UIUC Reflections/Projections Review

There were 8 companies at the career fair as I recall. A couple insurance companies, a north central state, a local that makes full motion flight simulators, and your friendly neighborhood software megacorp. I talked to everyone except the big boy, as by that time, everyone wanted to take off. I had a short sit-down interview with the flight simulator company. They sound really interesting, and the engineer who interviewed me said that they would call back in about a week or two. We then all headed back to the hotel, dumped the interview clothing, and headed out for Fazoli's catered dinner at the UIUC YMCA.

Fazoli's dinner was decent. The pasta was ok, the breadsticks were really good. Carrie, JHort, and Matt showed up just in time to down some before the UIUC folks packed up the leftover food for home. (Sounds familiar from our ACM meetings.)

We went to the chocolate bar at this point. They have a very tasty Mexican Cocoa. Very tasty, with plenty of almonds, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Later, we again went back to base. We waited until the evening crew got to the hotel, then Carrie, Matt, JR, and Brian went out to Joe's Brewery. Hooker, Brenneke, JHort,and myself took off to Chevy's for beer (in my case) and frozen drinks (for everyone else). Most of the evening group went with us and got a table near the bar.

On Saturday, I am told, there were 3 good talks. The first talk was a mixture and comparison of locks to computer security. Well done, and on a subject that I was interested in. The other good talks were one on Kerberos, and one from the founders of a game development company. That was pretty much it. The Microsoft guy was slated to talk about a "cyber autoimmune system", but ended up on "Buffer Overflows and You.", and how they've only really been fully realized in the last year.

The lockpicking guy (apologies to him, because I'm too lazy to look up his name in the appers), was the first talk of Saturday. The next guy up was to talk about human-computer interaction. He basically ended up tossing Buddhist philosophy at us about how it is our duty to provide not just material, but also mental and spiritual satisfaction. Granted, some of the guy's work was kind of impressive, but he turned off much of the audience by phrasing it the way he did. That talk got me to feeling like I could have saved some cash by sitting at home with a cigar and a length of rubber hose, because I can blow smoke up my own ass for free.

Lunch was Subway, not bad, better than usual for subway catering, which usually gets kind of soggy.

After the Microsoft guy, we walked back to the main conference room. (Apparently we had just missed one of the good presentations.) This is when three guys started in on a speech about basic computer security. When they asked how many power users were in the audience, a little over half of us raised our hands. They then proceeded to talk about the elements of a good password.

I walked out of that one in less than 5 minutes.

I would generally like people to underestimate my degree of knowledge when speaking, but that was just fucking insulting.

So I called up Matt and Carrie, who had found the best farkin coffee house in the city. Shortly thereafter, Brenneke and I walked out there. Free wifi or a premium connection for a small fee. Great chai. Everyone else was very satisfied with their drinks. JHort showed up too eventually. I was later told that the speakers had actually gone into buffer overflows, complete with code examples, but I'm pretty sure my brain would have leapt out and killed someone by then.

Catered Papa John's was for dinner. Hurray for PJ's.

Carrie and Matt wanted to go back to Joe's Brewery this evening. Hearing that a good time was had last night, I went there with most of the over 21 crowd, while the minors went to a house party set up the weekend of the event. A good time was had by most I guess. Carrie danced a lot. I drank a lot and danced a bit A very small bit. House music and crowded floors are not my idea of an ideal environment, but I haven't been to a rave with a good trance DJ in well over a year, maybe two, so I shouldn't even really consider that a point of comparison anymore.

I am told that I drank about 2 pitchers of Woodchuck hard cider and 2 pints of Guinness. I was feeling no pain by the time we went back to the hotel. (Worry not. Designated drivers are your friend, and they get free soda at any good bar/club.) There's something to be said for clubs, people watching. That's just about it. They don't make very good bars. As Matt and

I have collaboratively said, we know our bar. We walk down into our bar. We talk to our bartender. His name is Mike. He owns the bar, is a UMR alum, and used to be on the St. Pat's board. He's a great guy who smokes and can ride a bike. He also knows how to pour a Guinness, and has the time to do so, unlike the people at the club.

No hangover the next day. Once again I was one of the first up and ready to go. Everyone else in both rooms and from both party groups were so whacked that we didn't make it to the one session that looked like it might be worth something that morning. So we all got packed and relaxed for a while until checkout time. Then we dropped off our keys and headed out for Papa Dells, an EXCELLENT pizza place in Champaigne-Urbana. Carrie's car and the Tahoe made it, but a light changed and two cars were left behind. We waited on the other side of the turn, but never saw them come. Kelly's phone was apparently dead, because we couldn't call her.

We continued driving for Papa Dells eventually. Parking, we stood out front so that lost people could see us. Kelly and Justin saw us but drove by. They waved, so I'm pretty sure they saw us, then just kept driving. I haven't seen them yet. Eh, their problem not mine.

The other car saw us and parked and we went into Papa Dells.

Papa Dell's in really, GOOD pizza. Five of us got a large (13") stuffed pizza with mushrooms, black olives, and sausage. It was incredibly tasty and filling. I ate 1.5 pieces of an 8 piece pizza and had to give up. Very tasty, very filling, great stuff.

We then got back into the cars and made for the highway. We decided to see new scenery, and took the highway that we hadn't taken last time. After getting gas and driving for about an hour, we stopped at a roadside reststop to stretch, smoke, and bathrooms. The ladybugs were swarming the area over the sidewalk quite heavily, landing on people and being annoying. I found that they really didn't intrude too far into the shaded wooded area, so we set up stretch/smoke shop there. Eventually getting back into the car, I slept for a majority of the trip this time. Which was good, as I hadn't been getting alot of sleep.

We got back to St. Louis and decided to stop by West County Mall and check out the Apple Store/mallrat a bit. I did a quick walkthrough. The problem is, there's nothing in a mall that I want to really look at. Abercrombie, American Eagle, and all those stores can lick my nuts for all I care. And that's pretty much what's in malls that could apply to me.

In any case, I walked through the mall, stopping by the knife store to (very briefly) look over their overpriced stainless steel crap. Then up to the outdoors store. Where they had no hats. They had baseball caps and stocking hats, but not a HAT in the place. No wool hats, no felt hats, no canvas boonies hats, no bucket hats. No hats. Fuckers.

Everyone left as the mall was closing, then we headed south on 270, then east on 44 back to Rolla. We decided on spaghetti for dinner, so we called up the clone to get some things for us and Kat volunteered to get the stuff organized and cooked while we were on the road. She made her cheesy pesto bread and a very tasty tomato meat sauce.

Food was eaten and enjoyed. And that was how the trip ended. And, after Fazoli's, Subway, Papa Johns, Papa Dells, and spaghetti at home, we are Italianed out for a while.

And that was the trip.

Choice quotes:

Matt: How did you get an A in stat?
Grue: . . .
Matt: My god dude. Don't ever do that again.
-------
Carrie: No one could possibly be that dense.
Grue: I'm sorry, could you say that again, I'm certain I misheard you.

In any case, that was the trip. The conference itself was worth 15$ for the food and tshirt alone, add in the job fair and it's a bonus. The hotel was cheap. I can't complain about other expenses, because they were for food, drink, Drink, etc, and totally at my discretion.

Final verdict: Conference sucked ass, but the roadtrip was nice.