I'm sure that Monday was the most relaxed day that we will have this week. The conference did not start until 11:30, so I had time to visit the gym and take a walk down to the pier.  I have seen many cyclists riding downhill, but have not seen one riding uphill yet. They must need to ride uphill sometimes, not sure what is going on there.

I have now run into many friends from PASS and met several SQL MVPs for the first time. Evidently, the SQL MVPs are a pretty tight group. After the keynote sessions yesterday, we had some open sessions, more like facilitated group discussions. I attended one on being a technical writer and one about user groups. I am not sure I liked the format, but did come away with some ideas. I was surprised to find that some people are making a living by just writing.  I would love to do more writing, to have more time for writing, but not sure that I would want to do it full time. I think I would get bored if I didn't have to juggle many different types of things.

Well, I have to say that Microsoft is treating us very well. The food has been wonderful. We even had an open bar, no drink tickets, at the reception last night. When my ASP friend, Rachel, and I went back to the hotel before the opening reception, we found they had set up snacks in our hotel lobby.

So, today it is off to Redmond for technical sessions. I have been to their facility near Dallas and, of course, their office in St. Louis, but this will be my first time to visit the Redmond campus.