I mentioned that Michael Kimsal recorded an impromptu podcast from Codemash, and lo and behold he's already posted it to WebDevRadio. Since he's already posted it, that probably means he didn't do too much editing, which should make for an interesting podcast ;).

As Michael says,

I had a chance to have a fun discussion with Dave Kroondyk, Adam Lumsden and Elizabeth Naramore about web development, ecommerce, project management, content management systems, shark dissection, PHP, Mozilla's Weave project, general MIchigan awesomeness and some other topics.

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This was fun, and if you listen close, you'll hear a little story about shark eyeballs. :)

Codemash 2008 has commenced and I'm proud to be a part of it! The day began with a keynote from Neal Ford who spoke about polyglot programming, and how the future holds much potential for dynamic languages on managed runtimes with testing as the driving factor. He used the concept of software engineering being similar to civil engineering and how the art of developing an app is like designing a bridge. He told an interesting story about the gentlemen who realized reinforced concrete was the wave of the future for bridge building, but the math didn't support his theories and he had many critics (including the one engineer who designed the famous "swinging bridge" that twisted in the wind (and eventually collapsed). To prove his point, he used testing. And sure enough, now we use reinforced concrete in almost every bridge that is made. Like the FUD that said "you can't build a bridge using reinforced concrete", it's FUD to say "you can't build an enterprise app with dynamically typed languages." It's the testing that will prove the critics wrong.

However, I was disappointed to not hear PHP's name mentioned in the keynote, and in fact there is scarce presence of PHP at all here. There is only one talk that deals with PHP - a talk on the Zend Framework that will he going on tomorrow. But while that bothers me, this conf is also a great venue for learning about other technologies all in one shot.

I attended a fabulous intro to Groovy talk (which I really didn't have much knowledge of beforehand), a great intro to Python where we got a look at Visual Python, and a Groovy/Grails talk. Some great info for a lowly PHP developer such as myself :).

Of course, there are also a few x-boxes set up with Rock Band and Guitar Hero going in full swing. As well, the vendors got a chance to host informative talks, which I'm sure is good PR for them, but also offered some good info for the attendees. I attended a talk on Consulting in the IT business, which was interesting although we ran out of time before we got to the stuff I wanted to hear about.

They also have a few other unique things going on:

• Expert Areas - where the speakers hang out in a designated room at a designated time and answer any questions from anybody who happens to come in
• Open Spaces - similar to the lightning talks given at other conferences, but even less formal than that. Basically you put a sticky note on the schedule board and start a discussion with whoever happens to walk in
• Kidz Mash - a track coinciding with the conference that is for kids, with lego robotics and other fun stuff (this actually only runs tomorrow)

The Open Spaces was interesting - I joined one where the topic was "Joomla! Pros/cons" to see what other PHPers were around. Unfortunately for me there were only 2 guys in there, and one was actually a dot net guy. :) But in the course of our conversation, my buddy Michael Kimsal happened to pass by and requested that we all be interviewed for his webdevradio podcast (thanks a lot, Michael! ;) ) You can probably hear that sometime next week, but I was representin' the PHP posse.

I also got to hook up with my good friend Cal Evans and I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jason Gilmore who I'd not met before but of course I knew the name. As he was one of the organizers, I asked him about the lack of PHP and he said they'd only received one PHP related talk submission (the ZF talk). Come on PHPers, we need to be represented! :)

Because the venue (the Kalahari Resort) is simply amazing, I brought the hubby and kids along for the ride. The Kalahari boasts the world's largest indoor water park, and it sure did keep them busy all day while I was geeking out. There is a wave pool, many water tubes and slides, a lazy river, a water basketball section, and a body surfing simulation just to name a few of the attractions. After dinner we also enjoyed a round of mini-golf (also in the resort) where I proudly nailed 2 holes-in-one. The wi-fi here is fantabulous... well, at least in the conference area - the hotel rooms are touch and go. But I'm willing to forego room wi-fi for great connections during the conf.

All in all, it has been a very interesting and informative conference, and I'm very glad to be a part of it.

As I pulled out my "To-Do" list for 2007, I realized I hadn't looked at it since March. Ha. Kind of hard to accomplish things on a list when you haven't looked at the list in nine months. But when I pulled it out and as I've done some introspection in the past few days, I realized a few things. 2007 should have been a stellar year for me. No major traumas, some awesome milestones were reached, and I had some wonderful experiences and opportunities presented to me. But as I look back at some of the writing I did in my journal, and "thanks diary" it was really a difficult year for me with regard to my own motivation and inspiration.

