[Plone-conference] Rare exports

Mon Oct 15 22:49:14 UTC 2012

Mikko,

There were a few things from this conference that I'll remember forever, but I think last night takes the cake.  Not just that you won a sword in bingo, but that you were confident you could get it through airport security, as you 'had done this before.'. Of course you have. Only Mikko.

So, do you wish you had decided to take the huge cash register home, instead. I know you and @eleddy were both tempted to.  :)

Finally made it back to Chicago, myself, but a much less eventful trip than Mikko's, thankfully.

I say this after every Plone Conference, and it's true each time: Best Conference Ever!!!

Thanks so much to the Four Digits gang for hosting such a great event and showing off your great city.  And thanks to the sponsors too for helping make it happen and keeping it more affordable.

Great presentations, great time meeting more community members, productive sprints, and a although I'm more sleep-deprived than I've been in awhile, I doubt I'm alone in feeling more re-energized about Plone the software and the community than I've been in some time. Great job!

My favorite quote this weekend from @esteele's friend:  "I don't know what these guys do, but I want to be a part of it."

My favorite new phrase is from Maurizio: "Plone Nation".  I think that sums things up better than just 'Plonistas'.

Thanks again to all for sharing your time, knowledge, kindness, and energy.

See you next year!  

Viva la Plone Nation!

Ken

On Oct 15, 2012, at 3:14 PM, Mikko Ohtamaa <mikko at opensourcehacker.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Thanks for the great conference! I have never had this super fun - and for myself the conference had the end climax it deserved. I had some of the most interesting moments of my life today. You were there so it's true story :)
> 
> Namely, we went to a pub yesterday after the sprint. There was a "junk bingo" where everyone could participate for free and win stuff. Lucky-Franco won a vinyl and a drinking game. But I got the main prize, a katana sword after trying really hard to beat Franco in the game. A really cool sword, which soon ended up being full of Plone related stickers (don't know how this happened). I was thinking it makes an awesome souvenir for the conference.
> 
> ... fast-forward 12 hours to the next and the airport. I was carrying the sword wrapped in black plastic bags as I really had to do some improvisation how to carry it - it doesn't fit into any luggage. I have imported swords before to Finland from Czech so "I know what I am doing". They'll put a special sticker on the sword "DANGEROUS" and either let it go in the luggage or given it to the cabin crew.
> 
> It was almost success. I went to the special items desk and told I have a sword to declare in my luggage. I got it approved by KLM (the fee was 55 EUR but I thought it's worth it). However they needed the dangerous sticker from the airport security. So a military police (or whatever it is its equivalent) comes here and check my sword. Still everything going well, besides having an epic hangover.... I got even checked in with tickets and everything.
> 
> But then the police gets somehow confused. Because the sword doesn't fit into the luggage, it is a separate item I was carrying around. The police makes a radio call and a lot of Dutch discussion ensures with the KLM representative. A senior KLM representative comes around. More Dutch discussion ensures. In this point I actually miss the chance to reach my flight in timely fashion. 
> 
> Then the police tells me "we need to take your sword and give you a fine". In which point I feel the things are not going to end that well anymore... the KLM lady asks me do you know what I am accused of. It was something along the lines that I was carrying the sword with me when I arrived to the airport (basically carrying a weapon) which is against the local law. This of course makes some sense as it is not nice for the airport security to have hungover Finns carrying ninja tools around. However the police and KLM had procedures how things are supposed to be done and we were doing it by the book. They have rules to export dangerous items, but those dangerous items should not reach the airport in the first place...
> 
> So I am taken to fill in a lot of paper forms... and they ask the question "How did you end up to the possession of this item?"
> 
> ...in which point I quickly think in my head: I am already in some shit. It probably doesn't make things better if I tell the truth that on Sunday night, after programming 12 hours on in a music hall, me and my Australian, US, Brit, Argentina and bunch of other friends from bunch of other countries went to a bar where we drank beer called "Hell and Damnation", patched something called Templer and played junk bingo. 
> 
> ... so I told the police "I won it in a competition".
> 
> It was awesome conference.
> 
> In the end they didn't give me fine. It was little embarrassing for the polices too as they apparently wouldn't have wanted to go through the mess more than I did, so in some point of the filling paper work they stop doing it, just tell me "please forget this little incident and move along." Then I got personally escorted by a nice KLM lady to get my flights rebooked (which I actually had to pay). Now I am thinking how could I explain this to my travel insurance company to get the money back...
> 
> 
> See you in Ploneconf 2013!
> 
> Ps. Rare Exports movie, from Finland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQlikX4vvw
> 
> -- 
> Mikko Ohtamaa
> http://opensourcehacker.com
> http://twitter.com/moo9000
> 
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