I had the opportunity to attend the FAIR 2005 Conference in Orlando Wednesday and Thursday, and actually got to do a short presentation on two websites that I put together for USF: the Planning, Performance, and Accountability site and the Survey Research site. The presentation was a success and I received some very good feedback from the attendees. Although I’ve done a number of presentations for the sites in the past (and it turns out, even Governor Bush has seen the PPA website, Believe It Or Not™), I was still slightly nervous at the beginning of the presentation.

There were a few other good presentations on using SPSS to present data on the web, as well as some GIS tips and tricks. I met a couple knowledgeable ladies from the FL Dept of Education and a very nice guy from the Board of Governors (the BOG oversee all colleges and universities in Florida). Overall, the conference was definitely beneficial, and it’s got me thinking of a few innovative ideas for our office here at USF. Stay tuned for more action - Same bat time, same bat place.

The hotel I stayed at Wednesday night was the Orlando World Center Marriott. The place was massive, and considering it’s the world’s largest Marriott, it damn well should be. With 2,000 rooms spread acroos 3 towers, it was a bit difficult navigating the resort, but with all of the conferences going on in the hotel, wondering around was rather entertaining. I thought I’d be cool and skip out on all the O-town traffic last night by leaving after dinner with the conference crew. We didn’t wrap up with the food until 9, though, and by the time I took the shuttle out to the parking garage and got on the road, it was nearly 9:45. I ran into a short 30 minute delay and things picked up again but not for long. Sure enough, they were raising a bridge into place near 98 in Lakeland, so that pushed my arrival time all the way back to 12:45 am. Not fun, considering I had to be in early today for a big meeting. The traffic jam was so bad, I nearly took 98 to Dade City, then 52 to I-75 and head south for home. I kept thinking the traffic would pick up, though, so I just stuck it out. Bad Idea. I-4 is one more reason I will hopefully never live in Orlando.

Random side note that’s got nothing to do with this post but that’s still newsworthy: I’m getting a roomie at the end of the month. It’s a roomie I’ve had before, going all the way back to a summer at Leo. This promises to be a good time ;-)