Penguins Converge on Texas as COMMON User Conference
Comes to San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO --
COMMON, the popular semiannual user conference for midrange
server professionals, is coming to San Antonio with the latest
information on OS/400 V5R3 and a focus on Linux.
This conference
offers the first in-depth training on OS/400 V5R3 by top IBM
and industry experts. Many of COMMON's labs and sessions will
now include the enhancements to OS/400 V5R3, DB2 UDB, WebSphere,
Apache, Domino Workplace. You'll also learn the latest programming
techniques with enhancements across the board from Java to RPG,
in WebSphere Development Studio Client, and extensive improvements
to CL! There is new support for LPAR as well as new high availability
options.
The
COMMON IT Education Conference & Expo in San Antonio is your
connection to the world’s best iSeries education. Because COMMON
is the world’s largest users group of IBM and IBM-compatible professionals,
our conference will help you generate strong results for yourself
and your IT department — benefits that pay off now and for years
to come.
COMMON
turns your time into money
You've heard that time equals money.
Well, this is proven at COMMON conferences. Everything is organized
so you get the most out of every minute — from
sessions and labs that put you in the middle of hot IT issues
to networking events with the industry's top experts.
A few conference
highlights
COMMON packs a tremendous amount into five exciting
days. For starters, on Sunday, May 2nd, don’t miss the Opening Session.
COMMON’s
President, Bob Boyson, will highlight the many sessions, labs,
workshops, forums and meetings in store for you.
Also on Sunday,
IBM’s top professionals will inform you of the
latest news about the iSeries, share their vision for the future,
and answer your questions at the IBM’s iSeries Nation Town Hall
Meeting.
Sunday
also starts the industry’s largest Expo. Whether you’re
looking for performance tools, security solutions, or answers
to save your organization time and money, plan on spending time
exploring the industry’s
newest solutions, and talking with product developers and leading
solution providers.
Join thousands of fellow IT professionals,
IBM executives, and developers in sharing both information and
solutions. Participate in formal forums, "Ask
the Experts", or meet casually at other impromptu networking sessions,
as well as a variety of COMMON’s planned networking receptions.
San
Antonio Focus—Linux!
The San Antonio Conference Focus is Linux—running
Linux in the real business world. Included is a special educational
focus on the basics of the Linux operating system, the technical
aspects of the iSeries offering, and new business opportunities,
and a special Linux workshop.
Sunday Linux workshop!
On Sunday, May 2nd, COMMON is offering
a special Linux workshop. It’s
complimentary to five-day conference attendees, and will be the
perfect introduction to Linux and the "Open Source" software
environment. Seating will be limited. For additional information
on the Linux focus, go to www.common.org/linux.html.
Hotel
Information
Use the COMMON Housing Bureau to book your hotel
room—and register
for the conference. You can do this one of two ways: Fill out
hard copies of COMMON's Hotel Reservation Form and Conference
Registration Form (PDFs available) or complete your hotel
and conference registration information online now. MORE
Register Early
and Save!
Register by April 6, 2004 and save $200 off the
Conference Hotel Registration Rate. Pay just $1,295! COMMON
membership required. For complete conference information
and to register, click here, or call 800.777.6734.
SOURCE: www.common.org
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Area Educators Gear Up for Local Reality Contest:
"The Substitute"
 HOUSTON
-- Men and women from all over the Houston area are lining up
to put their names in the hat for a local reality contest
sponsored by the Board of Education.
Modeled after the hit NBC reality
TV show The Apprentice,
this new contest, entitled "The Substitute," will narrow the
field to a group of 16 prospective teachers—eight men and eight
women—who
will vie for a one-year stint as a substitute teacher at local
schools.
"We thought this would be a fun way to highlight the importance
of substitute teachers to our educational system," explained board
member Patti Yalusa. "A lot of people think that being a substitute
means that you just come in and read the latest issue of People while
the kids do busy work. There's really a lot more to it."
The contest
will run for 15 weeks and one candidate will be fired at the end of each
task. Unlike The Apprentice, "The Substitute" will
not be shown on TV, at least not beyond incessant local TV coverage
and a special recap program to be shown at 2 AM on the local access
channel.
16 would-be substitute teachers
will battle it out for a one-year
stint as the substitute-teacher-of- choice for Houston-area schools.
In
order to be named "The Substitute," the winning
candidate will have to outmaneuver, outsmart, and of course out-teach the
other 15 candidates in a grueling list of challenges. They will face the
challenges of teaching in close quarters and must deftly handle an array
of shockingly bad behavior from some students. This aspect of the contest
is referred to by some board members as "My Big Fat Obnoxious Pupil." A
lawsuit has already filed against these individuals by both the
producers of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and
FOX television.
Tasks each week will incorporate various aspects of teaching:
course development; test development; time management; encouragement; under-desk
gum removal; refusal of hall passes; and self defense.
"For some of these candidates, teaching will be old hat," explained
Yalusa. "Many of them have already been serving as substitutes for
more than five years, but they are only getting sporadic work
these days and are jumping at the chance to be guaranteed regular
assignments. On the other hand, we're throwing several people into the
mix that have no teaching experience at all. There's even one man who never
finished high school. But the great thing about it is that, going in, they
all have an equal shot of winning."
Unlike The Apprentice, "The Substitute" will not divide
the candidates into two teams. Instead, all candidates will be put into
separate classrooms at the same time—with identical tasks—and
the results will be reviewed after the bell rings to end the
class.
Developers of the contest hope that, in addition
to raising awareness of the importance of substitute teachers,
the results will get the attention of a major network who will want to
buy the rights to "The Substitute
2" and thus inject some much needed funds into the school system.
"I'd have no problem with doing a sequel," said Yalusa. "I
mean, everything has a sequel these days, doesn't it. I think
if we didn't do
a sequel then people might think it was a bit odd."
So far no networks are biting and the contest remains
a very local endeavor. But that could all change when the candidates'
rendition of Ricky Martin's "She
Bangs" hits public access.
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