Notes from the road #23 - Where do I start edition?

Quick shot from my favorite place to write these late night missives - The Delta Sky Club.

Here's 5 things I think I think in the run up to next week's HR Technology Conference.

5. HR Tech is in Las Vegas next week and rest assured the Conference is working with local organizations and causes to make sure that the event and our HR community support the victims, families, and anyone impacted by last Sunday's tragedy. Follow @HRTechConf on Twitter for updates.

4. I am not a political person. I am squarely in the middle of the road on most issues. But no matter what side of the political spectrum you identify with, it is just about impossible to conclude that we as a country have it right when it comes to availability of ridiculously powerful weaponry and the potential for that weaponry to fall into the hands of folks who will cause massive damage. I don't have a solution, but I am not dumb enough to realize there is not a problem.

3. If you are young or inexperienced enough, there is no such thing as 'legacy' enterprise software applications. Sometimes I feel like the ratings or evaluations or placements on made up quadrants or scales have more to do with author's remembrances of things past and less to do with the present or the future. Successful companies over time do not stand still. They evolve. They loosen their grip on the past. They figure out how today is different. The famous Italian race car champion once said, after having ripped the rear view mirror from his windshield, 'What's behind you, is not there.'

2. I took a couple of 'regular' taxi rides on my trip this week. While each was perfectly fine, I couldn't help thinking I was being overcharged and inconvenienced by having to work through a complex and dumb payment process at the end of the ride. You may not like Uber and it's culture or competitiveness, but their user experience beats the alternative just about every single time.

1. Never, ever, ever convince yourself the red eye flight from the West Coast back east is a good idea. And this is from someone who is about to get on a plane at 11:15PM PT. If you see me in person on Thursday, ask me to give you $100. I will be so punchy I will probably say ok.

Until the next trip...