Good News

OIF has come to a close. New York Times has the scoop.

Seattle Code Camp

Spencer mentioned he was going to Code Camp Seattle. I took a look at the schedule and was able to squeak in a last minute registration.

The sessions I'm interested in are:

1. Whirlwind Tour of C# 2.0 and 3.0, A presentation on how to give a good presentation
2. C# Next Version
3. Gitting Git, Nemerle
4. Ruby on Rails - A Really Useful Engine
5. C# 3.0 features and how to (ab)use them, Test Driving Javascript
6. Flow Based Programming: Language Independent Concurrency
7. Pumping Iron: Dynamic Languages on .NET, Busy .Net Dev's Guide to PowerShell
8. Create Great User Interfaces, Programming in the cloud: Azure Services
9. Inside the DLR

Yet another first

Yesterday was the first bowl of oatmeal I've had which was made by a quaker. It was somewhat low quality, but given the setting, it was probably about as good as could possibly be expected.

Critical Mass

This past Friday, Ryan invited me to go to Critical Mass with him - an invitation which I gladly accepted. I got a flat tire as soon as we left, but thanks to some quick acting on his part, we managed to get to Westlake in time to leave with the group.

We ended up getting to Westlake just in time for the group to leave. I started out next to Ryan, and stayed with him for much of the ride. I started out in the rear of the group and slowly made my way forward to the front of the group before drifting backwards a bit and ending the ride around the Stadiums.

Intellectually, I pretty much knew what to expect. Emotionally, I was totally unprepared - so much so that I was unable to finish the ride.

No matter what else I may believe or say, I am deeply grateful to have been able to experience Critical Mass firsthand.

Old Friends

Went to fencing today. My wrist is really starting to get better. I'd guestimate 2 more weeks until I forget to be careful with it and stop having any real problems at all.

Fencing is kind of difficult right now, because I'm just starting out and I have 3-4 different teachers, many of whom contradict each other. I finally met one guy who really meshes with me - he's really able to explain things well and his advice just feels right. I think I've made more progress tonight than I have a in a while... although I can't block worth squat any more, so we'll see.

While I was there, I ran into Sebastien Michelle-Hart. He was with some people wanting to set up a game of bicycle polo. I watched them for a bit after I was done - it looked pretty freakin' intense. Definitely much more of a hipster than I - I can definitely see where fixies would come in handy there.

It's good to see that he's doing well.