Kevin's Weblog

I figured I should write a few words on my overall thoughts about this year’s OSCON. Although it’s a bit hard to remember precisely, I felt like it was a better conference than 2005, despite the absence of Damian Conway and a couple other luminaries. Certainly the keynotes were a vast improvement. I do hope that next year sees the return of the Tuesday Evening Extravaganza, though.

It seems like there was a lot less blogging at the conference. Or, perhaps it’s that there was less use of the wiki, and so I just didn’t know about much of the blogging. I did make much greater use of IRC this year, though, and it paid off in a few new friends: Chris, Brad, Alasdair, and others without blogs.

Somewhat unexpectedly, living in the same place as the conference actually made things somewhat tougher. I had to wake up 30-45 minutes earier than I would have if I’d been staying at the hotel. Partly that’s my own choice though, for being too stubborn to drive to the convention center, even after my bike got nicked. Of course, it’s also hard to balance family demands with the crazy schedule of the conference. I’m thinking next year I’ll send them off on vacation for the week or something.

I didn’t get much of anything out of the tutorials this year. Unless there’s something that really looks like it’ll be exceptional, I imagine that I’ll skip them entirely next year.

After a couple days of lots of test rides, on Friday I bought a new bike. It’s a KHS Urban Xpress, bought at Citybikes. They had one already accessorized with fenders and a rack, and with the straight handlebars swapped for a curved-back set. It’s got a nice upright riding position and a good European feel. I’ve put about 20 miles on it this weekend, riding to N. Portland to meet a friend, and out and about running errands.

I’m hoping that having more of an “in-town” bike will encourage me to do more of our simple errands by bike rather than car. Although, I’ve got to figure out how people manage to attach milk crates to their racks. I tried it with a bungee yesterday and managed, but only barely. I felt like my groceries might slide off onto the ground at any minute, and the milk crate was right up against the back of my saddle, forcing me forward into a fairly uncomfortable position. But, I’m sure I’ll figure this out.