Happy Post-Vacation Procrastination!

It's the end of the first post-holiday work week, and if you are like me, you are struggling to get back into the swing of things. I can't quite get my mind around what to tackle first - an article, update the Oracle review, tinker with IBI's InfoAssist, work on two webinars, or write this blog. If only I had some online holiday shopping to distract me!

The first week after the holidays reminds me of what USA Today writer Craig Wilson calls post vacation procrastination. With the winter skies bleak and gray, and NJ calling for yet another snow storm, it seems there's not much to look forward to (or so much to do I'm already overwhelmed).But indeed there is!

First, if you read my Thanksgiving blog about our British friend Clem, I have good news to report. He was released a few days before Christmas, dumped on the streets of New York without so much as a quarter in his pocket to call his wife. He suspects it was the public outcry that led to his release, so if you wrote or called Senators or ICE on his behalf, thank you! His story is not finished of course, and if you wish to continue follow that saga, you can visit his web site here. If you are one of the many foreign born BI workers, there are lessons to be learned from this. He made some acquaintances while in detention whose stories are bone chilling

Yesterday, I finished (finally) a new BIScorecard report on OLAP criteria to consider. I started this before the holidays, thinking it would be a quick 3-pager, but 13 pages and two weeks later, I realized the OLAP landscape continues to be quite different among leading and niche vendors. Subscribers can look for this to be live on the site shortly.

Next week I head to MicroStrategy's annual user conference where I expect to hear some big announcements about their new in-memory OLAP capabilities. Stay tuned.

And then there is our historic presidential inauguration. Now if only we had realized this conflicted with my TDWI Webinar, "Why Can't BI Be As Easy as Google!" Fortunately, the sponsor EasyAsk and TDWI were willing to reschedule for January 21st (the webinar that is).

And then, to top it all off, we are planning something new for our customers, the last week in January: An exclusive webinar to complement our written reports. Unlike most industry webinars, this one will NOT be vendor sponsored. So expect a candid, lively discussion of vendor strengths and challenges and how to enhance your BI tool strategy in 2009!

Best wishes, Cindi HowsonIt's the end of the first post-holiday work week, and if you are like me, you are struggling to get back into the swing of things. The first week after the holidays reminds me of what USA Today writer Craig Wilson calls "post vacation procrastination." With the winter skies bleak and gray, and NJ calling for yet another snow storm, it seems there's not much to look forward to... but indeed there is!...