Woowar

• hanging out with some friends I don't see nearly enough of when we're all on our home side of the pond ... with apologies to those I didn't link to
• making some great new friends, some of whom were known only via blogs, and some I'd only met once or twice before (again, apologies to the link-less)
• the renewed belief in Lotus within IBM
• the new Lotus focus on the 'S' bit of the 'SMB' market, including hardware appliances (!) and SaaS offerings
• Notes 8.0.1 - wow, a lot of new stuff for a point-oh-one release
• Domino Designer on Eclipse getting tantalisingly close
• news about the new 'xpages' feature going public for the first time
• getting a 'shot in the arm' to start blogging properly after a few months of dabbling
• finding that the Lotusphere wireless LAN is still up and running on Friday afternoon - nice
• Nathan's hair - enough said
• drinking Crown Royal whisky** at 5am in the Dolphin rotunda

The worst:

• the speaker at the opening session - Bob who? Why?*
• predictable disappointment at the details of the Notes-on-iPhone technology
• still hearing about Websphere Portal in the opening session - palpable waves of 'yeah yeah get on with it' rippling through the audience
• seeing that purple Websphere logo in the constellation of Lotus-branded product logos - "sticks out like a turd in a punchbowl" according to ... you know who you are
• drinking Crown Royal whisky** at 5am in the Dolphin rotunda

* Imagine an international conference in London where the special guest is Anthony Worrall Thompson talking about the Cider Brandy industry in Dorset, and you'll see just how entertaining and relevant this was to a global audience. Never heard of Anthony Worrall Thompson? - well, you've got the point too then.

** To whoever supplied the Crown Royal, thank you, you have my undying gratitude, and that of my doctor ...