In a previous post, I informed you that I would be the Content Chair and Organizer of the 2009 Atlanta IT Architecture Regional Conference (ITARC).  Well I was.  It happened.  Now, it’s over. 

Let’s be clear.  The event was successful.  I believe, the attendees got more than they expected and they got it at a very reasonable price.  We had great keynotes.  IBM’s Rob High presented on SOA.  Robert Lario, from Visumpoint, introduced us to the topic of standards and how they provide the language for Enterprise Architects.  Microsoft’s Jack Greenfield, discussed Cloud Computing and how it affects B2B.  Cisco’s Harvinder Kalsi described successes with SOA. And Neal Ford, from Thoughtworks, rounded out the keynotes with his discussion about future technologies and trends, and why we are bad about predicting them.   We had great local speakers as well.  Their topics were varied, nicely constructed, and well received. 

It was a fantastic event and well worth the effort I, and many others, put into it, but I am glad it is over.  The hours it takes to pull off such and event are numerous and taxing.  Though we started planning this event several months ago, I was able to keep it from affecting the rest of my life fairly successfully until this last month.  Every spare moment, was focused on how to ensure its success.  My stress levels were elevated and my desire to do things like ride my bike, play my guitar, or blog about those things, was diminishing. 

The purpose of this post is to give some sort of explanation to the loyal visitors of this blog, who continued to visit, again and again, despite the absence of new articles.  Today I’m tired, but tomorrow, I should be refreshed and you can expect frequent postings going forward.

Now I’m going to go and wear blisters onto my fingers by playing a little Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze.

And there you have it.

Joe.