Anticipation

Around mid December when I was 11 years old, a rather large present showed up under the Christmas tree. The card said, "To: Mark, Love: Mom and Dad." The anticipation was killing me. Was it that Lego set I had my eye on? Or perhaps the new Nintendo game system that ALL my friends had? One afternoon, my parents and older siblings were all working and my younger brother was at a friend's house. I gave in to temptation and decided to do a little snooping.

I secured my lookout, our eight-year-old Bichon Frise. She was dozing at the top of the stairs, likely dreaming of the milk bones and dog toys that would emerge from the Christmas stocking bearing the name, "Angel." She would certainly wake up if any cars approached the house, so I had a 40 second window to work in.

First, I tried shaking the present. It was more of a dull thud than anything else (so much for the Lego set). Since that didn't yield any answers, I went to plan B. I very, very carefully removed a piece of tape from the side of the package and revealed the entire side panel. Unfortunately, that sneaky devil (Mom) had placed the present in a brown cardboard box, obscuring the contents from prying eyes. However, just one more piece of tape separated me from my future loot. I peeled back the tape, opened the flaps of the box and revealed...pajamas, socks and underwear. Needless to say, I saved that present for last on Christmas day :-(

Last week, Microsoft released details about Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Don't wait until 2010 to find out what's under the shiny wrapping paper. Join us at Mahoney State Park (Main Lodge, Nebraska Room) on November 18th, where SharePoint expert Russ Edelman will show us what's new in 2010 (Nintendo or unmentionables?), key planning considerations and likely complications in the implementation of SharePoint. Visit http://www.armanebraska.com for details and registration.