Ironic that the Posse took time at the beginning of JavaPosse #280 to talk about CodeMash and its venue, the Kalahari Resort, as I just got back from taking my family to the Kalahari for the weekend.
A few head-nods and follow-ons below: * The conference is fascinating. They are really determined to get the various camps mingling, so none of the topics really has enough talks to be a track unto itself: you could maybe do Microsoft stuff and ignore everything else (but it's a stretch... you'd have to count stuff like IronPython sessions), and there's certainly not enough on Ruby/Python, Java, or anything else to do those to the exclusion of other platforms. Last year, I drifted into a security session that described some similar attack vectors in both Java and .NET, and I wondered "where else am I even going to hear this talk?" * That said, you guys are right about the prominence of .NET. Microsoft is a major sponsor (last year they brought the Rock Band tournament on Xbox with serious prizes), and this conference seems to be a key part of their platforms' Midwest presence. Still, they do play nicely with others. Beyond .NET, the other camps in attendance are the agile scripting languages (Ruby/Python), Java, and Flash/Flex (saw the omnipresent James Ward there last year). The OS X platforms (Mac/iPhone) may emerge as another significant presence. * The Kalahari Resort really is amazing. The Posse mentioned the indoor waterpark (at 180,000 square feet, the biggest in the US), but beyond that, there's lots of stuff to do: an immense game room, a huge climbing structure for the kids, three or four restaurants, a spa, pottery and other craft activities for the kids, etc. The service is also really impressive: the staff presence reminds me of Disney on a good day. But you're not isolated: go two miles up OH-250 for groceries, and the usual chain restaurants. * As for Sandusky... if you're not from the Midwest, here's the deal: it's along Lake Erie, between Cleveland and Toledo. If you're flying in, you're probably coming into Cleveland (45 min), though it's also possible to fly into <strike>Toledo (1 hr)</strike> or Detroit (1.5 hrs). By car, it'd be a reasonable drive (< 5 hrs) from Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, PIttsburgh, or Cincinnati. Weather is sub- freezing in January, but temperate because it's on the east side of the Great Lakes (weather.com tells me average January high of 32F [0C] and low of 19F [-7C]). Snow or freezing rain can hose your travel plans -- weather was bad last year -- so leave yourself a day to get there, just in case. Glad to hear some of the Posse is coming. Hope to see you there. --Chris --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
