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Launch That Pig!

Back when I was an indie consultant writing custom software for clients, I used to use the expression “launch the pig!” to refer to finishing the process of writing the software and giving it to the customer. I just found some photos that cover a literal pig launch:


Click the image above see the entire series of photos.

I have no idea when these photos were taken or who took them (I found them on an obscure private file-sharing site), but they depict the launching of a pig.


Click the image above see the entire series of photos.

These photos are part of a series which you can see either clicking on any of the photos or clicking here.


Click the image above see the entire series of photos.

In case you were wondering, the photos show the pig emerging from the launch unscathed:


Click the image above see the entire series of photos.

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It Happened to Me

Best Conference Snack Ever

Dove

bars. Yum.

And yes, the actual content of

the Developer

Relations Conference has been not only informative, but in

some cases, downright inspiring, especially the presentation from the

dude from O’Reilly titled Developers Just Want to Have Fun. I’ve been

taking notes for all the sessions I’ve managed to catch and will post

them once I’ve formatted and cleaned them up a bit.

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It Happened to Me

Best Conference Lunch Ever

So far, the Evans Data Corporation’s Developer Relations Conference has been quite good — information-rich presentations delivered by good speakers to a interesting and varied crowd — but I’ll save all the techie/marketing stuff for the technical blog, The Farm. I’m going to report on the more touchy-feely stuff here so as not to bore my not-so-technical readers to tears.

Rather than have lunch in some stuffy hotel conference dining room, they herded us outside to this lovely tent adjoining the hotel. In case you were wondering, it’s springlike (about 14 degrees C) and sunny in San Francisco today. Here’s a photo of the tent:

I was expecting the standard salad-chicken-vanilla cake fare, but was pleasantly surprised by what we actually got:

  • The starter: A sweet salad with boston lettuce, grapes, apples and candied walnuts
  • The main course: duck and polenta with string beans. That’s right. Duck. Polenta.
  • Dessert: a nice custard-and-chocolate chip tart.

This is far better than any other conference fare I’ve ever been served. Mind you, I’m typically at developer cons, and food isn’t often high on the priority list, other than having plenty. I’m sure that “suitier” conferences have food on this level or better, but I’m a grateful geek for getting the “Food Network” treatment here. I salute Evans Data with a filet mignon on a flaming sword for the lunch.

Categories
It Happened to Me

Hello from San Francisco!

I’m currently sitting in a seminar at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in the Argent Hotel in downtown San Francisco. It’s a developer relations conference rather than a developer conference, which means that the event isn’t the “sausage party” to which I have become accustomed, but rather one with a more even male-female ratio.

The Windows/Mac ratio is still heavily Redmond-skewed. Until just now, I thought I was the only guy with a Mac laptop in attendance.

Noting this, I turned to Ross and said, “See? Only Mac in the house. I’ve just established myself as the rebel.”

“No,” he replied without skipping a beat, “you’ve established yourself as bait.”

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San Francisco Meetup TONIGHT!

I’ve set this post to appear

right about the time our plane takes off for San Francisco. For those

of you who’ll be in the San Francisco area tonight, Boss Ross, my wife Wendy and I will be

holding a dinner meetup at 21st Amendment (563

2nd Street) at 7 p.m.. It’s an open invitation to come hang

out with us — anyone can come!

February is “Strong

Beer Month” at 21st Amendment, where they’ll be featuring these beers,

all of which boast 8.5% alcohol by volume or

more:

  • Golden Doom Belgian

    Tripel

  • Double Trouble Imperial

    I.P.A.

  • Mac’s Strong Scotch

    Ale

  • Lower De Boom Barley

    Wine

  • Hendrik’s Russian Imperial Espresso

    Stout

Yes, we know that it’s probably insane to

schedule such a gathering timed for right about when the Superbowl will

end, but it was the only day we could hold it. We hope you can make it

there!

On Monday and Tuesday, Ross and I will be at

the Evans Data

Corporation’s Developer Relations Conference, where we’ll be

learning the tricks of the trade of evangelizing to developers. This

will be only the second year that this conference has been held, and it

promises to be interesting. I’ll be taking copious notes and blogging

the event — watch this space for details.

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Your Second-to-Last Reminder, San Francisco

For more details, see here.

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The Best PowerPoint Slide Ever

[via AKMA] I’m going to be at the Evans Data Corporation’s Developer Relations Conference in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday, which means that it’s very likely that I will have to sit through who-knows-how-many PowerPoint presentations. Perhaps I should bring along a USB key loaded with Gary Turner’s slide for derailing PowerPoint presentations, pictured below:

Gary writes:

This should create the required disturbance in the PowerPoint

forcefield and, with a little luck, force them to let go of the wheel

and actually talk to you as humans without the crutch of 78 slides to make a point that should take only 3.

I’ve written about one of the unintended consequences of PowerPoint before in an entry titled The Breakup Style of PowerPoint, from which David Byrne (yup, the Talking Heads guy) borrowed for his presentation. Check it out!