There is a reason why one end of a typical consumer battery looks different than the other. While the tiny diagram hidden inside the battery compartment of your remote may be hard to see, it’s easy to tell the difference between the ends of a battery by looking or touching it. Where am I going with this? I have no idea.. but I do know that batteries are fairly easy to use.

Ah, right. Usability. I was at User Experience 2005, a web usability conference held last week in Boston. I learned a lot and was quite intrigued by some of the subject matter. My biggest surprise was walking up to the registration table the first morning and seeing my friend Amy (and former boss from my days in the WPI Web Development Office). My second surprise came when it was almost 4:30pm and I was still wide awake and eager as ever to hear what was next in the presentation.

It is amazing to see how decisions are made about web sites, and how those decisions impact the target audience – the user. Where to place links, the colors that are used, and writing style all have a fairly large impact on how well a user can accomplish a task on a web site. I came away from the conference with a wealth of knowledge and a signed copy of Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Woohoo!

Well, Leanne and I can finally check an item off our wedding to-do list: The Location. We’ve decided to get married at WPI, where we met. Specifically, at Higgins House on campus. It’s a cool, historic, castle-like building and is the perfect setting for our big day. A nice thing about having our wedding at WPI is they take care of things like the linens, catering, and the bar. They’re also quick to recommend a lot of local companies for things like tent rentals and cakes. Now, on to the rest of the list…

Check out some snap shots of Higgins House.

On our way home from a Wedding Photo-Video-DJ presentation last night, we stopped by Burger King for some dinner. As we walked in, I noticed a bunch of football field laminates on some tables.

Upon further review, we saw some table-tent-uprights. Cool! They have a cool Finger Football promotion going on. Kudos to whoever came up with that idea. After we were done eating, Leanne and I played a quick game. I started off well, making my extra point kicks… but she made a quick comeback and was getting touchdowns all over the place. When all was said and done, she had scored 11 touchdowns to my 7. Oh well, I still claim that the playing surface was too slipery!