RubyConf 2008

I'm finally back in Chicago after a long weekend in Orlando, FL, at RubyConf '08. As my first large-ish conference I really don't have a lot to compare it to besides Great Lakes Ruby Bash earlier this year, but I've gotta say it was a pretty great time. There's something about Ruby programmers, I think, or maybe it's something about us that makes us want to become Ruby programmers. It's really very simple: we're doing this because we love it.

We do. Programming PHP was a job to me. Programming python was a slightly more enjoyable job but it still felt like work. Programming in Ruby feels as relaxing to me as painting does. It's not just a job to me, and I'm passionate about it; I get the feeling that I'm definitely not the only one and that's pretty cool.

All around a pretty good crowd and a pretty good weekend. A lot of scotch and bourbon was consumed. I'm glad I made the decision to avoid the free beer Saturday night on account of everybody was way too hung over the next day and I felt just fine. Had a good time anyway, paid far too much for some bourbon at the hotel bar, and observed the bizarre crowd at the hotel bar. I don't think any of those people were prepared to see the hotel lobby filled 24/7 with bearded nerds on laptops, but whatever. We're cooler than the tanning bed convention folk anyway. 

Once I get some of my thoughts together on the conference and the world I'll write some more. Ciao ciao space cadets!