Overdue

I notice that when I actually have things going on worth writing about, I'm usually too busy to write about them. There is a certain irony to that. The last few weeks have been busy, especially this last one. Then when I get around to writing, so much has transpired, I don't feel like giving it the amount of writing required. So here's what I've been up to, in brief.

I went to 360Flex this last week. It's a conference for Flex and Flash development, and easily is the best conference I've gone to for learning new things. This year it was held in Denver, so it was a different experience. For instance, at other conferences, there's a lot of hanging around with co-workers or people you've met and grabbing drinks or food after the day's sessions. But with a conference in my own town, rather than having nothing to do but hang out, as soon as the sessions are over, I can go home, and so can my co-workers. So most everyone scattered as soon as the sessions they were interested in were over. I miss that normal conference experience.

The sessions were good. I saw a guy using Flash to receive input from a brain wave scanner toy to control a quadcopter. I saw another guy using Microsoft's Kinect motion control to control a 3D picture wall. I also saw some much more practical sessions on mobile design, multitouch, type frameworks and more. Unfortunately, a lot of the sessions were interrupted by work. Even though I was not in the office, it definitely made its presence felt. I had to leave the conference early to put out a fire and other sessions were half heard as I tried to get some work done. I had even spent the Saturday before working all day, and I mean all day. If I have to do this sort of dance again, I'm not sure it is worth it. I don't get much from the conference and am stressed and irritable to boot. Still 360Flex is an awesome conference.

What else? Well, I'm reading through The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. It is the second in an excellent series and it totally has its claws into me. Every bit of time I can snatch for myself I am sticking my nose in the book. It's a fantasy novel that I highly, highly recommend. The first in the series is The Name of the Wind. Start there and enjoy.

My parents will be coming up for Easter, which is awesome. I'll be glad to have them around for the holiday and share this time with them. I'm already thinking about what to cook while they're here.

We went to a Chopped themed party. Chopped is a cooking show where cooks are given a basket of ingredients and told to make an appetizer, entrée or dessert with them. Each course, one chef gets chopped from the competition. For this party, people were given an array of ingredients to choose from, with some ingredients earning you more points on account of their difficulty. Of course, I made a pie. It was a deluxe avocado pie, using graham crackers, avocado, coconut, and baker's chocolate as the four ingredients chosen from the list. I was pleasantly surprised that I won the dessert category, so now I can say I make award-winning pies. I don't need to mention that the award was a bottle of wine. It was a really fun party and a great idea. I would love to try something like this in the future.

Okay, I'd best get to the other tasks I need to get caught up on. Hopefully I will be writing again soon and not waiting half a month.