Have you registered for CFUnited yet?  If not, why not? The 'early bird' discount ends tomorrow.  So, go register.  Go ahead...I'll wait....

OK, now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about the real important stuff. How many of you knew that one of the amenities if you stay in the hotel was that you get a free round of golf at the resort?  I am sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that I think this is way cool. I love golf, and take any opportunity to play new courses. I have heard great things about the courses at Lansdowne, but have not played there yet (even though its only about 45 minutes from home).

I was planning on getting a group of people together for a little outing. I was thinking Wednesday Tuesday would be the best day.  I would make any arrangements with the golf course and we can kind of play as one big group.  There is one caveat though, if you sign up to play in this little outing, you will be randomly placed in groups with other CFUnited attendees/speakers. I think this is a great way to get to know other people.

So, who's with me? If you are interested, please leave a comment below and I will start to make the arrangements.

*UPDATE*

Please note I got the day mixed up, I was thinking of doing the little outing on Tuesday, NOT Wednesday.

This year at CFunited, Liz is planning an 'Open Mic' night where conference attendees will be able to share some of their talents.  If you have some kind of talent, sign up to preform. Currently there are people signed up to play music, perform magic and read poetry.

Based on the fact that I spent a short period of time performing stand-up comedy, Liz, from Stellr, has asked me to be the emcee for the Open Mic. What does this mean?  Well, I will be the one introducing all the acts, and interspersing some of my old stand-up routine (and hopefully some new stuff) in between performers.

A friend told me, "if you do good, the audience will love it, and well, if you bomb, the audience will love it, but in a different kind of way. So for the audience, its a win/win". I find it hard to argue with that logic, but really hope I don't bomb. 

Oh, and hurry up and register, the early bird ends real soon. The chance to see me make a complete fool of myself might just be too good of an opportunity to pass on. You know you want to see if I will, so you better be there.

I hate to say this, but if you sent a message via the contact form at AllYourFlexAreBelongToUs over the last few months, I just now got the messages and fulfilled any requests to have feeds added. 

I chalk this up to a change in mail servers, a rogue rule in my email client and my own inattentiveness causing me to miss the messages.  If you sent a request to have your feed added and you do not see it show up on the feed list tonight, please let me know.

Sorry for any confusion or frustration.

Last week my company, Alagad, announced an opportunity to win some cool stuff that will be available for attendees of cf.Objective() and CF United.

Aside from the cool prizes such as a Wii, an iPod Touch,a Mac Mini and others, you can also win a kick ass laptop bag.  All the Alagadinas were fortunate enough to have been given one of these bags and I have to say its pretty sweet - by far the best laptop bag I have owned.  The bag alone is worth the effort to enter the contest, the other stuf is just icing.

Don't forget to look for the Alagadians next week in Minneapolis!

cf.Objective() is rapidly approaching and its time to take care of something very important....finalizing the plans for the pre-conference round of golf.  Myself and several other CF-ers are planning to play golf on Wednesday afternoon (5/13) before the conference kicks off.

If you are interested in joining us, please leave a comment here.  We plan on choosing a course and time and booking a tee time very soon.

I make no secret about the fact that we homeschool our children.  I also make no secret that when the idea first presented itself, I was against it.  When we tell people we homeschool, we get a wide range of reactions/responses from people, but a few nights ago, we got the best response ever.

We were in a restaurant and my oldest son and I were talking about something, I do not recall what it was.  While we were talking, a woman at the next table over says to me, "Your son is very polite and very intelligent." I thanked her and she then turned to my son and asked, 'Where do you go to school?"

My son replied, quite proudly, "We are homeschooled."

Her response, "Well, that explains a lot."

My wife and I then spent about 20 minutes answering this woman's questions about homeschooling such as how to get started, what benefits there are, what kind of curriculum we use, etc. She seemed genuinely interested in homeschooling as an option for her children. 

Sometime around the New Year, Joe Rinehart's wife, Dale, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  For those who do not know Joe, he is the author of Model-Glue and a tremendous asset to the ColdFusion community.

Myself and several other members of the ColdFusion community decided that we wanted to pool our resources and try to help offset some of the large medical bills Joe and Dale will surely begin to receive.

If you would like to help us help Joe and Dale, please visit http://www.helpsupportjoeanddale.com/ and make a small donation.

