Yep, I got mentionned in Computer World. Pretty awesome!
As for HOPE: Well, I had a fantastic few days! Originally, I had booked off four days from work (it’s the most I can take off at any one time.) So the plan was for me to take an early flight from Ottawa on Friday, arrive in NYC shortly thereafter, then head off to the conference to catch the panels, have a great time, etc.
Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans. Storms pummelled New York, and my original flight got grounded. I quickly managed to rebook for a new flight, and a few hours later I was on my way to Montreal. This new flight was from Ottawa –> Montreal –> New York City. Well, I got to Montreal just fine, but my Montreal to NY flight got cancelled due to the storms again. I now found myself in somewhat of a pickle: I was stranded somewhere near Montreal (I didn’t know where), the next flight wasn’t until Saturday, and I had no place to stay for the night. Well, I called up Air Canada, got on a waiting list for a fully booked flight at 6:45AM, and walked to the nearest hotel I could find.
5:50AM the next day, I checked out of my hotel room and made my way over to the airport. As it turns out, there were 50 other people on the waiting list, so I wasn’t able to catch that 6:45AM flight. Fortunately, there was another airplane out to New York later that day that wasn’t filled. I took it. To make a long story short: at 3PM on Saturday, after having passed through US customs 3 times, I finally arrived in New York City. The bad news was that now I only had 48 hours to spend in that wonderful city.
But you know what? I had the best 48 hours of my life. I managed to attend a few panels (I had missed the brunt of the
ones I had wanted to attend, and many others were cancelled.) I was able to do my talk along with Jason Scott, which went well. Well, relatively well. In the time that I did speak, I managed to blabber the utmost stupidest things. I try not to think about it.
So right up until now, you must think that I’m being sarcastic about my enjoying New York. I am not. There are two things which far outweighed any negatives I encountered. First, were the people. This conference was a virtual “Who’se who” of the slightly-subversive computer world. I met people from the CCC, Richard Stallman, BinRev-ers, the people from No Starch Press, the guy that hacked the CVS digital cameras… all these people that one only reads about. They were there. In person. Insane.
The other thing that made the conference great was New York itself. On Saturday night, I toured around with Cypress, a BinRev member, along with his family. We checked out bits of New York that were somewhat off the beaten path (woot!) Sunday night, I was able to get in touch with a good family friend that moved over there. Both he and I went out for some NY-style cheesecake (delicious.) Fabulous. Then on Monday, during my final hours in NY, I was able to get on a Grayline bus tour and visit around town. I got to see Times Square. I got to be on Broadway street. I got to see a bit of a Late Show segment. I ate a NY hotdog. Absolutely phenomenal.
During my stay, I was at a little youth hostel right near Madison Square Gardens. We were about 7 sleeping in the room I was in. The place left some things to be desired: The staff behaved as if they couldn’t care less, the airconditioner clocked in at 120 decibels, and my roomates enjoyed puking in the toilet alot. But that said, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything in the world.
To top it all off, I turned 21 during the last conference day (Sunday, July 23rd.) I couldn’t of asked for a better birthday present than to be able to experience what I did. This was a fantastic trip. New York is truly a great city. *Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today, I want to be a part of it, New York, New York…*
Make sure to check out the gallery!