that one.

I have a full itinerary of sessions that I want to sit on and get up to date with the technology that I make a career out of. This is the opening day and the first half of the day will be filled with registration, the mass meeting where everyone attends as well as the expo where I can see so many new and exciting developments before they are released. The afternoon I have a few sessions penciled in that I want to see. As a Geographer I am going to be like a kid in a candy store both today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be the busy day, I have 7 sessions that I will be sitting in on, as well as a DOE Users Group Luncheon and the networking reception tomorrow evening at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Have yourselves a Great day, I'm going to.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, I'm the first one to recover from that daily loss to the Sandman and am up collecting my thoughts and surfing the WWW. TV is not on and I noticed it is only 10° outside, so I might head back to bed and my electric blanket in the very near future.

Michelle got all of the W-2's done yesterday so she may be off for the weekend instead of having to go in. She thought she was going to have to work, but it looks like she may not have to now.

I ordered a book from Amazon this week and it arrived last night. Probably a skill I am going to need to brush up on a little to stay ahead of the game. I've also been looking at other avenues to export and present information. I just got a copy of Office 2013 installed here at home, it has the capabilities of doing dynamic heat maps that previous versions of office does not. It's pretty simplistic, but the end user has to have Office 2013 for it to work properly and all of my clients have Office 2010 installed. I'm ready for them when they do a system wide upgrade to Office although I'm hearing we are going to Office 365.

No plans for the day yet, I have done a lot of work on the Hall Family Tree this week. I currently have 124 people in the database and it is growing. I've been adding pictures and information about people as I come across it. A few trips to a graveyard or two with my camera will probably help solve a few of the mysteries and help me fill it in a little bit better. I've got a request from Alaska to get a picture of a certain tombstone, so I guess I can add that to my list of things to do. I've added her entry to Find a Grave and have even started to update a few entries there.

Have a great day and stay warm.