BrainStream: I took Kirky out last

I took Kirky out last night for her birthday. We're at the XML DevCon conference at the New York Marriott Marquis this week. She's attending sessions for MIT and I'm running the press room for work.

I took her to The View Restaurant on the 47th floor of the Marquis and we had a nice, relaxing dinner. I would have said fantastic but when I made reservations two weeks, I told them it was my wife's birthday and we'd like a window seat. I was told that they would take a note down so the hostess took that into consideration when seating us. Guess what? With several 2-person window seats available, they sat us on the far edge of the revolving floor. I was not a happy camper.

The food, as my co-worker had told me, wasn't stellar but people go to "The View" for, well, the view. I had surf & turf and my lobster claw was quite wet and slurpable...while the rest was chewy and rubbery. My "medium" filet mingnon was overcooked. The gravy was good though as were the haricot vert and asparagus. Kirky's meal was decent....and the dessert - a chocolate bunt cake with vanilla creme in the center and chocolate malt ice cream on top was decadent.

The best part of the night was that I got to relax. There's been a lot going on at work that has me nervous, stressed, and disappointed (to be discussed publicly later), and it's carried over to the conference. It was nice to sit and talk with Kirky. But the best part of the dinner was the thunderstorm that descended upon the city right in front of our eyes. The entire meal we were treated to a gorgeous light display. We both love thunderstorms so this was definitely a treat.

Tonight I'm trying my hand at a "Guru Dinner" with several of the speakers at the conference as well as some of the local New York, non-conference participants. I'll link the "page" with all the details shortly before I head out and I'm sure there will be lots of flashing digital cameras with fun had by all.

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BrainStream: The Modularization of XHTML is

The Modularization of XHTML is now a W3C Recommendation.

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BrainStream: I'm tired. Every year I

I'm tired. Every year I go to XML DevCon and every year, I try to gather together the braintrust of the standards community. This year was no different but this year, I set up a Web site for the invitation and called it "Guru Dinner". It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk with everyone....but everyone chatted with everyone else. I also picked a restaurant that was a bit more expensive than I wanted. The original menu I found on the Web was a bit off. Also, we had so many people, they split us on two sides of the room.

I think next year I'll find a good pizza place or easy, inexpensive, good food place close to the hotel that can accomodate a group. I'll soon have pictures up for all to enjoy.

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