Out of a job? Don't think so, but have a sign picked out just in case...
Do I think if I don't expand my skills into Java, WebSphere, and other products/technologies that I'll be out of a job? Possibly. Do I think that I'd be less employable? Definitely. And that's the critical factor for me. The only thing worse than being unemployed is being unemployable. I also want to be able to create the coolest and best applications possible using the best tools. And if that happens to include WebSphere or other products, so be it.

However, if, God forbid, I were to be out of a job, I could always make a cardboard sign with one of the following phrases:

• Will collaborate for food;
• Need Fixup and Compact;
• Haven't replicated in days, please help.

Check out the picture at http://www.emailbliss.com/files/Pictures/slideshow/pages/pic17463.htm. I found it through one of my favorite Notes and Domino-related sites, http://www.notestips.com.

Training, training, and more training
As I did with the article I wrote on Lotus Advisor DevCon last month, I'm finishing this article in a hotel room while attending another conference/seminar. This time I'm at the The VIEW's Domino Web Coding Bootcamp in San Francisco. Yes, I know, here I'm complaining about being overloaded with information and yet I'm subjecting myself to even more of it. Go figure. I do have to say, though, that it's comforting to be attending a conference with Domino in the title and that focuses on cool code that I can use immediately using the tools I already have. I'll be writing more about the Domino Web Coding Bootcamp in a future issue of DominoPower.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!
Hey, a conference report wouldn't be much without pictures, so here are some of my favorite pictures I took while in San Francisco.

Hey, there goes a Spider-Man climbing up the side of the Sony Metreon just a block away from the Moscone Center in Figure C.

FIGURE C


A gigantic friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Here's the guy with the worst temp job ever. It must have been hot as heck in that thing. Judge for yourself in Figure D.

FIGURE D


You got environmental controls in that space suit? Roll over picture for a larger image.

Figure E shows the outside of the Moscone Center.

FIGURE E


Here's the outside of the Moscone Center. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Figure F shows a closeup of the front of the Moscone Center.

FIGURE F


Welcome to IBM developerWorks Live! Roll over picture for a larger image.

Right across the street from the Moscone Center is a beautiful park as well as the Sony Metreon. It's pictured in Figure G.

FIGURE G


What a beautiful day to visit the park. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The tradeshow floor was big, but there weren't a lot of cool new Lotus-related products that really left me salivating. The floor is pictured in Figure H.

FIGURE H


The tradeshow floor. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The dinner for the press was at the San Francisco Fairmont, pictured in Figure I.

FIGURE I


The San Francisco Fairmont wears its patriotism on its sleeve. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Finally, Figure J shows the view from the top of the Fairmont where the press dinner was held.