12 Days and Counting (PNSQC, Here I Come!)

So, it’s now less than two weeks away from the start of the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, and like anyone doing anything for their first time, yes, I’m excited to participate. I’ve attended conferences in the past, but this the first time I’ve attended one specifically for my industry.


My thanks to the great crew of participants helping to put this conference together. A special shout out goes to Rhea Stadick over at Intel. She’s been my mentor and “supervisor” as I’ve gone through and created web pages and session reports, abstracts, and updates for the PNSQC site (I do the raw page construction and design, she makes sure they go in the right place :). Thanks to her and all of the other volunteers, they have made it possible for me to participate in this conference for Free! OF course, that free ticket comes with the proviso that I work my way there and while I’m there (what’s that song I frequently quote? “I’m going to work my ticket if I can”? Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing here!


My goal and hope is to be able to send some dispatches from the field and share my experience with this (I can just see the eye rolls from the veterans out there, but hey, let this newbie enjoy himself). I’ll be driving up early Sunday morning, October 17th.


Yep, that’s a choice on my part, I’m driving! Why? A few reasons. One, by the time I priced out the cost of an airline ticket and a rental car, it would cost me more than it would to drive there, and the distance isn’t that far. If I can make it to Salt Lake City in a day, I can certainly make it to Portland (and according to most forecasts, I should be able to do the drive in about 9 hours. Plus, I’ve never done that drive before, and there are friends in Oregon that I’d like to see while I’m there; this will give me a little more latitude to do that.


“Back to Portland, Happy Land… I’m going to work my ticket if I can”… hmmm, doesn’t quite have the same ring as the original, but oh well. To those who read this blog and will be attending, please feel free to come up to the tall bald guy and say hello!