Please prepare for emergency landing...

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What a week.  The IO Tour '06 took me to Vancouver and Winnipeg this past week and it was far the usual event.  Vancouver was a blast with the VANTUG/VANSBS user group meetings kicking the week off.  I had a great time chatting with the user groups about SBS 2003 R2 and branch office scenarios.  One thing I want to remind those attendees about was Graham Jones call for volunteers.  Graham would like to build a team of people to offer technical services to local non-profits.  I think this is a great idea, especially for the students in the group as this is a great way to build experience and references.  Check out https://www.vantug.com to get in contact with them.

The Vancouver stop was exciting as Bruce, Rick and I took the stage.  This was the first time on stage together for Rick and I and the first time we've had three IT Pro's on the stage at once.  It was a lot of fun, we had a ton of great questions, and it was great to meet a frind of mine, Justin, whove I only had the chance with to talk to online for the past 2 years.

The flight to Winnipeg was anything but ordinary.  I had a connecting flight through Calgary and upon take off from the Calgary airport we apparently lost a wheel.  After circling over Brandon for an hour so that they could prepare for an emergency landing we headed to Winnipeg.  After two Top Gun style fly bys of the tower we got the go ahead to land.  We landed safe and sound but it was more exciting than most landings.

It was great to be back in Winnipeg, my hometown, and great to get up in front of the WITPro crowd again.  We had a great chat on SBS and branch offices before heading to my old stomping ground, the King's Head Pub for a few pints.  Also a reminder for the Winnipeg audience, if you are interested in the SBSC study group contact Jason Miller through the WITPro site.  The Technet stop was awesome as it was my first time doing an event solo.  The show went smooth, and the audience had a lot of great questions as well.  Look for a Q&A post soon as I have a number of common questions and the answers from the tour.