As most of you know very well, I was in the beautiful city of Atlanta for the past week or so. This was probably the first trip I’ve taken outside the state in nearly four years, so I enjoyed myself immensely. However, I did miss the fresh air that Texas has to offer. I will never complain again, or compare the air quality of home sweet home to the smokeless environment of say, Iowa. Honestly I can say without exaggeration that I feel as if my lifespan has been shorted at least a couple of years due to all the second hand smoke I was forced to inhale. But hey, that is the price one must be willing to pay if he wants to explore the capital of the peach filled state. Even though I did not see one peach tree during my stay… Well, that and the incredibly rude food service employees who will halt in the middle of your order to take a personal call in the alley… or wherever they go. I always thought that service at McDonald’s would be universally fast and easy. Oh ho! That is so not the case. I don’t feel the need to rant about my little misfortune, since I have other more interesting things to blog about. But I will say to the manager of the McD’s across the Westin Hotel, next to the Hooters establishment, that you, sir, can easily find better employees that can actually read orders and fill up an ice cream cone within 20 minutes.

The main planned event that occurred during my stay, besides the competition of course, was our trip to Stone Mountain Park. We left around 11:00 in the morning to be absolutely sure that we would not miss the delicious southern cooking that awaited us. Here I think, is where I got addicted to Georgia’s iced tea. What makes it so special? Well, just take a glass of regular iced tea, dump a cup or two of sugar in it, stir it up with love, and there you go. Ah ha ha… good times… good times. After several turkey legs, cucumber slaw, and the most amazing peach cobbler ever, we headed off to explore what Stone Mountain had to offer. The first thing that I did was to drag everyone I possibly could to go to the lovely souvenir shops that were equipped with ACs. My favorite one was probably the authentic candy confectioners store where I bought some peach taffy that looked oh so tempting at the time. Little did I think of how hot it was outside, let alone how I was going to keep my candy from melting for ten long, long hours.

Next we headed off to the paddle boats which was a 20 minute walk from the main shopping area of Stone Mountain. I think it is needless to say at this point that I complained all the way up, and nearly had a heart attack -due to rage- when we found out that our efforts were fruitless because the paddle boat supervisor didn’t feel like showing up that day. But in the end I let bygones be bygones when I managed to get a hole in one during our mini golf game. The rest of day passed relatively quickly with a train ride, Duck boat ride, and a flashy laser show with flamethrowers and fantastically coordinated fireworks.

On Friday, the competitive events started their preliminary rounds. I participated in the web site development category with this entry. It wasn’t until that I was setting up in preparation to present, that I noticed the browser I would be using was Internet Explorer 7, one that I had not tested the site in. The difference was not completely disastrous, but it was still enough to cost me the chance at placing in the finals. So, after all the hard work I had to put forth during this competition, through the local, state, and now national division, I only made it to top 15. I am not completely devastated by my ignorance, since I will always have next year to try and redeem myself. I just wish I got to talk to the other competitors more… it isn’t everyday that you can meet and hang out with some of the best young website developers in the USA.

In the end this whole experience has taught me a lot.

1. Don’t plan on sleeping when you go on vacation.
2. Always tip well, or else…
3. Never trust Microsoft!!
4. Take a jacket with you, no matter how hot your destination is. You will find a use for it.
5. Learn from your mistakes.
6. Don’t give up on your dreams.

So to all of my competition out there, watch out for me. I am 100% determined to beat all of your bubble butts at the 2009 FBLA national leadership conference.

Sitewise
Look forward to some new web 2.0 layouts this week. Also, a few photo manipulation tutorials, for those who have incompetent cameras, like myself.