have you any wool?

I just got home about 30 minutes ago from my trip to IndyCodeCamp with some of the guys at work. This is the second conference we’ve been to, the last being IndyTechFest last year. I really enjoyed the presentations they had to offer and appreciate the time these people donated out of their day to cover some of the emerging technologies in my field.

By far, from an entertainment and an “I can relate to that” standpoint, I felt that Alan Stevens‘ presentation was the best. Not necessarily regarding the specific direction of his talk, but most in the way he relates to issues developers face on a day to day basis. He had two sessions back to back on the MVC framework and Test Driven Development (TDD). While some the TDD stuff was over my head, primarily because the company I work for doesn’t really do TDD, the way in which he presented and interacted with the group made it very entertaining. Not to mentioned, I’ve already blogged about some of my interests in the MVC framework, so it was nice to see it covered, discussed, picked apart etc.  If you’d like to take a look at the slides he used during his presentation, which are sparse since it was a lot of conversation outside of the slides, you can check them out on Google code, here.

I ended up winning a single developer license for Telerik Reporting which I might look into once I get the package. Keep checking back if you’re a fan of Telerik .NET controls and reporting packages as I may auction this off on eBay if I find it’s not on the path I’m going down.

Everyone else did a great job as well including Chad Campbell’s overview of SilverLight 2 and Jeff McWherter with his talk about ASP.NET optimization.

Thanks guys!

Update: Oops! I also wanted to give a shout out to Michael Neel who had a pretty awesome intro with his “Zen” presentation. Very original and it hit home for me. I really enjoyed his style of speaking.

It’s been 12 years since I graduated from North High and 10 1/2 years since I moved to Ohio. I’ve obviously been back to Fort Myers several times on vacation, but each time the city becomes even more unrecognizable. I see strip after strip where before there was field after field. I see paved roads ghosting the memory of dirt roads that I’ll never forget. Short little trips across town to grab a bite to eat seem so distant from the long adventures my friends and I used to take, following the same route. And yet, there are familliarities as well. Sitting down at Perkins for breakfast or traveling along Pine Island where I would spend nearly 2 hours walking home from school my Senior year, I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of nastalgia. A few things jogged my memory, so many of them seemed alien. It doesn’t even seem like home anymore and yet, it will always be home. And for the first time 11 years, I miss it.

It’s day two of my vacation and the first full day of being in Florida. I’m in my home town of N. Ft. Myers, staying with my mom and it’s been a pretty cool day so far. The weather is about as great as you could ask for. Sunny, clear skies, mid seventies, and a slight breeze. It’s supposed to be like this through the weekend and I need only read text messages from friends back home of 20 degree days in Findlay, and I’m thankful I’m here. The stress of yesterday’s fiasco is all but gone and I’m finding that letting Vacation do, what Vacation does, is simply wonderful….. allowing me to relax. Hello Florida, I have arrived.