My goals for 2007 were:
Do More/Read Less. (Instead of just reading about all the cool things people were doing and trying, I should be doing some of my own cool things). I didn't do this to the extent that I would have liked, although I do enjoy reading about the cool projects people around me are working on.Code More. (Especially using better coding practices) Well, I did code more through the giftshop, but I found myself cranking out code based on bad habits as opposed to best practices. Shame on me.Count My Blessings. (Appreciate those things around me and spend more time with those around me) I started a "thanks" journal where I write down things I am thankful for, big and small. This was a great exercise and I find myself carrying around a deeper appreciation and respect for those around me. I also am very set on making one-on-one time with the kids every day, but I didn't religiously do this until recently.Take More Pride in My Home (give it some decorating sprucing up) Haha, I tried this but found that we neither have the money nor the time to really devote to home decorating. I did get a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens, but somehow it just made me feel crappier about my outdated kitchen and ecclectic mix of hand-me-down furniture. Stick to My DietI did great on this until Halloween candy time. Yes, I've gained 7 pounds in the last 2 months. Yikes. Get Back to Running RegularlyNope. Not even close.Create Just for the Sake of Creating (such as painting, making jewelry, writing, whatever) This is an interesting one. I found myself feeling pressured to work in "me" time, then resenting the fact that there wasn't enough of it to go around.

As I said before, 2007 should have been one of my happiest years ever. But it wasn't. I found myself stressing out a LOT in 2007. Looking back I can count numerous times where I was depressed, emotional, irritable and completely uninspired. I was tired a lot.

So actually, back in December, I started working on some changes that I'd like to continue in 2008, both personally and professionally. For once, I was actually ahead instead of procrastinating on my New Year's Resolutions. So here it is, my "To-Do" list for 2008 (which hopefully I'll be looking at a little more often this year).

1) Drink More Water. I've been reading this fabulous book, The Energy Edge and while I'm not finished yet, it brings up some interesting points. I NEVER drank water. As in, NEVER. I'd have 2-3 Diet Cokes a day and maybe some coffee, but never had any water. Mild Dehydration can result in headaches, tiredness, hypotension (low blood pressure), dizziness, and other varied symptoms. Interesting to note that hypotension can also result in depression (no, I'm not saying I'm depressed because I didn't drink water.. I'm just saying that's a weird coincidence). So the past few weeks I've made an effort to drink water, and I must say I feel about 200% better. I'm also excited to read the rest of the book and see what else I'm doing wrong.

2) Keep Personal & Professional Time Balanced. Balance has always been important to me, and as the year progressed, I noticed a shift away from Personal time and toward Professional time. This left me feeling stressed, overworked, and left little time for family, fun, and my own endeavors. So in December, I made a conscious effort to not let the stress of the holiday season get to me, and I made sure there was time for everyone. I will say that this has been one of the best Christmases ever - we had a ball with the kids this year, and I'm back to being my obnoxiously pleasant self. This is a continual process for me, and I'm currently testing out a few different systems to see what works best for me.

3) Work on my Pet Projects. I have a few things brewing around in my head (as we all do) and I really want to give them life. Actually, my list is up to 20, so I'd like to bring some of these out into the world.

4) Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative. Not to quote Bing Crosby, but I really want to just enjoy myself this year. Life is short and it's becoming apparent to me that I need to appreciate each day for what it holds. I made a list of all the things I really like to do (about 18 things) and all the things that I didn't really like to do, but had to do (or should do) - (about 20 things).. so now I have to figure out how to minimize my hatred for the things I don't like to do or get rid of them all together. I'm working on that, I'll let you know how it goes.

I am in love with the Smashing Magazine site, as it's a fabulous reference site for web devs (although admittedly, they have a focus on design topics as opposed to coding). Their tagline is "we smash you with information that will make your life easier. Really." and they do live up to that. I've been keeping an eye on them for a long time, and if you don't have them in your feed reader, or on your list of favorites then you really should.

Their latest post, entitled, "Frameworks Round Up: When to Use, How to Choose" is a great upper-level synopsis of frameworks, not just for PHP, but for other languages as well. There may be framework names floating around that you weren't quite sure about... or maybe you just want a good place to send someone who's looking for a laundry list or a quick blurb about MVC.

At any rate, this is a nice place to go, and a great website.

CodeMash

Thanks to WebDevRadio and the CodeMash.org folks, I'll be attending this year's CodeMash, Jan 10-11, 2008. Lucky for me, it's about a 4 hour drive, and any time I can avoid flying to get to a conference is a good thing.

I'm excited to be a part of this interesting concept, where many languages are thrown in together and stirred up like a big batch of cookie dough. Although I've not been before, I've heard that what comes out may even be better than a fresh batch of warm chocolate chip cookies. (And if you're wondering, PHP is so the chocolate chip part of that recipe). I really like chocolate chip cookies, so it may be a tough sell for me, but I'm really looking forward to going nonetheless. There are some familiar names on the speaker circuit, and some new names (well, new to me anyway), but not one session that holds absolutely no interest for me. They all look like they would be worth your hour of time. If you're considering going, you can see the full schedule here: http://www.codemash.org/SessionList.aspx.

And if this weren't enough, the resort where the conference is being held looks cool as hell. I may bring the kids and hubby along, just because I think they'd have a blast. It's going to be at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. Too bad it isn't later in the year, or we'd hit Cedar Point while we're up there.

At any rate, thanks WebDevRadio and CodeMash- really looking forward to attending! (And if anyone else is going to be there, give me a shout and we'll grab a beer.)