_place_holder; Well, I am heading home from the [IBM SOA Connectivity and Integration](https: //www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp004.nsf/v16_agenda?openform&seminar=QZDS39 ES&locale=en_US) briefing in Dallas, Texas. _place_holder; Upon taking seat 31F on the American Airlines MD-80, Jim Bean noticed that the plane is WiFi enabled with GoGo service. _place_holder; The service is pretty good. _place_holder; Broadband reports scores it:
](http://www.blairkennedy.com/files/img278_4.jpg){kind=link}
 _place_holder;[
](http:
//speedtest.dslreports.com)
Regarding the trip, I think that it was fruitful. _place_holder; The content started off a bit bland and more along a focused marketing route, but it quickly turned into a very nice overview of IBM’s SOA connectivity and governance offerings that support its SOA pillars. _place_holder; Some great contacts were made, and I really appreciated hearing directly from senior architects and product managers ( most notably Adolfo Rodriguez, Scott Karabin, John Cosgrove) about WebSphere DataPower, WebSphere ESB and Process Server, as well as WebSphere Registry and Repository. There was a lot of additional content in the Message Broker and MQ space as well. _place_holder; The J2EE or Web Services stack was my primary focus. _place_holder; _place_holder; I am leaving the briefing tonight with a sense of confidence in the IBM product line, its direction, and its people. _place_holder;
Time to get some rest. _place_holder; _place_holder; Looks like Phoenix will arrive around midnight, and that leaves me about a 45 minute drive once I liberate my checked bag. _place_holder; By[](http://w ww.blairkennedy.com/sites/blairkennedy.com/files/img279_4.jpg) the way, American Airlines is charging $20 for your first checked piece of luggage. _place_holder; They have to be making a killing on that deal.
Oh, and FYI, the use of a wireless mouse is not permitted onboard any domestic US flights. _place_holder; My wrongly accused, inactive, pointer received a lecture.