Power Outages and a visit with a friend (by yag)

Spent yesterday with an old friend and former co-worker, Bill House. He is a principal in a company that writes software for debtor self settlement (it manages payment scheduling for those having a hard time getting out of debt). One of the cool things he showed me is a functional language he wrote in VB.NET - to let others easily create workflows and scripts that handle the systems that evaluate the various payment options. Pretty amazing stuff. Discussing security with them was interesting as well - obviously this data must remain highly secured, as does the access to the system. Some of the things they go through to keep a high level of security was really interesting. I'm hoping to get a case study or a story out of them at some point. I think a lot of people could learn from what they do.

Today, of course, was the power outage in LA. Rob Copeland and I had just finished lunch. Thankfully we had enough cash to pay <g>. We then got to trudge up 15 flights of stairs to drop our laptops, etc., in my room (he's on 27 - no way we're walking up there), then we headed over to register (the power came back on, thankfully) and walk the "Big Room". Pretty amazing - it hosts the meals, Ask The Experts, Booths and Track Lounges. This is going to be an amazing event. Can't wait for the start tomorrow.