The third and final day of MangoCon 2016. We were all dragging pretty hard this morning. Very tired and I have to speak twice today. Breakfast today was much better than yesterday.
The conference went well today. I spoke on Storage 101 and then later in the day on Architectural Patterns for the SMB. It was another super busy day. I had no time to do anything extra.
After the happy hour today, The Fallen played the wrap up concert. I got to play Cards Against Humanity for the first time.
After the band was done, it was back to Victoire’s to wrap up the evening. The conference was a success and tomorrow we will be taking a trip to Letchworth with the people who remain behind.
Thursday and the first “real” day of the very first MangoCon in Rochester, New York at the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown. This is going to be one very busy day.
I got up, showered and got down to the conference. Staying in the same hotel as the event is the best thing ever. We used to do this in Austin years ago at the AT&T Conference Center, it was great. So glad that we are able to do that here.
At breakfast we had actual mango lassis for people.
Mango Lassi at Breakfast
After the light breakfast, Max from Starwind was the first person up to speak at MangoCon so he kind of got the special pole position for the event and will now historically be the first person to ever present at the conference. A pretty neat thing to have. In the same vein, I was the first actual IT presenter for SpiceWorld myself. But not at MangoCon.
The day went pretty well. So busy. I was just running from one thing to another all day. My presentation today was on the “Brave New LANless Future.”
After the conference today, there was some time in the hotel bar but then people filed out to Victoire on East Ave and we took over the place for the whole evening. We had a really good time and hung out outside with a fire in the fireplace.
Late at night a group of us went to Mark’s for late night garbage plates, which were excellent. It was about four in the morning when we finally got back to the Holiday Inn.
This is it, it is all really happening. Today is the first day of the first MangoCon event! It is Wednesday and officially MangoCon starts this evening so we have the morning to get ready.
A lot of the people who were in town on the early side today went to Dinosaur BBQ for a group lunch. We were all so busy with stuff that we could not spend the time over there with them, but they sent us a picture. The turnout at Dinosaur BBQ for MC1 was nearly identical to the turn out that we get annually at the opening brunch event at Max’s Wine Dive in Austin, so that is pretty awesome.
Dinosaur BBQ Lunch before MangoCon
It was a busy morning of getting everything ready. Then once the hotel was available for check in, Dominica and I drove up to Rochester to get to MangoCon. We were on the early side but were able to get into our room, get all set up and relax a little. People trickled in all afternoon at the reception desk on the second floor that Jenny Case was manning.
Danielle, Maggie, Jenny, Art and Dominica were very busy with miscellaneous things so they sent me out to find a Subway, over on the far side of Main Street, that I could bring back for all of us. That took a bit because the order was so large.
MangoCon Elevator
We all ate in the little office room that the conference center had provided for us. It was nice to have a quiet lunch space. This is it, the last relaxation moment.
At six this evening it was time to begin the welcome event. How exciting. I still can’t believe that this got pulled off. This is so cool, and to be in Rochester!
The opening “ceremony” was a little bit odd but overall went pretty well. AJ did the opening MC gig and did a pretty good job. Then there was a weird martini talk with NTG staff that I felt should have been cut. Bits of it were good, but bits of it were really odd and it didn’t fit. I was never sure what exactly the goal of that portion was. But live and learn, first years of conferences are always a learning experience.
Jared and I worked hard to be all over Facebook, Twitter and MangoLassi with news of what was going on at the event.
After the event there were drinks in the ballroom. When those were done some of us went down to the lobby bar but the drinks there were ridiculously expensive so we decided to skip that.
Maggie was hungry, so I took her out to the Temple Bar and Grill on East Ave to get her some food. While we were there other people started to trickle in. AJ came and got his first ever garbage plate there. He is heading out on the train in the middle of the night so is staying up and napping on the train.
It was a good opening day. Very excited for the “real” sessions to get started tomorrow. This was just the opener so none of the real meat of the event has been hit yet.
It was late, probably around three in the morning when Dominica and I got to sleep in our hotel room at the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown where the event is being held.
Today is Tuesday and MangoCon gets started tomorrow. It is so hard to believe that the event is really upon us. People started really getting into town today for it all. We are taking Liesl and Luciana out to Frankfort so that they can stay with their grandparents for the rest of the week as Dominica will also be super busy with the MangoCon event and won’t have any time to watch them.
We left late in the morning for the drive eat and dropped the kids off in the middle of the afternoon. We did not stay for too long. We had to turn around and drive the three hours back to dad’s house.
We should note that at this point, we still do not have our Chevy Spark back. It is still at the dealer in Pennsylvania and we don’t know when it will be fixed. But we can’t do anything about it this week as we are dealing with the conference.
This evening, Dominica and I went up to Rochester and hung out with Paul as he was in town early. We went to The Old Toad first and had a beer there. Then we discovered the Ox and Stone across the street that looked interesting so we went in there to check it out.
The Ox and Stone turned out to be an amazing craft cocktail lounge that we had never heard of. Paul and I both go the “In Tents” which was a bourbon drink that was cedar smoked right on the spot in front of us. It was so good.
While there Dominica learned of another craft cocktail place across the street. So we headed over there and checked that place out too. It was amazing too, and this one had some food. So we ate there as well. We learned that Rochester has about a dozen of these cocktail lounges now and has become a major destination for cocktails! Who would have guessed. There is even a craft cocktail festival in Rochester now.
It was very late when we got back to dad’s. This is it. The conference is tomorrow. Last chance to sleep.
Today I was very busy posting and writing all day. The infamous Curtis who has Internet stalked me for years tracked me down on MangoLassi today and started trying to harass me. That went hilariously well. Nothing like having a personal stalker.
Dominica and I put in some time doing sorting of stuff down in the barn today. There is so much to be gone through. We got out what we could, but there is so little that we are able to take with us when we go and only a little bit more that the Ralstons are able to take when they go. The storage unit is going to remain mostly full for the foreseeable future.
Today was all errands and posting. Tomorrow we are taking the kids to Utica to drop them off with the grandparents where they will be staying all weekend.
