MaryMaryQuiteContrary

well, my lovelies, i just got back from the best party. It was an appreciation dinner for Sun Certified developers. I love these guys. I personally love -- with all of my heart -- all Sun Certified developers.  

this place was packed...

with a bevy of Sun execs...

including Mark Bauhaus who was there to express his personal appreciation to these guy.

Leslie McNeill put on this party. And she's the hostess with the mostess because she turned a blind eye when I showed up and started taking pictures.

there were give-aways! the best give-aways I've seen at the entire JavaOne conference! Four -- count them four -- leather Java jackets and a fancy schmancy DVD player...

as well as some gift certificates...

and Certification Exam vouchers (or something like that; didn't really get what all the prizes were...) these guys won those...

and these guys were the grand prize winners -- each of them winning a leather jacket with the exception of the guy who won the DVD player (he's holding it.) He wanted to trade with one of the leather jacket guys but no takers. And the guy on the right is from Cyprus, just wanted to throw that in.

What an awesome event.

Your action item: Get yourself Sun Certified. Do it now. Remember, I personally love all developers who are Sun Certified. Get Sun Certified. And feel the love.

:-)

mary

 guess who's blog is pointing to mine... guess who's stinkin' blog is pointing to my blog???

(and i mean that figuratively, Jonathan... i use the word for emphasis, not as a descriptive)

Jonathan Schwartz. that's who.

i am just so excited i swear i am going to pop. i'm going to pop. and there will be no more marymary.

breathe.

mary

so one of the hottest things happening at JavaOne is the Java Timeline.. it's in the underground tunnel/hall connecting the north hall of Moscone with the south hall... it's got all the key milestones of the Java platform... folks are adding their own impressions/memories in this whole impromptu graffiti kinda thing...

it's really quite neat... kinda like reading the writing on the bathroom walls in high school...

... hey, wait a minute... what's that one right under the BDK...

... just to the left of the 200K downloads....

... well would you look....

...at that!

:-)

mary

p.s. this is so much fun. i just can't believe i get paid to do this!

The Looking Glass session that's going on right this very minute... it's so packed you can't even your foot in the door... not to worry, I'll get to see Hideya at the Project Looking Glass Community Meeting going on in about an hour... but in the meanwhile, I wanted to give you a look at Looking Glass (and its father) through my eyes... (sort of; i stole these pictures)

at the hockey game last night...

Sun Microsystems vs. Apple....

total blow-out.

Sun     7

Apple 1

we rock!

mary

here's the real mascott for Tiger...

special thanks to Michelle Hack for sharing her little guy with us...

mary

did another round of the pavillion floor, scouting for give-aways... here are my top picks...

Go to the Sun Microsystems pavillion, spin the wheel for fabulous prizes, including...

your choice ....

of some seirously fabulous t-shirts! or stop by the iForce pod in the Sun Pavillion and get a piece...

 of this action (the pens, people. the pens.)... but wait, there's more... go to InterSystems ...

...and get yourself some legos (free tip: these make perfect stocking stuffers)... or head on over to Borland

... for a thing-a-ma-gadget that you can plug into your USB drive (not quite sure what it does, actually) or a chance to win this electric guitar. (free tip to Borland: it's nice to have your chief scientist sign the guitar, but next time shoot higher... Neil Young would be good... he's local... you totally could have made that happen...)

or you could head over to Unisys...

... for some luggage tags... or go see James Leonard at Kinzan...

... for a shot at a hot t-shirt or one of those bouncy-balls that lights up...

in summary: i don't care how many jobs the economy created, we're still in the middle of a recession. evidence: the quality and quantity of give-aways. mediocre. seriously mediocre. with the exception of the Sun booth of course -- some really hot give-aways there.

:-)

mary

JavaOne after dark (note, lower case) is really something... we're going to tell the story with pictures here...

there's Dr. Josh working the room -- here he's talking to a guy from the University of Maryland. Go Terps!

anything good to eat around here? Sushi!

Jennifer Kotzen, the girl who let the Jini out of the bottle, gets everybody lined up for the macerena.

Dr. Josh taking his turn at karaoke. he sings "Pink Cadalliac" (it's that whole Click and Clack thing).  Rob Gingell -- Vice President, Sun Fellow and General Session Keynote speaker on Thursday --  waiting for his turn backstage... 

the guy from Nokia who won the award for best J2ME spec lead, belting out his karaoke tune. Rob Gingell -- Vice President, Sun Fellow and General Session Keynote speaker on Thursday --  still waiting. he's getting impatient.

this party's all about community, people. java.net, jcp, jini, jxta... do you feel the love?

over to the Sun Java Studio Creator party... let's get this party started rockin'

work it girl! you da bomb!

hey, look... there's that Sun Microsystems hottie Bao, who's already got not one recurring role on the MaryMaryQuiteContary role, but two. Wanna score points with Bao? join SDN! (Pam, not to imply that you're not a hottie. You're totally a hottie too.)

i've had enough... think it's time to call it a night...

mary

The Inner Circle roundtable, featuring Tim Bray

(doesn't he look totally different in business atire? i almost didn't recognize him without his hat...)....and 

Simon Phipps was great.

really facinating dialogue and seriously enjoyed it. the Inner Circle members were into it... they kept asking all these questions.

which was nice....

but after a while, i couldn't stop looking at my watch... these people were going on and on... and the parties were starting....and i was already tripple-booked when it came to parties and i needed to get moving....

:-)

mary

p.s. if you spill your plate onto the floor and somebody comes over to help you clean it up the appropriate behavior would be to get down onto the floor and help. it is inapprpriate to let the kind stranger clean up the mess you made as you sit there and pretend nothing happened. if my son ever pulls something like that -- and i don't care how old he is -- i will smack him upside the head. which is what i should have done do you.

The celebrated authors of Core J2EE Patterns were at JavaOne signing their book...

that's Dan Malks in the foreground.

kinda scary.

mary

you are addicted to GonzoMoFo. admit it. just like you like to watch those reality tv shows. and you always pretend that you don't.

so what's the deal with this guy, Gonzo? who is he?

i'll tell you who he is: Spiderman.

and i got a picture with him (score!). i look like a royal dufus in this picture.....

... but i'm publishing it anyway because it's not so often you get a photo opp with Spiderman.

mary