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I took my dad to Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air in Alton for Father’s Day. I had never been before but had heard quite a bit about it. Well, everything I heard was true. If you’re looking for good, inexpensive food, Fast Eddie’s is the place. Burgers and brats for 99{c|}, tenderloin on a stick for $1.99,chicken on a stick for $2.99, and pork kabobs for $1.29. Plus peel and eat shrimp for 29{c|} each!

It was a great way to spend Father’s Day. Only downside is the place is a bar, so there are a lot of people smoking, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It took quite a while for me to finally visit, but I’ll definitely be heading back.

In yet the latest bad idea to come out of the Bush Administration, the Department of Justice is apparently encouraging ISPs to start thinking about retaining logs of customer activity online. News.com reports (Your ISP as Net Watchdog) that DOJ officials met with ISPs and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on April 27 in Alexandria, Virginia. Officials said they would like to see ISPs cooperate voluntarily on retaining logs of customer activity data (such as email, web browsing, IM traffic, etc.), but also suggested a law may be required to create a standard period of data retention.

That’s the equivalent of asking the Post Office to keep a log of all mail sent in the US, just in case the government needs to do an investigation. Just because it is easier to log and store electronic logs, doesn’t mean we should. I’m all in favor of efforts to protect children from online predators, but requiring this data to be retained just in case offers a huge invitation to abuse by both the ISP and the government. If the police get a tip about a problem, let them go get a court order or otherwise work with an ISP to log data related to the address of the suspected individual.

Ignoring the privacy implications, consider the volume of data ISPs would be required to retain. I can’t even imagine the volume of data that someone like AOL would have to retain and the costs associated with doing so.

Department of Justice, try again.

Hot on the tail of Darth Tater comes… the SpudTrooper!

OK, here’s the long awaited final tally for TechEd 2005 swag:

• 11 T-Shirts (TechTrain, Microsoft IT Hero, Symantec, Shavlik, Microsoft Webcasts, Imanami, VMware, EMC, Trend Micro & IMlogic, Red-Gate Software, and TechEd 2005)
• 4 Baseball Caps (Microsoft IT Hero in black, Microsoft IT Hero in white, Windows Mobile, and TechEd Alumni)
• Foam Orange (Mimosa Systems)
• “Octopus” Yo-yo (Microsoft Sharepoint)
• Foam Cube (Good)
• Whistle (Idera)
• Bawls Candy (Microsoft TechNet)
• Optical Mouse (Microsoft Office Communicator)
• Foam Golf Ball (Avocent)
• Diecast Racecar (Intel)
• SpamAid Airborne Tablets (Barracuda Networks)
• Stress Ball (Microsoft Live Communications Server)
• Metal CD Case (Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005)
• All-in-One Stapler (Microsoft Exchange Server Community)
• Foam Head (USA-Net)
• Foam People (Microsoft IT Hero)
• Pen (Microsoft IT Hero)
• 2 Decks Playing Cards (Microsoft TechNet Plus, Microsoft MSDN)
• USB Light (Microsoft SMS 2003)
• Sunscreen (Microsoft Services Premier Support)
• Notepad (Microsoft System Center Reporting Manager)
• Blue Plastic Lei (Imanami)
• Live Strong Bracelet (?)
• Mini Coffee Mug (TechSmith)

Whew! That’s a lot of stuff!

My flight back home was at 11:30, so I didn’t have time to do much other than have breakfast and hit the CommNet for a bit before catching the shuttle to the airport. Next year I plan on staying over Friday night so that I can attend the Friday sessions.

Airport was pretty busy, and my flight was overbooked, so I volunteered to the give up my seat. After receiving my $300 travel voucher (thank you American!), I headed back to the main terminal to grab lunch at Macaroni Grill and catch up on some reading.

My next flight was supposed to leave at 5 p.m., and since it was overbooked as well, I volunteered again to give up my seat. Another $300 voucher and a night at the Hyatt sounded like a fair trade. Alas, a family of four gave up their seats, so they didn’t need mine.

It was probably just as well because it turned out I managed to catch a cold at some point during the week. By the time I arrived back home, I was really feeling the cold coming up on me, sore throat, itchy eyes, and so on. Not sure why, but whenever I travel, I always seem to get sick. Guess I’m just susceptible to it. I take Vitamin C, Zinc-based cold medicines, and wash my hands regularly, but it doesn’t seem to help much. At least I didn’t get sick until I was leaving. It would have been pretty miserable being sick during the conference.

So another TechEd ends. I think next year will have more buzz associated with it since Longhorn will be getting close, plus Exchange 12, Office 12, and everything else Microsoft has in store with us. See you all in Boston!