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We were at the Fox on Thursday night to catch the 2006 tour of the Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch with the Band of the Welsh Guards. This is the first time either group has been to St. Louis and the theatre was nearly full on the first of two nights. I’m a big fan of bagpipes and Celtic music in general, so this was a must see show. It didn’t disappoint.

Before the show and during intermission, the performers were in the lobby and aisles selling CDs and programs and answering questions from the audience. Everyone was dressed in the most elaborate uniforms and in such variety. Thankfully the program included some fairly detailed descriptions and explanations as to what everything meant. As people talked to the soldiers (Don’t forget these guys are both soldiers and musicians, the Black Watch having server two tours in Iraq.) it seemed everyone wanted to touch the bearskin hats.

If you’re interested, the program being used for the tour is online. Check the list of tour dates and try to see them if they’re in your area. The Welsh Guard site includes a tour diary.

I registered for TechEd this week, so I’m all set to go. I’ll be staying at the Radisson. It seemed like a good compromise between cost, location, and free Internet.

Registration for Microsoft TechEd 2006 in Boston opened yesterday. They’ve made a few changes for this year. The morning keynotes, traditionally on Monday and Tuesday, have been moved to Sunday night, back-to-are the keynote speakers. Moving the keynotes opened up time for an additional 40 break-out sessions.

They’ve also added TechEd Connect, a way to identify other attendees with similar interests and give you an opportunity to interact with them. They offered this at previous conferences, but I don’t recall it being offered last year. I’m glad to see they’re making it available this year. Working in an academic environment, I find it valuable to find out what peers at other Universities are doing.

The Thursday night party is going to be at Fenway Park. I’m guessing there will be a musical guest. Not sure what else you would do at Fenway. Haven’t been there since the early 80s, so it’ll be interesting to go back, albeit not at a baseball game.

So not I’m trying to figure out where I want to stay. Hotel rates, even the TechEd rates, are pretty expensive, but that’s expected for downtown Boston. Last night I put together a list of all the hotels and identified which ones charge for Internet, parking rates, whether they have a pool, etc. It helps with the decision process I hate being surprised when you check-in and find out you thought you were getting one thing and the reality is altogether different. In case other people find it useful, I’m posting the list here. Since hotel web sites make it difficult to find all the details, I actually called every hotel, so the info should be pretty accurate. However, I don’t take any responsibility for any changes or errors. Use at your own risk!

Microsoft TechEd 2006 Hotel Comparison

Here is the map Microsoft provides showing the hotel locations. There are two hotels listed on the map that weren’t listed on the TechEd web site (and therefore aren’t in my list), the Seaport Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton Boston Commons: TechEd 2006 Hotel Map