Hi I'm still here. Just wrapping up a week of furious coding. So not much else got done including blog posts.

I've been writing a client for Windows Mobile phones for our project called Conversa and I was trying to finish it in time for the HP TechCon conference. I would describe Conversa for you but it really deserves its own post so I'll save that for later. Basically it's an online discussion forum in which users interact solely with video, either from the web or from the mobile phone. I think it's pretty cool.

Something funny happened while I had my nose in the keyboard this week. I'm careful to balance my youthful demeanor (aka video gaming , fast cars, wearing shorts when everyone else in the room isn't) with sufficient adult-like professionalism. But that sort of went to heck the other day when one of HP's CTO/VP's stopped by. He saw me standing in my office which is near the Halo lab where he was leading a tour of VIP visitors. He called out "Hey, I didn’t know you sat here" and walked in. I sheepishly surveyed the stacks of Mountain Dew cans, candy wrappers, and an open box of pizza, looked at him, and laughed.

I love writing software. It's probably the best part of my job. Time evaporates and when I look at the clock I often realize I missed lunch. By three hours. Building an idea into reality, for me, is the reward for the pain and suffering of writing conference papers and patents. Well that and actually traveling to the conferences (especially the ones with water slides!).