So I begin…
So I begin a blog for Questiny Engineering. My intent for this blog is as a respository for my product ideas, design concepts, analysis results, and other thougths. This is a new venture for me, and I must admit, I am a bit uncomfortable with this new media. Be that as it may, I begin this blig with the hoping that others will find it useful. So with out much ado, here I go “a blogging.”
This week’s activities included attending the MILCOM 2008 conference where I presented two of my papers (I will have these papers available on my web-site as I get begin to fill it out). This was my first MILCOM conference so I cannot compare it to other MILCOM conferences. Compared to other conferences, however, I found it outstanding. Now my basis for evaluation includes two factors; 1) How often are there interesting technical topics to listen to, and 2) How often am I connecting wtih potential business contacts. In both of those categories, I found my self constantly engaged. The technical program had so many papers of interest to me that I could not cover them all. Many that piqued my interest were presented at the same time. I have not found that to be the case at past conferences. As for business contacts, I found myself engaged all of the time. At no time did I find myself wanting for someone to talk to of feeling disconnected from the conference. That is unusual for me at these conferences.
As for the keynote speakers, most were ok. Mike Mcconnel was the most interesting (Dir. National Intel.), but for me, one of the most interesting was byAdmiral James G. Stavridis Commander, United States Southern Command. In his talk he showed a picture of a semi-submersible boat (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/20/drug.subs/index.html) developed by the South American drug cartels. These are half boats, half submarines built for the purpose of carryiing drugs from South America to the US Gulf Coast. What was interesting in his talk was that he had one of these placed at the entrance to USSOCOM. This was not placed as a trophy, but as a reminder that our foes are smart and innovative as well as dangerous. I thought this was a mark of a good leader.