*Tons* more hetero than a Valentine's heart

I was originally going to post tonight about 80’s male pop duos, and I guess I still am, as I’m going to be talking about Mack Male and Dickson Wong of Paramagnus, who ran the previous iteration of the Edmonton developer community group, the .NET Wizards.

I was a late addition to the EDMUG executive as the group asked for an infusion of raw sex appeal to attract a wider demographic and, hey, let’s be honest, I think we all know who has the best hair in EDMUG. (You can consider me the Jordan Knight of our little New Kids On The Block, so to speak).*

Mack said in his post that although it had been stated privately, it had not been stated publically how appreciated Mack and Dickson’s work has been. I am rectifying that by stating for the record that Mack and Dickson’s work in getting people together was a much needed shot in the arm for the community and I am glad that they were around from 2003 onwards to try and get something going! It is terrifically difficult to get things like that going and even sustain them when you are going to school/going to work/running your own business/laying women down by the fire. (I mean, for goodness sake, your name is “Mack”!! No doubt someone has told you this carries certain connotations!!) Sincerely, thank you for taking the effort and the time to get people together to talk shop and have some fun.

On another note, I’d like to say that Donald Belcham has my respect and admiration (holy cow, it must be Secret Confessions Day on Gray’s Matter. Tune in tomorrow to see what other sick and depraved thing I admit to next), as well as the entire EDMUG crew. Without his/their passion EDMUG would not exist. If I can be serious for one sentence in this blog, I’d like to say that Donald Belcham is an ultra-enthusiastic guy about software development and bovine insemination, and the best leader that our band of merry men could ask for. Running any user group, as his posts indicate, takes a heck of a lot of work and a lot of soul, and this guy has given a ton of blood, sweat and tears to make this thing work. When our group needs a strong mother figure, Donald is there.  When you need help picking out pantyhose for your girlfriend or wife, Donald is there.  When we need someone to down 4 litres of scotch in 5 minutes, Donald is there. When you need someone to post bail money for Donald, I’m there. But I’m sure you get the point by now.

The one thing that I have gotten from both reading Mack’s post and Donald’s series of posts is that running a user group is one tough fricking job. Thanks to you guys, and to everyone involved in making the Edmonton .NET community what it is today and helping it to grow! I like to think that one thing everyone agrees on is that Edmonton has some of the best and most passionate developers not just in the country, but in North America period. I can’t wait to see what the next year holds with the entire Edmonton developer community united in the throes of their nerdy passion.

KUMBAYA~!

* So does this make Igloo Coder Joe McIntyre?