As everyone gathers with their friends and families for the holidays, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you all.

This is my absolute favorite time of year.  I start listening to Christmas music on Satellite and local radio as it becomes available at the beginning of November, and start to get a little anxious as it winds down in the last week of December. 

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!"

- Charles Dickens

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

The last few weeks have been very busy with work.  Last week I was in Las Vegas for the Exchange Connections Conference where I attended sessions mainly focused on Exchange 2007.  Lots of cool new things with the new version of Exchange, and lots of things to be expected for Service Pack 1.

This week I was in Redmond presenting on Windows Storage Server at the Microsoft Partner Solution Center.  I'm sitting in the Seattle Airport composing some blog posts and catching up on email right now.  I'm taking the red-eye back home, so I'll spend part of Friday recovery and getting some more work done.

Today wraps up the 2007 Minnesota State Fair.  Attending the State Fair was a tradition in my family as well as my wife's.  We typically go two or three times every year to eat, browse the booths, and take in the sights, sounds, and smells that the Minnesota Great Get-Together has to offer.

We usually try to get there by 8 AM to beat the rush and ease our way into things. Ter likes to start the morning off with a foot-long hot dog with mustard, while I slowly get into the day with a more breakfast-like food of mini-donuts.

We stopped by for a visit at the WCCO Radio booth just in time for the Don Shelby Show with his trusty sidekick, Jeff McKinney ("The McSkinney").  Don is famous in these parts as being a longtime anchor over at WCCO-TV, the CBS affiliate here in Minneapolis.  Jeff is famous for his perfected radio voice and trusted newsman.

I usually listen to them on the drive home, but it was enjoyable to see them in person and watch their interactions.  It's not as much about being a news radio show, as it seemed like you were watching a real conversation from the sidelines.

I was looking at my past State Fair photos and realized that I actually had my picture with Don Shelby back at the 2005 State Fair.  He was a nice guy!

And what visit wouldn't be complete without a visit to our very own Minnesota State Fair brick?  Yep, that's right.  We have a brick.  We're card-carrying members of the State Fair Foundation.  I guess not really card-carrying, maybe brick-bearing members instead.  Nonetheless, we own a personalized piece of Minnesota State Fair history.  Two visits a year definitely isn't enough.

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