So many, many things have happened in the past week.  Jwerx and Anand finally posted in response to my "8 things about Justice" post.  Donald had a hot date!  Jason Row became North America's *second* favorite metrosexual developer despite not sharing even 1 thing about himself (let alone 8) given his penchant for being dark and mysterious.  Thailand's government got taken over, the Pope managed to anger some people, and D'Arcy angered even more people by buying a Mac (and then destroying it within the space of 2 days).  But *all* of these things combined pale in comparison to the announcement I'm about to make.  Now, this blog has been host to bombshell announcements before, but none that deserved *time travel into the past*.   Okay, maybe that one protein smoothie recipe, but lets be real about its impact; only 99% of the North American development community was *really* impacted there.  This, without exaggeration, directly affects 110% of the Western Hemisphere.

Edward Wu cannot make Edmonton Code Camp 2006 - his reasons had something to do with strapping on some spandex leotards and fighting crime, pretty much the standard cancellation reason.  Considering his picture on the Code Camp site I think this is actually a good thing. As progressive as our Albertan audience is, I don't believe that they are ready to handle a man with *NO FACE*.


My concerns for the well-being of our attendees aside, Ed's non-attendance (I call him "Ed"...we're tight like that) is not the big announcement.  This is bigger than that, and it's *certainly* bigger than Ed's desire to be a super-hero.  I mean, Rockarts dresses up in costume every time we have an exec meeting and although it was a little weird for us at first, we've all pretty much gotten used to it.

No, this announcement is about the *replacement* presentation for Code Camp from 10:45 AM to 12:15 PM.

This announcement is about *heroes*.

Yes, the rumors are true.  In the greatest show of togetherness since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Edmonton on Rails group will be joining us to present on (obviously) RAILS~!  It isn't just the presentation on Rails that should have you drooling and gibbering like a lobotomized baboon.  It's the unbridled *ARTSINESS*.   This presentation is going to have manbags*, fashionable glasses, and *MACBOOK PROS* everywhere!!  

This is an even bigger benefit to those of you who are attending the morning session hosted by Steven and I.  Yes, *you* have the possibility of attending a morning devoted to Ruby and Rails.   It all starts at 9 AM with an intro to Ruby and follows with some amazement with Ruby interop/RubyCLR!!  You'll laugh me out of the conference center, then you'll cheer and cry as Steven apologizes for my conduct and the police escort me out of the building!  Immediately after that, you'll *thrill* to the unchained sexiness of Macbooks ablazing when Greg Andrews, Kyle Fox and Curtis Schofield (the Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman** of the Edmonton on Rails group) hit the stage and show you exactly *why* Ruby is so popular!  Trust me: by the end of the morning, your mind is going to be shattered into millions of tiny crystalline shards.


I recognize this creates a huge problem for the majority of our Code Camp attendees, as now the choice of which session to attend is pretty much impossible.  The sassy, scholary Jason Hunt will be presenting on transactions in .NET 2.0 opposite the Rails guys.  It's the classic "Sliding Doors" scenario!  One session will lead to you dying your hair blonde, chopping your hair off, and falling for some quirky English guy, leading a terrifyingly exciting life only to be hit by a car and die; the other will leave you pregnant with an abusive boyfriend but eventually bring you to a greater self-realization and most importantly *leave you alive*.  Either one, however, will bring you immense joy and personal satisfaction.  I don't know which one I'd pick either, but what a problem to have!!

This has been long enough already so I am going to end it by saying if you are not already registered for Code Camp, you had *BETTER* get registered for Code Camp.  It is *this Saturday* and if you can't tell from the tone of this post, it is going to be TOTAL MANIA at the Stanley Milner Library!  If you don't come, I will have to take it upon myself to personally hunt you down like a dog.  That goes for *everyone* on the Internet!!!  This is that big!!  Just look at all the exclamations!!!

(Thanks to Anand for the question: if you are registered for Edward Wu's presentation, you're *already* registered for the Rails presentation!  No need to change.)