To that end, we're going to make this tip very light and fluffy. After all, you got some serious meat about plans for Lotus last week, and some good technical material in previous weeks. This week's communication is all about excitement.

First and foremost, I'm excited to be getting out of the cold and down into Orlando, where it's all nice and warm 'n stuff. This is a place where you can actually use the hot tubs and even go swimming in January. That's deeply exciting.

Ever since I was but a wee pup, I've had a great philosophy about business trips: find the fun. When I went up to Boeing to teach them about supercomputers in the '80s, my primary goal was less about teaching and more about a tour of the facility. Likewise, I know I'll get all sorts of Official DominoPower Goodness by being at Lotusphere, so I can give up a certain share of mind to seeking out the fun.

And what's more fun than the Lotusphere party? Well, unless it's at a sucky place. But this year, it looks like all the fun's going to be back in the big Wednesday night party -- it's at Universal Studios! If you haven't registered or done whatever Lotus makes you do to get to the party, do it. First, of course, there are all the rides and other entertainment. But, and here's a moment of seriousness, you'll make some great business friends when you're having fun in the Lotus and Universal Studios context.

Next up, let's not forget the opportunity to learn. If you're thinking about sessions, you should look at http://www.geniisoft.com/showcase.nsf/LS2004_SessionsDB, where you can find Genii Software's 4th Annual Lotusphere Agenda Database for PDA Synching. This is a great resource that'll let you carry everything Lotusphere right on your PDA.

Aside: Am I the only guy who's bringing three PDAs, a voice recorder, digital camera, laptop, and GPS to this thing?

Just in case you haven't brought enough tech to the show, don't forget to stop by the exhibits. Lots of hard-working developers will be showcasing their work. Plus, there's the goodies. In addition to the bags, stuffed dolphins, keychains, and other schwag, you can also pick up a free copy of Studio Blog Reader at the Workflow Studios booth. We haven't played with this yet, but it's free. And free is good.

By the way, if you're giving away something free (let's not be gross, people!) at the show, send me an email about it to david@ZATZ.com. I'll try to get it onto our news page or into next week's mailing.

If you want to buy something, there are a bunch of great T-shirts out there, including the CULT shirt, the Certified Unofficial Lotusphere T. If you happen to want to wear a giant database chicklet, visit http://www.cultshirt.com. While we're on the subject of T-shirts, we at DominoPower have made up our own share of tacky Lotusphere Ts. You can find them at http://giftshop.zatz.com. Dig into the DominoPower Gift Shop, and you'll see two tacky shirts just for the Lotusphere fanatic in us all. We used CafePress to make these up, so buy a lot. We get a whopping four bucks a shirt, so I'm thinking if we sell a few, that's a beer budget.