Me, Martha Stewart, and the Manufacturing Mosh Pit

Dear Friends & Subscribers,

Next weekend, Martha Stewart gets out of jail. 
I'm not sure how much press this has received
outside the US, but here it's been quite the drama.

When Martha gets out, I think she's going to be
on all the TV shows and stuff.  Teary-eyed 
newscasters will chronicle her trip back to her
153-acre estate north of Manhattan, where 
she'll be under house arrest for a few more 
months yet.  She'll begin collecting her $900,000 
salary once again, and she'll start rehearsing 
for the new TV shows she's going to be in, like 
her new special version of Donald  Trump's, 
"The Apprentice."
   
Well on that very same weekend, I get 
out of Ottawa, Illinois.

When I escape from my Dilbert Cube next week, 
I'm heading straight to Chicago.  I'm gonna hang 
out at National Manufacturing Week trade show
with all my manufacturing friends.  It's going to 
be kind of like that Garth Brooks song "I've got 
friends in low places."  

We're going to do our own low-rent version of 
"The Apprentice" at my trade show booth.

And what, you may ask, are we going to do at MY
special B&B version of The Apprentice?

 We're going to have a contest to see who can
sell the most ZigBee nodes and lemonade from
our live trade show demo.  The winner gets a 
sales job at B&B.  (The salary is undisclosed, 
but Don, the president of B&B, tells me that it is 
going to be somewhat less than nine hundred 
thousand a year.)  We take care of our 
people here, but not quite that well.

Now seriously, I'd love for all of you to come join
me in booth 4705, but I realize it's a bit of a trip 
across the pond (but hey, a Euro buys you a nice 
stack of dollars so it's a great time to come). For 
those that can't make it, here's some things we'll 
be talking about at the show.

- We're previewing brand new RS-232, 422 and 
485 to ***802.11g*** wireless serial servers for 
industrial applications.  Come see how to take that 
serial port -- anytime and anywhere -- and connect
it to anything else, without even running wires

- Live ZigBee-ready MESH networking via 
802.15.4 - battery powered networks for small 
bursts of data, they keep your systems reporting for 
months or years, with no wires and no maintenance.

- A new industrial version of our popular 
Vlinx Ethernet serial server, adds extra reliability
to one of our most popular products

- New industrial Ethernet switches that 
require no setup

- I'll be giving a seminar on "Industrial Mesh Sensor
Networking," from my unique point of view of 
developing and selling ZigBee ready solutions 
from multiple vendors.  

And, I've also got some great stuff you can check 
out right now, on your computer:

--> Our RF modems are available in RS-232, 422, 485, 
USB and Ethernet interface versions. These radio's 
feature ultra-sensitive receivers to give them best-in-class
range and reliability. Great for SCADA, security, 
instrumentation, waste water, oil and gas:
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_multi_family.asp?MultiFamilyId=9&src=e030405
   
-->Our new 802.11b to Serial converters, they give you
serial to Ethernet but without that Ethernet cable.
Very handy for legacy installations where running new
conduit is a no-no:
http://www.bb-europe.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=99&src=e030405

My probation officer is more lenient than Martha's.  
According to the newspaper, Martha Stewart is able
to entertain colleagues, neighbors, friends and relatives, 
just as long as they are not criminals.  According to the 
newspaper, convicted felons are not allowed to consort 
with convicted felons.

However, since I am only a Dilbert Cube escapee
and not a convicted felon, I can talk to you even
if you are a convicted felon.  Not that I want you
to steal any of my ZigBee demos, but I think most
of our customers are awfully nice people and I 
don't think any of you would do that anyway.  
Especially considering you're going to be on your 
best behavior for that lavish sales job.

I hope some of you can make the trek to the 
show in Chicago, but for those that I don't get 
to meet in person, lets meet virtually on the web.

Mike Fahrion
mailto:support@bb-europe.com