Back From Orlando ... Final HP TX1000 Impressions

I came home from Orlando Wednesday night, but with Thursday loaded up with a work back-log and classes, I'm just now starting to get back into the swing of things. I think I'll need the weekend to get off of East Coast time, though.

First thing's first, my partner and I managed to take Second Place in our International Marketing Case Study for Delta Epsilon Chi. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get first, but from what I've heard in the rumor mill, the field was incredibly competitive. We'll have scores probably end of next month, so I'll just have to live in suspense for a while. Either way, second is better than third, so we'll take it. Another of our Huskies came home with both a second place plaque and a job offer from ESPN, and a fourth placed in the top ten in her subject, so it was a good trip. Sadly, that's pretty much the end of my DEC run, and I think I'm really going to miss it.

Walt Disney World was pretty much as I remember it, albeit with a few additions. Honestly, I didn't have as much fun as I would have liked; it was really difficult to try to enjoy myself without my wife to share it with. By the end of the trip, I was getting really lonely and just wanted to come home.

The HP TX1000 continued to both delight and disappoint in equal measure during the trip, however. On one hand, the small size and swiveling screen made it perfect for enjoying on the long plane ride, and the machine was great for our presentations. One small issue came up in that while the remote control could run our PowerPoint presentation, the angle of the machine made it impossible to get line-of-sight to the infrared receiver. HP should really consider a radio for future iterations of the remote, or just make it Bluetooth.

Sadly, while I loved watching movies on the machine while flying, the batteries, even the extended battery, just weren't up to the task. I was lucky if I could squeeze just about two hours out of either of them, and then only by lowering the brightness to the point where I could hardly watch the screen. (Having to switch the batteries out was a pain as well.) It's worth noting that running the movies as files off the hard drive might have been a factor, but I'd think it would be better than having a second spindle (the DVD drive) running. The touchscreen did make controlling the movies a breeze, and the machine definitely attracted attention from people who saw it on the plane.

Overall, I like the machine a fair amount. Would I buy it? If HP added an active digitizer, I'd probably buy it in a heartbeat. Other nice-to-haves would be a DVD drive bay battery option for those longer flights, a bluetooth remote, and a better amplifier for the headphone jacks (it was hard to hear the movies, even with noise-cancelling headphones). But I think that for many people, especially those not looking for a perfect ink experience, this is a great alternative to something like a UMPC, and a very attractive and capable machine.

UW DEC Cleans Up At State!

After the great time our Delta Epsilon Chi chapter had at the Fall Occupational Leadership Conference in Leavenworth, we were all excited to go back this weekend for the State Career Development Conference. Out of the eight members we brought to the conference, everyone placed either first or second in their event. Our chapter president and myself placed second in International Marketing, and we and the rest of our chapter will be going to Orlando for the International Career Development Conference this April.

Go Huskies!

Child's Play

I'm very proud of the work my friends over at Penny Arcade have done with Child's Play. For those of you still under a rock, Child's Play is their way of proving to the world that gamers are more than anti-social, car-stealing, hooker-beating blights on society. We have money, and we like to spend it on games, even if that's just to give games to others, especially to kids suffering from serious illnesses.

That's why I'm pleased to announce that UW Bothell's Delta Epsilon Chi club, in conjunction (and competition) with Cascadia Community College's Business Club, is holding a Holiday Toy Drive, with all of the collected toys and games going to Child's Play. I can't think of a more worthy cause, and I'm thrilled to be able to be a part of it.

Our drive will be going from November 27th to December 8th, and if you live in the Seattle or Eastside Washington areas, please feel free to bring a donation to the UW Bothell Library, and deposit them in the UW Bothell collection bin (or Cascadia, if you prefer). Please note that all toys and games must be new and unwrapped, and that we are unable to accept stuffed animals of any kind, as they harbor germs and are dangerous to immune-compromised kids.

Second Place, But Still a Winner!

My group came in second in the competition at FOLC, where we were tasked with creating an advertising campaign to promote the City of Leavenworth. Our team ended up creating an entire new festival for Leavenworth (the "Bavarian Egg Festival"), complete with its own ad campaign and promotional opportunities, and while that risk ended up costing us the nice plaques awarded to the first place team, we received our own reward after the event. Turns out that the City Council members liked the idea so much, they're planning to go forward with the event this coming March, and want our group to come back and be a part of it!

It's times like this that I'm reminded that sometimes, it's not about who comes in first at a technical level. We did our research, and found that a better opportunity had presented itself. The group debated the merits of sticking to rules or taking the calculated risk of giving them something different than what they wanted. We might not have come in first, but I think the reaction of the City Council shows that we were winners of a different kind.

Very Busy Weekend ...

I'm off in about half an hour to start the 2 1/2 hour drive to Leavenworth, WA for the ΔΕΧ Fall Orientation and Leadership Conference (FOLC). If you've never been to Leavenworth, October is the best time to make the trip. The foliage this time of year is amazing, and Leavenworth itself is an amazing town. The entire town is Bavarian, and around Christmas time, the town looks amazing.

FOLC should be fun, and it's a nice way to stretch my business muscles in a competition, something I haven't done in over a decade. Of course, that's a little stressful ... I'm going to feel like the old coot in a group full of young college kids. Still, maybe my experience will help our group. What's the competition? That's just it, we don't know. You don't find out until the conference, and then you have to construct a plan on the spot. I can't wait to find out who is in my group, and what the task will be! I'm going to try blogging the conference at the same time that I'm taking part in it, which might be tough ... we'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I'll write up a recap and post some pictures.

The competition part happens Saturday, and then I hop in the car and drive back to Seattle just in time to catch the UW Homecoming Game at Husky Stadium. Sunday, Nintendo's Wii console goes on pre-sale at Toys 'R' Us, and I have a group meeting for one of my classes after that.

Going Greek With Delta Epsilon Chi

Anyone that has known me for any length of time knows that I like to stay busy. They'd also recognize that as a massive understatement. I go through a great deal of my life on sheer momentum. Once I decided to go back to school, I realized that after 10+ years out of academia, it was the only way I'd be able to keep moving.

I packed in a few extra-curriculars while at Cascadia, and even with 20 credits a quarter, I felt like I had plenty of breathing room. Once I went back to work full-time, however, it was a challenge. My first year at the UW, I cut back to just my community involvement, work, and school.

That ended last week. Not only have I joined UW Bothell's ΔΕΧ chapter, but I've been "elected" Public Information Officer, which essentially puts me in charge of publicity. The up-side is that I can merge some of my community involvement with ΔΕΧ, as well as rejoin an organization I enjoyed so much in High School (ΔΕΧ is the college division of DECA).

We've got a ton of great stuff planned, and it's simply a matter of executing on it all. Fundraising, activism, community involvement, as well as the competitions that ΔΕΧ is known for are all things we're going to be working on over the coming months. It should be a blast!