Thanx in advance!

The planning of CFUnited 09 is well under way.  The folks at Stellr have put together a short survey for attendees (and perspective attendees) to be able to vote on what topics they would like to see covered at the conference this year.

So, if you are planning on attending the conference, go on over and take the survey.  It should take no more than a few minutes...go ahead..I'll wait.

Oh...one thing before you go...I hear that Stroz guy is an excellent speaker ;)

Yesterday I made the trip out to Northern California for MAX. I made it here without any major issues, but there were a few weird things (good weird, not bad weird) that happened solely because I am a Ginats fan.

It started in the wee hours of the Morning at Dulles Airport. I should note I was wearing a Giants windbreaker  While I was sitting at the gate waiting to board the plane, one of the Vrgin America (great airline, BTW) emplyees who was making announcements told me she was also a Giants fan at that becasue I was 'showing my colors' in DC, I could board the plane when first class did.  I thought it was a cool gesture, but just that, a gesture.  However, when it came time to board the plane, she called for first class passengers, passengers with chilren or who need exra time boarding the plane, and "my Giants fan".  It was not a huge deal, but still pretty cool that I could just gt on the plane and sit sown.

The next 'weird' thing accured at the golf course (Does anyone think I would come to California and not play golf?). We played Poppy Ridge in LIvermore, CA. On a side note, this was an absolute gem of a find.  It was a really nice course (I would rank it in top 5 I have played in the US) and the vista from the course was simply stunning. Back to the weirdness... when we checked in at the club house, one of the guys behind the counter noticed my Giants shirt and mentioned that the 'general manager' was also a Giants fan.  We I paid for my greens fees, the cost was quite a bit lower (about $40.00) less than what I expected to pay.  When I verified the cost, we were told, 'I gave you the guest rate' and when I asked why he said because the general manager woudl have told him to do so since I was a Giants fan.

What I find funny about both these things is that I got some preferential treatment becasue I was a Giants fan in DC and Northern California when I would ot have gotten any such treatment in New York.

I always used to say that your age was just a number.  Of course, that was before my own age became a big number.  Today I turn 40.  Which, to many, means I am 'old'. Like most people (ok, men) I know, I spent the last week or so fretting over turning 40.  I spent a lot of time dwelling on what I have wanted to do, but have not; things I had hoped to accomplish, but fell short.

It was not until a recent IM conversation with a friend of mine that I realized I was going about it the wrong way.  I should not be dwelling on what I have not accomplished, rather embracing that which I have. So, with that in mind, I tried to come up with a list of all the things I have done in my life, rather than those I have not.  And, because you are a faithful reader, you get to see my list.  This is in no particular order, other than how it came to my mind.

• I married my best friend
• I have been to the Parthenon
• I have been to Spain
• I was the 'king' of the circus (I was 10 or so)
• I used to do stand up comedy
• I have delivered 3 babies (1 even has 'Scott' as his middle name)
• I have gone hang gliding
• I have saved someone's life
• I have had 2 successful careers
• I have flown in a helicopter
• I have a somewhat popular blog
• I have visited the White House
• I have gone bungee jumping
• I have played golf at the Old Course
• I have seen the birth of both of my children
• I tried out for Jeopardy
• I have seen Tiger Woods play golf in person
• I have seen Wayne Gretzky play hockey in person
• I have been to Yankee Stadium (numerous times)
• I have taken my kids to Yankee Stadium
• I have taken my kids to Disney
• I have met Bruce Springsteen
• I have met Leonard Marshall (true Giants fans will know who this is)
• I have seen my favorite football team win 3 Super Bowls
• I have seen my favorite football team lose a Super Bowl
• I have been to a Giants palyoff game
• I have been to a Yankees playoff game
• I voted for Ross Perot
• I have been on TV
• I have been in the newspaper
• I was at 'ground zero' after 9/11
• I have played golf in 4 different countries
• I have written an article for a magazine
• I bought a house on a golf course
• I have had 2 eagles in one round of golf (on a course I never played)
  
• Did I mention I married my best friend? If so, its worth mentioning again

Keep in mind this list is by no means all encompassing, but more to help me appreciate all the things I have accomplished in my life, rather than to dwell on those I have not.