Of course I'm talking about coming to the UConnect Conference in Orlando next week. I've promised several of my friends that I'll be there, and I'm even told that the ec-bp.org booth has some apparel to give away with my name on it. I'm certainly not the highlight of the show, and T-shirts aren't the only give-away items you'll find there. Be sure to check out the UConnect iPod give-away. I also understand that another company has some electronics available for free.

My last stop was at a client's office where they were struggling with an update to one of their customer's EDI specs. For the life of me, I have a hard time understanding exactly why some of these changes are suggested, much less mandated. I try not to get too deep into any particular company's reasons for designing EDI documents the way they do because I don't sit at the same table they sit at. But I can tell from the frequency and types of changes, that they don't what they do for the convenience, or even with consideration for their suppliers. In fact, sometimes I think they do it just so they can generate revenue from their vendors as non-compliance fees.

But I'm about to pull back on the road and find my way to Orlando. I went out of my way down a back road to stop at one of my all time Texas chili restaurants. It's been there since the 30's, serving nothing but chili as a main course. Unfortunately all I found when I drove up to RJ's Roadside was a flat spot next to the road where Jake's restaurant used to be.

The locals told me that some sharp young guy drove up one day and bought Jake's place on the spot. Of course what he really wanted was the recipe because the next week RJ's Roadside was knocked down by a dozer. I'm still looking for RJ's Texas Turkey Chili to pop up somewhere.