I'm back from the holidays, somewhat refreshed, probably a couple pounds heavier (gotta get back to the exercise regiment), and looking forward to what 2006 will bring. Hopefully you also had a good holiday.

But before I completely leave 2005 to the history books, I thought it would be interesting to take one last look at what happened -- maybe even learn a thing or two from it. So -- here is my rendition of "That was the year that was"...

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. It has been a great pleasure for me to write this blog throughout the year. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it. Thanks for putting up with my rants and raves. I look forward to seeing your comments on future blogs!

Here's to a peaceful, happy, healthy, and prosperous 2006!

Claudia

Today, IBM announced it was acquiring Bowstreet - the portal company I mentioned in my November 29th blog. As you recall, I was less than flattering about Bowstreet's assertion that all you needed was a portal to integrate all your data sources together -- data warehouses need not apply...

I learned a limerick when I was a kid that went something like this:

My face is no shining star.
It is certainly not up to par.
But, my face, I don't mind it,
For I am behind it,
It's the people in front whom I jar.

It seems that the big personality, glamour CEOs are being shown the door. The sentiment of many Board rooms regarding their top executives has shifted from the golden boy or girl to brass tacks, no-nonsense individuals. Given the number of management changes happening these days and the low-keyed personalities of the new replacements, it appears that the era of the "Celebrity" CEO is over.

I am home -- with a really bad cold. You don't want to know how bad I feel. So I am surrounded by vitamin C, cough medicine, sore throat lozenges, etc., and my favorite non-technical magazines. This is not the time to read hard core IT journals. It is a time to catch up on what is happening outside of work.

So, in my "light" reading, I came across an article on air travel tips from "Real Simple" - one of my favorite off-hours magazines. Because of the large amount of travel that I do normally and the upcoming holiday travel season that many of us must endure, I offer this information in the hopes that it helps you out. The following tips were the ones that I found most interesting but you should read the entire article for other tips.