Well, here it is -- my first attempt at blogging.

 I'm not really into blabbing about myself, so there may be many times in which I turn the tables and blurt out: "Enough about me! What about you?"

So, I guess the most recent Blog-worthy event was Astricon, which occured at the Rennaissance Glendale, in lovely Glendale Arizona, Sept 23-25. This is the venue where Astricon *was* to have taken place last year, but due to an underestimation of construction schedules, the Rennaissance was not ready and necessitated us having to hold Astricon in Carefree, Arizona. Smack-dab in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, the Carefree Villas was not a bad compromise at all.....but the Rennaissance this year was a *great* venue at which to hold Astricon. Many incredible restaurants nearby, great meeting rooms and lecture spaces (a little over-airconditioned, but that's my complaint about most places) -- and spectacular service everywhere in the hotel made it a great self-contained event where everything was accessible, convenient, and close at hand.

If you are a new dabbler in Asterisk, you really must plan on attending Astricon -- the talks this year surpassed all other years; the networking possibilities with other Asterisk developers from around the world are unsurpassed, and it lives up to its description in previous years: "The highest Geek-Per-Square-Foot Ratio on the Planet!"

 Yeah, about that.

My tolerance for high-tech geek talk grows exponentially every year -- but I am merely a visitor to that world. I supply the voice prompts for the system......I know not (much) of the inner workings or the technical details of Asterisk -- nor do I need to. Think of me as the "whipped cream" of the organization. Some Asterisk Community members forget that, and corner me with questions about the "SIP Gui Interface....blahblahblah..." One attendee bemoaned to me about how he brought his whole system down by configuring the "node" straight into the "kernel" or something equally as dire. I replied: "Well, I guess that didn't work out so well for you!" A look of relief came over his face -- as if to say: "She's really following this!" I asked: "What did you end up doing?" He enthusiastically drew out a map how he re-routed everything, and I said, haughtily: "Well, I could have TOLD you that!" He looked incredulous. "Really?" he replied. "Sure -- that guy over there had the same problem! Ask him!" I urged, making my way to the ladies room. Actually, I really love attending the lectures (especially Kris Kielhoffner's and Greg Boehlein's -- they're the second and fourth moustacio'd guys pictured above..) and every year, I glean more and more info about how this whole wonderous Asterisk thing works and moves -- but I reach my tolerance level eventually and it doesn't take long before my mind wanders; wondering how late Nordstrom's is open.......