bedeviled mojo slop

Stay tuned.

I saw that on a custom license plate driving home from No Fluff Just Stuff. That's the standard tuning for guitars. I chuckled

Tsunami: Although the original destination was Fugakyu, the wait time there was an hour and a half, and that just wasn't going to happen. Make sure to bring your own alcohol to Tsunami. Even if you forget, there are liquor stores around the corner. Be sure to try the salmon as it's a specialty at this restaurant. The lobster roll with mango was a treat. It's a small place, but there isn't anything wrong with a little intimacy during dinner. A couple next to the table recommended the next restaurant.

Troquet: This is the theater district so don't go there looking all tawdry and shabby. Live a little. They've already paired the appetizers and entrees with wine selections on the menu. Although the waiter was schizo for the initial meet and greet, that didn't detract from the meal or the restaurant itself. The butter bucket is a great touch. Very old world. And although there was no sampling of the cheeses, they did have what looked to be a good selection of ecclectic and stinky cheeses.

No Fluff Just Stuff is a great Java conference series. There are sessions in major cities around the U.S. so chances are you can find one that's local to you. This should be attractive for employees and employers alike. Employees might have to take off a day (worst a half a day) from work, but the majority of the conference is held on the weekend. And for employers, you're probably spending $1000 total (if that) for registration and T & L expenses.

Unfortunately my printed slides for the "Java Internationalization" talk were "munged" due to font issues. ARRRRRRRRGH! Hopefully those of you who got the presentation on CD were able to view them properly. Even so, the details are there for you to start thinking up front about designing for internationalization.

Attending NFJS, you're going to hear sessions on topics that are very relevant. Yearly conferences like JavaOne can only give you those Pie-in-the-Sky presentations. I've presented at JavaOne, so I'm certainly guilty of the P-i-t-S charge. Most people I've talked to who've attended JavaOne and the like say that the real "magic" happens in the hallways when developers are talking with other developers.

Expert panel discussions are fun. Hopefully I emphasized software development a la carte. Choose the tools and processes that work for your organization, your team's skillset, and that are relevant to the problem you are trying to solve. It's common sense, but I think in 2004 you still run into situations in organizations where someone gets a bug up their ass about eXtreme Programming and suddenly it's XP this and XP that and there's no if-ands-or-buts about it. In addition to technology evaluations, you need to do process evaluations. Look for tools that can grow as your project grows.

It was also a good chance to meet people I've only connected with via the Internet. People like Erik Hatcher or Howard Lewis Ship or Ben Galbraith.

Hope to do it again.