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Why I Hate Good Conferences: CodeMash Wrap-up

A good conference like CodeMash really throws me off-kilter. I spend two days in uber-technology / developer land only to return to reality with a crashing blow. I'm sure my manager hates me with a passion afterwards too. I summon up a dozen or so new, cool (well, at least I think they're cool) ideas in my head and I pour them all into emails and just start firing. Mind you, they're well-thought-out but I'm sure it's a bit overwhelming.

Oh well, at least I'm passionate.

It's tough for me to manage my expectations after speaking at length with cool folks like Josh Holmes and witnessing great presentations from Brian Prince, Bill Wagner, and Scott Hanselman (yes, these are Microsoft-centric folks...see CodeMash 2008: Day 1 post). As a slightly-introverted person, it surprises me how much I enjoy meeting and interacting with the kinds of interesting people attending CodeMash. I also tend to become a deer in headlights with all the great directions I could take given exposure to all these smart technologists.

I must temper my ADHD/ADD (no, I don't really think I have this...well probably not, but no offense to anyone who does) and typical lack of patience; seek focus, and get a plan together. I'm definitely going to snag some ASP.Net 3.5/C# 3.0 and MOSS books. I also want to up the bar on my public speaking in terms of frequency, quality, and breadth of audience. Finally, I'm pledging to continue to focus on relationship building [with the community] and my technology evangelism endeavors. Whew, that ought to keep me busy for a while.

...and I'm not afraid to admit: F# is a bit over my head. Looks cool but I'll let the science/match folks leverage that one for now. My interests are more on the line of business, pragmatic applications anyway.

As in last year, great work organizers. Until next year!

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