Today was quite a departure from my usual Wednesday work day. At the request of my boss, I registered for and attended a seminar on eDiscovery at the Southfield office of Microsoft.
It was from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. According to Yahoo Maps, it was supposed to be a 14 minute trip, so I doubled the time (based on rush hour traffic) and added another 15 minutes to allow for parking, being confused, finding the right Suite, etc. So, I left at 8:15 AM.
I was right! There were a few traffic slowdowns, I did get confused where to go (the parking lot itself was just huge) and I had problems once in the building. I got on an elevator and the doors closed, but the buttons only went to the 11th floor. Microsoft is on the 19th floor, BTW. So, I asked a fellow traveler how I would get to the 19th floor and he said it was another bank of elevators. So, I went back down, found the other elevators (which only went from the 12th floor to the 19th) and finally got upstairs.
Once inside and registered (with my temporary badge hanging on my neck) I checked it out. It was a very nice conference room, with three large projector screens next to the podium. They had a breakfast spread laid out (croissants, bagels and cream cheese, a fruit salad, with juices, coffee and water). However, I feared eating or drinking, not wanting to spend my time in the restroom instead of the conference room. Later, at "lunch," I regretted this decision!
I guess I should explain eDiscovery. It is the newest, hottest topic in lawsuits, where any and all electronic data is subpoenaed. So, it involves electronic data storage methodology, data recovery, backup tapes, disaster recovery tapes, etc. This has come up at my work, so I was sent to gather intel!
First up was a lawyer, who had a compelling discussion for an hour. In fact, lawyers were in the clear majority in the audience. There were maybe 30 people there and only maybe 5 of us were IT guys. You could tell, though, lol! The male lawyers all had expensive suits, while the few IT guys were dressed, well, let's just say a little more casual, LOL!
His presentation was riveting, and I'm not kidding! Interesting, dare I say fascinating, case studies. Then, we took a 10 minute break, eating and drinking (not me) and mingling (I chatted up a nice looking female lawyer around my age).
Next came the IT guy. BUT, he did not deal in details (which I wanted) as he was from a company that you (my company) would hire to improve your data retention ability. So, there was very little "meat" I could use, just generalities and why we should hire his company to fix our company. Not good.
Speaking of "not good" (although I suppose it depends on your perspective), then lunch was served. It was a buffet, catered by a well-known chain Mexican restaurant and consisted of the following: There was a tray of raw flour tortillas, then metal trays, kept warm with Sterno cans. The pans contained steak bits, chicken bits, white rice and black beans. There were dishes of salsa, avocado spread, sour cream, green chili sauce, sour cream and lastly, a pan of shredded cheese. My new lady lawyer friend commented that usually there were sandwiches, or maybe tuna rollups, but this would be messy.
I fixed two tortillas, one beef and one chicken, and a little bit of everything else. I grabbed a water and went back to eat. My new friend was right! It was messy as hell and not that tasty. Then, I left.
I got back to work and spent the rest of the afternoon, burping up black beans.
Once home, I put the rest of the pulled pork on simmer to warm up for dinner (might as well stick with Mexican). Then I came in to write down my day. At this point, I stopped to go listen to the Mayor of Detroit give his speech to explain the scandal that has erupted over sex, lies and text messages. Not that I think it will make any difference. Detroiters elected him (twice) and Detroiters will stand by him, no matter what.
I changed the bandage on my hand. Then I made up two more pulled pork sandwiches and added chips and dill pickles to my plate. I went in and watched TV until 10:30 PM, then switched to reading until I fell asleep.