The LISA ‘06 Conference Blog

For those who are interested, here is a list of past LISA conferences, locations, and conference chairs.

After a day of arguing over papers at the program committee meeting in Chicago, everyone was ready for some nourishment. Although a few people had to leave that evening, most of us were able to stay and went out for a very enjoyable evening at a restaurant in Schaumburg. The place we went to is a Brazilian churrascaria called Sal y Carvão, which I think is Portugese for “stuff yourself silly with meat”. It’s like an all-you-can-eat-buffet, except they bring the meat to you. The dinner was absolutely wonderful and the company was lots of fun.

After everyone was completely sated with meat, salad, meat, dessert, more meat, and drink (and some more meat) it was time to return to the hotel. We had enough cars that we only needed to call one cab, but we did have to request a van. The van showed up and one individual in the group, who shall remain nameless, decided to open the hatchback to put a bag in the back. The cabbie came around the back to help out just as our illustrious committee member started to slam the overhead hatch closed, and the door came down very hard on the poor cabbie’s shoulder. He was clearly in pain and we feared his reaction, but he got back in the driver’s seat and was ready to go. Perhaps he sought revenge, or perhaps he was simply dazed with pain, but the trip back to the hotel was one I really wish I had not experienced. He drove slow. He refused to take the tollway. For awhile I wasn’t really sure he was taking us in the right direction. But the topper was the red light that he completely ignored. This wasn’t like stretching a yellow. This light had been red for awhile when our cabbie just rolled on through it as if it didn’t exist. A car came out of the side street at the same time and came very close to hitting us. We all started looking at each other with the same thought: “we are all going to die!”

The good news is that we did make it back to the hotel safely, and we were never sued by the cab driver. But it did make for an exciting conclusion to a very busy day.

The program committee met at the end of June at the O’Hare Hyatt Regency in suburban Chicago. I arrived in town a day early to visit relatives and drove out to the hotel the night before the meeting. I didn’t get to the hotel until very late, around 11:30 pm. You probably know what a hotel lobby is like late at night. The skeleton crew is behind the desk: there are maybe two people on duty. You walk in and go right up to one of them and check in. You’re done and on your way in 5 minutes, maybe less. Not that night! When I got to the front desk there was a line a mile long and it didn’t seem to be moving very fast. I checked my watch to see if I had suddenly fallen through a time warp, but it still said 11:30. How weird. As I was standing around waiting for the line to move, eager to get to my room and rest up before the big meeting, I wondered aloud why there were so many people. The lady standing next to me was kind enough to share her story. Apparently a United flight to Phoenix had been cancelled, and she suspected several other flights had suffered the same fate. Most of the people waiting in line were airline refugees, sent there with the promise of a room for the night and a $7 meal voucher. I wasn’t really sure what sort of meal $7 was going to buy in the Hyatt Regency, especially since the only place still open was the sports bar. $7 of room service might get you a napkin and a glass of water, but only if you pay for the mandatory gratuity yourself.

I was sure glad that I had a reservation, and was afraid they might decide to give my room away anyway, considering how late my arrival was. But my fears were unfounded. When I finally got to one of the frazzled employees behind the front desk, I cheerily said “Hi! My name is William LeFebvre and I actually have a reservation.” He sighed and replied, “Thank God!”

Greetings. My name is Bill LeFebvre and I have the privilege of being your host and conference chair for this year’s LISA conference. This will be the 20th Large Installation Systems Administration conference, and it is sure to be one to remember. The committee has worked very hard this year so that we can provide you with a fantastic conference. So I hope that you will be joining us in Washington DC this December. If you want to see all the official details you will find them over here.

Over the next few months I will be using this blog to tell you about some of the special things that will be happening at the conference, and to bring you some stories from behind the scenes. I started working on the conference in January of this year and it has been a very rewarding experience for me. So please come back and visit this blog regularly to get the latest scoop. I will leave comments enabled so that you can join in the fun if you wish.

Finally, let me state for the record that anything I put here is just from me. Don’t take it to be anything official from Usenix, because it’s not. I will try not to embarrass too many people.