Explicitly and without apology a marketing vehicle MaryMaryQuiteContrary

ok, real quick,

1. we've got a real nail-biter going on in Friday Free Stuff*. The prize* is still on the table. You gotta be smart to win this week, people. (it's a bonified
Puzzler, courtesy Click and Hack) Jump in asap if you want to play (and win*). Click and Hack are officiating. So they get to decide when we've got a winner. (it's not at all beneath me to up the ante in the prize department to fan the fire, as it were.... so consider this official notice: i've just added a leather business card holder and six (temporary) Duke tattoos to the bounty.

2. The week ahead -- get out your calendars:

Expert Exchange Forum Descriptions
Topic	Date
Opteron and x86: Raising the Standard on Industry Standards Find out why there is very little 'standard' about Sun's new industry-standard servers and workstations. Join John Fowler, EVP of Sun's Network Systems Group for a 60-minute live Q&A session. Together with a panel of Sun experts, he'll answer your questions regarding Sun's low cost, high performance Opteron systems. See who's on the expert panel with John.... Register	Thursday, Sept. 9th 10-11 a.m. PT 1-2 p.m. ET 6-7 p.m. GMT

3. Did you know that Dr. Josh Bloch of Click and Hack fame won Most Outstanding Spec Lead for J2SE/J2EE Platform? Of course you did. You're a MaryMaryQuiteContary reader. You got that news within minutes of it happening during the celebrated, informative and oh-so-entertaining JavaOne coverage. I just thought i'd mention it again because it's an easy way to

• a) talk about one of my most favorite techno celebs in the whole world
• b) try to drive some traffic to a preety neat-o roundup that's currently running on the front page of sun.com, and
• c) shamelessly plug my JavaOne coverage because i just went through the exercise of categorizing my blog entries to make it easier for you to find stuff. and i want to get some mileage out of that effort. (i know some of the pictures are all screwed up. sorry. fixing that is just more than i can manage right now)
  

4. Personal update: first day of school for Number 1. it was a lot easier this year (first grade) than it was last (kindergarten). she was so excited and ready to go back to school. (i'm sure she'll grow out of that.) so of the 22 kids in her class, i know 18 of them so far... most were in her class from last year; a few others were on her soccer team. so i have just a handful to get to know by name and we can cross that big action item off the list. making good progress on securing the coveted distinction of room mother. i think i've got it. but i don't want to ask for confirmation because that would seem too eager. the banana cake was an unmitigated disaster. i was up till 11:30 baking that stupid thing. i was too embarrassed to take it to school. it was a solid, sticky lump. so we took the teacher chocolates instead, provoking the remark from another parent: "Suck up." I don't take that personally. I'm a crazy woman on a mission. you gotta run fast if you wanna keep up with me.

so that's the story today, folks.

mary

* Friday Free Stuff is not a contest. it's me giving stuff away that i personally own. i pay for shipping with stamps that i buy at the post office.