Mike Clark

Austin obviously lacks the mountains I need to support my snowboarding habit, but I now understand why folks love living there. The hill country was especially pretty given how lush it is as compared to Denver. I'd definitely enjoy all the mountain biking trails and water sport options available year around. The food is to die for and we ate like kings all weekend. At Iron Works you get a heaping plate of BBQ and a roll of paper towels. Dig in!

I was thrilled by the responses to my presentations. The test-driven development talk generally attracts a good crowd, but I didn't know how the new antipatterns talks would go over. I'll refactor them a bit before the next show, but they seemed to resonate with the attendees. The EJB backlash has certainly piqued interest in antipatterns that offer practical alternatives to solutions gone bad. I'm becoming even more convinced that studying failures increases our potential for success.

I had a chance to chat with Bret Pettichord on Saturday. Someday software projects won't have separate QA departments. It just doesn't make any sense to have "development" and "quality" silos. Indeed, someday we'll all be working together as one team focused on building working software. Pay attention to what Bret and Brian Marick are doing. They're one of us.

Props to Duncan for sharing his set of wheels all weekend. Frequently getting away from the symposium and into the sunshine was great for the soul. Many thanks also to Bob Eckstein for taking Jason and I to The OASIS. These excursions and many others made for a very enjoyable weekend. You guys rock!

Of course no trip is complete without snagging a souvenir. Duncan hooked me up with a CoolPad. Aside from the benefits of heat dissipation, it also elevates the keyboard to a comfortable angle. Plus all of its surfaces are sticky, so your laptop is sturdy even on those rickety airplane tray tables. And the swivel action is great for pairing. Hey, it's the little things in life that make me happy.