I will be heading down to Los Angeles the Friday before the PDC in order to visit friends and relatives and to check out the King Tut exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The last time Tutankhamun came to the United States was back in the late 1970’s. I was an elementary school student and a few of my classmates were lucky enough to have obtained tickets to the exhibition; they gave it rave reviews.

I will show up at the Convention Center when the PDC proper begins on Tuesday. I am officially scheduled to be in the Fundamentals Lounge from 11:30am to 2:30pm on Tuesday, then again on Thursday all day after my talk. Unofficially, I plan to be in the Fundamentals Lounge pretty much the entire time, though I may step out every so often to check out the exhibitors’ booths and hands-on labs, to eat, or just to tease the people in the other lounges.

What this means for you is that if you have something you want to discuss with me, you can just drop in the Fundamentals Lounge and there’s a good chance I’ll be there. No need to make an appointment. Don’t be afraid to approach me; if I didn’t want to be disturbed I’d have stayed in my hotel room! If I’m not around, you can call the main Microsoft switchboard +1-425-882-8080 and ask for me, and the call will be forwarded to my mobile.

As for my talk, it will be in the style of a lecture, so there will be no slides. Slides will be provided in the handouts for completeness, but I won’t use them. I’m told the talk will be recorded, and it is my understanding that the post-conference DVD will contain copies of every talk, so those of you who attend will be able to re-live the excitement in the comfort of your very own cubicle. (And to pre-empt the inevitable follow-up question: The PDC team own the recording of my talk, so don’t ask me if I can make a copy available. It’s not mine to give out.)

One consequence of giving a lecture-style talk is that I will be using a Tablet PC as a sort of electronic chalkboard. There’s one catch, though: I don’t own a Tablet PC myself. I’ll try to borrow one from a colleague for my talk, but in the worst-case scenario, I may get up on stage and ask to borrow one from an audience member. (Downside of loaning me your Tablet PC: You can’t take notes on your Tablet PC during the talk. Upside: You get a copy of all the notes and diagrams!)