Tech Conference Closes

Today started the second, and last day of the LDS Tech Developer's Conference. It was a wonderful day, starting at 8 AM in the church's new development building. I got there early to make sure to get a comfortable seat.


After a breakfast and a brief introduction to the day, we each went to our various groups to get started on our projects.


I chose to work on the Digital Area Book Project. Each missionary area in the church has an area book where they keep track of all the people that they visit, how far they progressed in the gospel, and any notes they might have. Those books stay in the area, so that as missionaries come and go there is a record of what has gone on, so that the new missionaries have an idea of what has happened before.

The Digital Area Book project in its first phase is simply taking this work, and putting it into a digital format. Additional phases will look at reporting on this work, and making subsets of the data available to others who might need it, such as the local ecclesiastical unit of the church in the area, i.e. the "regular" members of the church.

Leading this effort were three people who work for the church. In the first picture, I am with Romina Marin, who is the project manager. She is standing next to Todd Ericksen, who is a UI designer and also works for the Church Missionary Department and represents their interest in this project.


And here I am with Nathan Dickamore, the development lead for the project.


It was a long day of work, but much was accomplished. Some people came and helped to figure out how the thing should work. Others came up with ways to test it. One group worked on how it should look. My group worked on implementation, or making it actually happen.

In the end we met for a brief farewell. At that time, I got this nice shot of me with some of the beautiful mountains in the background.


I also got to shake hands with Tom Welch, who is the development manager for the church's internal systems. He has been the one to spearhead the open source development and has put together this conference.


All in all, a wonderful day.

Tech Conference Opens

Today I attended the very first LDS Tech Developer's Conference in Salt Lake City.


The conference was a meeting of open source developers working on projects sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. People from all over the world came. There were developers from Australia, Spain, Portugal, and there was even supposed to be one from South Africa but that was cancelled when he was unable to get his visa.

Still, there were many good friends to converse with.


The highlight of the opening day was when Elder Bednar came to speak with us. Elder Bednar is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second highest presiding body in the LDS church. He talked on the importance of General Conference (a conference for all LDS church members also occurring this weekend), and talked about how technology is being used to reach people who otherwise couldn't be reached. He then opened the floor for questions on any subject, and we were delighted to hear him answer open questions for over an hour. It seemed like only a few minutes.

The day concluded with a high-level overview of some of the technologies being exposed for use by the community developers, and an overview of some of the sessions to be attended the next day.

And the Frog strikes again!

I'm back, and travelling once more. Here I am in the Little America, Salt Lake City, UT. My travel guest had arranged for economical lodgings, but a few froggy words with the concierge secured us a nice, complimentary upgrade.

On our way home

We are coming home!!!

After two months in India, we are finally on our way home. It was a great experience, and one I hope I get to repeat with Mommy some time in the future, but for now I am glad to be heading home. I haven't seen my Frog Prince, Sheepie, or Boy in two long months, and a Travelling Froggie can only stay away so long.

I am blogging this from Newark International Airport, so I can now say I am at least back in the states now. I still have another eight hours before I make it back to Portland, and at least another two before home, but now I can say I am back. It is good to be back.

Right away, I got down to the essentials, like eating an American breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, and ham (the pork kind, not the chicken ham they serve in India) with lots of maple syrup (they use honey in India). After that, Papa and I sat down to catch up on some much neglected solitaire.


We also grabbed these great shots of the New York skyline at sunrise.



I don't know when I will post again. It will not likely be until I make another excursion again in the future. For all my loyal fans, I would say thank you. So long, and have a great day.

Travelling with the Travel Froggie

With only a few days left before we head back home, I was anxious to get out and spend some time sightseeing with Papa. As such, I kindly requested that Daddy leave work early and come with us. After much haggling over food compensation for the lost work hours, we headed out.

Since I have seen many of these sights before, I decided to take Papa and Daddy to some of the sights I liked. We first went to Humayun's tomb. Outside that is the Isa Khan tomb and mosque. We even got Daddy to come to the other side of the camera for once. It was a little awkward for him at first, but he finally got the hang of it.


After that we went to see Humayun's tomb. Papa noticed some of the intricate carvings in the floor, so we explored those and their many variations. It is amazing how many different designs they were able to make off the same few patterns. We also found Barber's tomb, who was Humayun's father and the first Mughal emperor who conquered India. Since Papa brought the memory card that Daddy forgot (those silly Daddies), we were able to take plenty of pictures without having to skimp on resolution.


Once finished there, we headed on to the Purana Quila. Again, the massive stone structures that these people were able to build are just amazing.


We were also amazed at how well preserved the colors are. Almost 500 years after being built, and the reds, blues, blacks, and whites are exceptionally vibrant.


After walking through much of the Purana Quila, we were asked to leave. Apparently there is a new curfew in place now after the terrorist attacks that occurred right before I left for Pune. We will have to factor this in for our plans on Monday, but it will be OK I think. Still, so much to show Papa and so little time for a Froggie such as myself.

Papa Arrives

HE'S HERE!!!


Papa has arrived finally to tour India with me. His flight ended up a little late, and those nasty customs people tried to detain him, but I broke him free.


After we broke out of the airport, we then rushed back to the hotel. An hour and forty-five minutes later we arrived and got checked in to our new, posh little room. Much nicer than my other accommodations. We should have had Papa visit a long time ago, then maybe my stingy daddy would have upgraded us sooner.

Anyway, it is late, and I am tired. Tata for now.

Purana Qila

Today's journey involved a lovely place called Purana Qila, meaning Old Fort.


Believed to be built on the site of an ancient, some say mythical, city it rest on a hill slightly elevated above the surrounding area. The current fort was built by Humayun, the second Mughal king of India. It was captured by Sher Shah Sur when he drove Humayun out of India for a few years. Shar Shah made the fort his home, and built a beautiful mosque inside.



He also built a tower, now called Sher Mandal, which is believed to be the tower that Humayun used as his library after returning and reclaiming India. This is the same library that Humayun lost his footing, and subsequently his life, in.


Personally, I was hoping for the moat to still be around so that I could do some fishing, but apparently the river Yamuna which used to fill the moat has since changed course. Oh well, some other time I suppose.