Announcements

When I mentioned that I'd be attending SODEC in Tokyo last year, I was surprised that someone actually took me up on the offer for some beers. Actually, about a dozen of you did, and a small group of us went out to Shibuya (you know, this place) and we all had an absolute blast.

Last year's Code PaLOUsa (held in downtown Louisville) was a blast, and it was great to meet up with some of you guys who were able make it out. I'm definitely excited about Code PaLOUsa 2012; there's a lot of great speakers, and it's right in the heart of bourbon country. My Talk — Ugly Code: Beauty is in The Eye of the Beholder

A little while back, our friends at Microsoft bought the elusive The Daily WTF mugs for a whole bunch of readers. Unfortunately, many of you missed out — especially those who lived outside of the United States. But the good news is that our friends at New Relic are bringing back Free TDWTF Mug Day, and this time it's for everyone around the world!

I was a little distraught when I looked at my calendar today and realized that devLink – an awesome community conference in Chattanooga, TN – is next week. That meant that, once again, I was a little late in helping promote a great community conference. So late, in fact, that registration had been closed.

I suspect this announcement will be even less relevant than the Detroit-centric announcement for Penguicon 2011... but here goes. For three of you that are reading The Daily WTF in Japan, I'll be headed out your way to attend SODEC from May 11-13.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I'll be headed to Notacon 8 a little later this week. If you're going, drop me a line and we'll grab a drink or something. And if you can't make it, not to worry - there's another event right around the corner. It's called Penguicon, and it's being held in Troy, Michigan from April 29 - May 1.

As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of souvenirs, trinkets, and tchotchkes. And I know I'm not alone. Whenever I go to a conference, at least half of my fellow attendees join me in the pursuit for as much free stuff as possible.

I got some great feedback about Code PaLOUsa; everyone seemed to have a great time, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet up with some of you. So, along the same vein, the next community conference I'm headed to is Notacon. It's held in my home town of Cleveland, Ohio, and runs April 14-17.

Mark your calendars for March 4th and 5th. There's a brand new by-developers/for-developers conference called Code PaLOUsa. Inspired by the instantaneously-sold-out CodeMash (including the non-profit part), Code PaLOUsa is in downtown Louisville, KY at the Seelbach Hotel.

At the day job, I spend the majority of my time working on BuildMaster. While I certainly find it more exciting than the Big Boring Business App at Mega Financial Co, the structure is similar: there are a number of modules, different teams are responsible for different modules, and about the only change in scenery is working on a different module.