Code is hard. (They should update Barbie to say so, too.) Yesterday's homework was to make a chunk of code work. Well, I loaded it (from the CD) and fired up the 'use this tool to figure out why it's not working' tool, and *it* doesn't work. (I think I have to have a network connection for it, because it wants to update itself, but the instructor mentioned that this tool (which is open source) is wonderful but tends to break when updated...) The chunk of code, however, works perfectly. Which makes me wonder why. I *think* it's because my laptop has security checking turned off, but the instructor hasn't told us how to check that. (Or, he *did*, but wasn't very clear. It's in the registry somewhere.) Microsoft has not bothered to put any indicator in the system itself to tell you if security is turned on or off, save for this reg key ... which either exists, in which case security has at some time been toggled on or off, or doesn't, in which case it hasn't ever been toggled. Which doesn't tell you its natural state and, in fact, doesn't indicate that there *should* be a key there at all. So I didn't find it, which means that my security is either on or off ... or that I was looking in the wrong place in the reg. I just don't know.

Today we start the hard stuff, quoth the instructor. Today being Monday, I expect to be interrupted by work All Day. (Thank you, RIM.) I mean, here I am at a SANS conference where every instructor and person of authority has advised us not to get onto the networks in the classrooms unless our laptops are hardened to within inches of their lives, and even then to have backups and be ready to get infected or worse, and people expect fast responses to their email? Suicide, I tell you.

I walked down to the boardwalk on Friday night and wound up walking into Epcot by mistake. Oops. I retraced my steps and wound up back at The Fountain, where they made me a real vanilla coke to go with my cuban something or other sandwich, then went back to the room to install software and patches for my .Net class. Saturday during the day was that class (where they told us that we wouldn't really need laptops), and Saturday night I went back to the boardwalk looking for a bite to eat. I wound up buying provisions at the General Store and chowing down in my room, but first watched a juggler. He was pretty good, but I don't suppose Disney lets just anybody in. He also didn't accept tips, which ... see above.

Yesterday morning (which was cloudy and rainy and windy) at breakfast I was visited by Pluto and Chip'n'Dale. They were quiet nice and let me eat mostly in peace. Class was rough, as I mentioned, but over lunch I visted the vendor expo. Such wonderful toys! I should receive much email from people who may or may not have things to sell me. Hurrah!

After class I went back to the expo to try to win some stuff (which I didn't do) and score more swag. (I have, I believe, 5 shirts. I think none of them will fit me.) Then I went swimming. The air was cold (in the 50s) and the water was warm (in the 80s), which was very strange indeed. I didn't get in as much swimming as I wanted, but I figured I can go back tonight and do some more. Then back to the room for Family Guy and the rest of my provisions, and a quick pillage.

Today at lunch I may go back for *more* swag. I'm really only missing the map of the internet poster, but I might try for the prizes again. (They had out a quiz based on vendors' whitepapers, and now that I have all the whitepapers I should be able to answer the quiz without actually attending....) And tomorrow I get to have lunch with a vendor who will tell me why I should buy his product. Wednesday a different vendor lunch. And that's how to eat around here, because it's Disney World and there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Right. Class in twenty minutes. I should find something to wake me up.

Oh, and I *am* taking photos. I might even be able to upload them to this computer and show them. ("Sure, Paul. You keep saying that, but you never have pictures." Someday, I say.)