Evening Sessions at Java Posse Roundup

Java Posse Roundup After Hours

 In addition to the daytime (morning) sessions, we’ve been getting together in the evenings.  Someone suggested lightning talks in the evenings, and posted a signup sheet.  8-10 talks per night were quickly filled up.

The evening talks were a mix of technical and non-technical.  All talks were limited to 5 minutes.  Well, it quickly became apparent that 5 minutes was a bit too short, so we set the timer for 5 mins and gave the person 1 more minute to wrap things up.

The first night, there was an attempt to record the sessions, but they were highly visual, and since no one was really set up to capture the sessions with Camtasia (or the like), listening might not be all that useful.

So, Wednesday night, we had talks on such diverse topics as:

Thursday night, people got a little bit more creative in terms of talking “outside of the Java box”.  It was a tribute to the format of the lightning talks that several people chose to bring their spouses that evening, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Those talks included (not complete list):

  • Yahoo Pipes
  • Flex running with Apollo (and communicating between them)
  • Orienteering
  • Java Docs in the year 2020
  • More racing from Joe (book link: http://tinyurl.com/2bd6vp)
  • Optimal letter spacing from Joel (who does beautiful calligraphy)
  • Right brain vs. left brain

We did the lightning talks at the very large house where the Java Posse was staying.  It was really perfect for this sort of a gathering.

On Thursday night, after the lightning talks, the Java Posse surprised us by telling us their intended format for that evening’s recording of the podcast.  As *** put it, “We provide this show for YOU guys all of the time.  How about this time, we just start it off and then go around the room and ask each of you what you thought about the Roundup?”.  Nice idea, but much stress in the room as we all contemplated actually speaking.  All in all, it was really great (for those present at least) to hear what the others thought about the Roundup, the Open Spaces format, the skiing, etc.

On Friday night, it was even more laid back.  Everyone showed up at the Secret Stash (a unique Crested Butte restaurant, that serves interesting pizza).  The menu is online, so I’m able to share our selections here:

ME & MY UNCLE'S PIE
grilled chicken ~ black beans & corn ~ chipotle sauce ~ cheddar cheese ~ fresh cilantro ~ roasted red peppers

KALADI'S FAVORITE
Grilled Assorted Veggies ~ Fresh Goat Cheese ~ and our Balsamic Reduction

We also had a blue cheese pizza, but I don’t see it on the online menu.

We sat at a table on the floor, with pillows.  This was a bit uncomfortable for the (inflexible) guys with long legs, but I was OK!  A good time was had by all, and those who drank a local beer called Mojo gave it high ratings.  After that, we all descended upon Bruce’s house and watched amusing stuff on YouTube, Google video, etc. well into the night.