Category: Events

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Steve Keener at Apraho National Park

Steve Keener at Apraho National Park Steve Keener was just on vacation in Colorado for some dedicated cross-country riding. On Day 7 of the “riding” vacation, he set up his Oregon Scientific helmet mounted camera to collect video showing what it was like to travel through Apraho National Park on a dirt bike.

From Steve:

Drew Marcum and I were running together on the trails, with other riders in our group further ahead. This was Day 7 of our group ‘riding’ vacation, and we were in the Apraho National Forest, near Granby, Colorado. I was recording video with my Oregon Scientific helmet mounted camera. We ended up doing about 29 miles out into the forest, and then came back by a different route.

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RubyNation 2009 Survey Results

Survey results from the RubyNation 2009 survey have been trickling in, and we’re very pleased with the results. This was only the second year that we’ve run the conference, and we’ve sold out both years. Even better, 2009 had 15% more attendees than 2008, so we were able to occupy a larger venue. Anyway, 66.8% of respondents rated RubyNation Very Good or Excellent compared to similar conferences. Counting in those who considered the conference Average for its type, 91.8% of respondents considered RubyNation to be Average or better for this type of technical conference.

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Charles Calvert Talk in Tysons Corner

Charles Calvert will be talking at the next meeting of the Independent Computer Consultants Association in Tysons Corner. His topic will be “Becoming an Independent Consultant.” The meeting is at the Olive Garden. Networking begins at 6:30 PM, dinner at 7:00 and the talk will start around 8:00. The cost is $30 for non-members ($35 at the door), but this cost also includes the dinner and non-alcoholic beverages.

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Next NOVARUG Meeting Should Be Good

Chad Fowler and Dave Thomas, two prominent Ruby-ists, will be speaking at the next NovaRUG meeting on April 15, 2009. Talks start at 7:00 PM; networking begins at 6:30. It may be crowded, so register in advance. The meeting will be held at FGM headquarters; see the NovaRUG web site for details on the location and how to register.

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RubyNation 2009 Speakers Selected

The list of RubyNation speakers has now been finalized, and I will be one the local DC-area speakers again this year. My topic is going to be: “Creating a World-Class RESTful API in Rails.” This is based on my direct experience at Grab Networks.com creating a robust, Amazon-style API for use by partners and, eventually, the public.

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Speaking at the ICCA June Meeting

I just got confirmation that I’ll be speaking on Rails at the June 2009 meeting of the ICCA, the Independent Computer Consultants Association. The meeting will be June 9th ay 6:30 PM at the Olive Garden in Tysons Corner. Socializing begins at 6:30, dinner at 7:00 and the presentation at 8:00. The meeting is open to the public.

Location: Olive Garden Restaurant, 8133 Leesburg Pike, Vienna VA 22182

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RubyNation 2009 Web Site Up!

Karen Gillison, of CodeSherpas and I just finished all of the updates for the RubyNation 2009 web site, and the updates are now live. Last year we maintained the content in, essentially, straight HTML, so this year I added a custom-built content management system to make posting news items to the site easier (implemented using Active Scaffold). The Call for Papers is now officially open, too.

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RubyNation 2009

Ruby enthusiasts of the Washington DC metropolitan area, mark your calendars. We’ve confirmed the date for RubyNation 2009. It’s going to be June 12 – 13 in Reston, VA. Based on last year’s sell-through, we have commissioned a larger venue. We’re going to have it at the Sheraton Hotel, where we can expand it to accommodate 200+ people, rather than the hard limit of 125 that we had at last year’s conference. It’s also going to be a dual-track event this year.

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Worldcon 66

Denver BearDave Keener attended the 66th World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, Colorado, from August 7 to 11. As per usual, there were lots of great events, good food and many, many SF books. The convention center was also nice, with an interesting statue, as shown below:

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RubyNation 2008!!!

The RubyNation 2008 Conference was a stunning success on August 1 – 2, easily at the upper end of what the organizers were hoping for. The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) venue was excellent, with plenty of parking, a really nice auditorium and good electronics capabilities. The catering was first-rate. Finally, the array of speakers and the mix of topics went over very well with the audience. Rest assured, there will be a RubyNation 2009.

Oh, and by the way, I had great time giving my presentation on JRuby…

David Keener at RubyNation 2008