4D Summit 2010 Photos


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4D Summit: [Schaumburg 1999] [San Diego 2000] [Vancouver 2002] [Santa Fe 2003] [New Orleans 2004] [San Francisco 2005] [Memphis 2007] [Long Beach 2008] [Atlanta 2009] [San Diego 2010] [Boston 2011] [San Jose 2012] [Las Vegas 2013] [San Antonio 2014] [Portland 2016] [Washington DC 2018]

Here is a collection of photos from the 4D Summit in San Diego, CA, October 12 - 15, 2010.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010: Ahhh, sunny San Diego. When it isn't raining, foggy, or smoggy, it is beautiful.
The Summit was held at the Hard Rock Hotel.
The hotel's decor features photos of bands and musicians ...
... and small museum displays. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you're gazing upon a bedazzled chainsaw.
At check-in, the following exchange occurred: "Ma'am, would you like music in your room?" Me: "Sure!" Clerk: "We have alternative, classic rock, ..." Me: "ABBA?" Clerk: Sad, disgusted shake of head. Needless to say, there was no ABBA playing in my room when I got there.
But the queen suite was nice and spacious, and it turns out that I have ABBA on my iPod in case of emergency.
Down at the 207 Bar, Bryan and Balinder were talking shop.
Tom and Christian joined us, ...
... as did Mike, Max, ...
... and Steve.
Mike's lovely wife Leah joined us a little later.
After an afternoon of beverages and more arrivals, we headed across the street to the Tin Fish, where we had seafood baskets in the cool San Diego evening.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010: On Wednesday morning, it was time for business, but first, breakfast was served, consisting of banana bread and egg muffins.
Each place setting in the conference rooms featured Orangehead candy.
Our conference materials were given to us on a guitar-shaped flash drive with the 4D Summit logo on it.
My favorite part of the Summit is keynote day, where 4D's management gives an overview of the company's financials and future plans.
Lunch was served by waiters instead of buffet style, and was rumored to take nearly the entire 90 minutes allotted to finish.
I wasn't there for it all, because I snuck off with Max, Mike, and Leah for lunch at Stone Brewery ...
... and a brewery tour.
The evening's activities began with the Unconference, where monitors were set up around the room for developers to share projects they've been working on. In lieu of an opening reception, it is often the first chance old friends have had to see each other again. Here are Wayne, Steve, and Lo, ...
... and Tamara and Justin, who are always fun to catch up with.
Later on, Jeff and I joined the other OEM attendees and walked a couple of blocks to Fleming's Steakhouse.
The OEM dinner is always an interesting affair, and this was no exception. Jeff and I have no end of stories to tell about this particular evening, none of which I will share here.
Randy shared several bottles of wine from his personal collection to the great delight of the wine drinkers at the table.

Thursday, October 14, 2010: Breakfast on Thursday was pumpkin bread and bean/egg burritos. I was hungry but I hate beans, so eating breakfast took a while, ...
... but I was fairly successful and accidentally ingested only three beans.
Thursday's featured candy was Appleheads. I wasn't around on Friday, so I didn't find out if Cherryheads or Lemonheads ever showed up.
Chris gave a session on SQL, using funny examples to show us the results of outer joins.
Tom and Espen are Summit regulars, nay, celebrities.
I camped out in the Lightning Sessions -- or is that Lighting Sessions? -- all day. They consist of five or six topics covered in about 10 minutes each, so if a topic isn't interesting, it doesn't take long to get to the next one. More often though, a topic that didn't sound interesting turns out to be very useful.
Each of the conference rooms has a rock-themed name, and this section of the entrances was devoted to The Who.
Peeking around the corner from the balcony of my suite, I could see the setup of the evening's party: banquet and casino tables.
Did someone say casino? I convinced a few people to join me at the Texas Hold 'Em table.
The Aussies were there, as was poker expert Chuck.
Bryan, Larry, Jeff, and Christian enjoyed the evening air after the tasty buffet dinner.
Let's look around, shall we?
There were people crowded around all of the tables, ...
... and I went around snapping photos of them.
Gambling, ...
.. gambling, ...
... and more gambling.
Walt and David took a moment to pose for their once-a-decade portrait.
Tom parlayed his initial $500 into four beautiful yellow $1000 chips.
But who needs yellow chips when you have pink drink tickets?
The ambience of the open air event was enhanced by the flashing purple lights on the side of the building.
As the casino tables shut down, the band played on, ...
... and the dance floor heated up.
We had an audience several floors up.
After an unusual interpretation of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" involving Brendan, his staff, and some beverages, it was back to the dance floor for just a few more songs.
It's good to have Summit traditions, and one of them is this annual photo of Brian and me.
As the party wound down, I got some group shots: Lo, Steve, Robert, Tamara, and Justin, ...
... and Philip, Tom, Brian, and Ann.
We started to move toward the hotel's outdoor bar, but first Balinder had to photograph ...
... two America's Next Top Model contestants. Who will be eliminated? And who will stay to compete next week?
We settled into the comfortable outdoor couches of the Hard Rock bar and ...
... much fun was had by our merry band of five.
Bryan stopped by to record people's impressions of the Summit, and we did our best to be coherent while our seatmates yelled "Whoooo!" over the conversation. It was all entirely too much fun.
At this point, Larry arrived to discuss my shortcomings, so I called it a night and a Summit, as Jeff and I had to take a flight back first thing in the morning. Even though the Summit ended on a sour note for me, it was a wonderful experience overall. Kudos to 4D for putting on such an educational, inspirational, and entertaining conference.

4D Summit: [Schaumburg 1999] [San Diego 2000] [Vancouver 2002] [Santa Fe 2003] [New Orleans 2004] [San Francisco 2005] [Memphis 2007] [Long Beach 2008] [Atlanta 2009] [San Diego 2010] [Boston 2011] [San Jose 2012] [Las Vegas 2013] [San Antonio 2014] [Portland 2016] [Washington DC 2018]

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