Another week, another state...

This blog is brought to you by the MILCOM conference, in Orlando, Florida. Actually Milcom owes me nothing, it is just paying for the Internet connection :-)

MILCOM is the largest conference in military communication around, as far as I know. Huge is an appropriate word for it. Over 5000 people are reported to be in attendance, and I think that over 500 papers are being presented (one of which is mine, that's why I am here). It is being held at a convention center that is absolutely huge, with a 120 m hexagonal glass enclosure connecting four hotel wings. Under the glass is normal outdoor vegetation (and orchids and alligators, I'm not kidding!), so you have to remember that you are not outdoors.

But I am outdoors - I used the "if you are not worried about if it is going to rain on you, you must not be outdoors. Everyone else went off to the Hard Rock Cafe, where the real Beach boys are performing. I was initially less lucky, because I had to meet with a vendor for dinner, but now I am enjoying the quiet, sitting in the dark poolside, typing away. It is about 22 out, with a nice breeze blowing. No one is swimming, not sure why - maybe they are off seeing the Beach boys :D

Here is a thought to ponder. Today from 12:15 to 1:15, they served lunch. To somewhere between 3000 and 5000 people or so. In one hour. Including separate bread, salad, and main courses. Each table sat about 8 people. There were millions of tables, or at least 300+ tables, all in a big area consisting in the three largest ballrooms all opened up and merged together.

Each 3 tables had 2 servers, working more of less continuously serving something - so several hundred servers. Now, the thing I am having a hard time imagining is what the kitchen looked like!

Here is a Google map of the whole affair - click on the blue areas for more...


View Larger Map

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=28.342864,-81.526403&spn=0.00331,0.007167&t=k&z=18&om=1&msid=103609867552836148298.00043dacfa946e321c0fd