December 7th…a day that will live in infamy. But not just because of Pearl Harbor.
17 years ago, a geek in Washington DC who had just gotten out of a bad relationship would innocently log into the Star Wars forum on Compuserv, unknowingly kicking off a chain of events that would result in him moving to Michigan several months later.
Which brings me to my point – swapping stories last night was fun.
A couple old faces showed up, a couple new faces showed up, and it was pretty much exactly what we wanted it to be: sitting around a big ol’ table drinking a few beers, eating some pizza, and talking about what was, what is, and what will be. Even though I’ve been hanging out with a lot of comedians lately, I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time.
Thank you to those who made it out, it was awesome seeing you and laughing with you.
But, as always, there’s a ton of stuff coming up that demands attention, so let’s dive in to a few things…
First and foremost…next Thursday. December 13th. Our annual year-end wrap up party and now our 2nd annual “Support The Troops” initiative.
Read those Frequently Asked Questions out at http://www.ITinTheD.com/4556/dec-13-2012-faqs/, and then make plans to be there Thursday night. It’s shaping up to be quite the night.
Not just because we’re looking forward to seeing all of you there, but also because some of the people who received the stuff gathered and bought last year will be in attendance.
That’s a pretty damned cool thing. Helping from afar is rewarding in and of itself, but it’s always nice to actually put in-person faces and conversations with the pictures and the names.
Really, really looking forward to it.
As I mentioned in the opening, last night was fun.
I almost feel badly for the few new faces that showed up last night…I don’t know what they were expecting, but at least they were laughing. Two had just gone through a job retraining program and aren’t getting too much help with finding a gig from where they went, another was a DBA who just wanted to check us out and see what we were like…all of them got stuck with the three of us in the wayback machine laughing hysterically and swapping stories from the late 90’s and early 2000’s…
…like I said, at least they were laughing right along with us, and they all said they’d at least gotten what they wanted, which was to introduce themselves to us and get a feel for us and the group. And if nothing else, they all sounded sincere when they told us they’d be there next week as well.
On another front, a few things went live and started getting discussed since our update went out the other day, and they’re worth calling attention to.
Don’t Be That Guy: The Master Baiter went live over at http://www.ITinTheD.com/4644/the-master-baiter/ and yes, we’re all 11 year old giggling misfits, but I swear the title is dead-on accurate. So go read it.
The Girl Develop It ladies still have a couple of spots open for their upcoming class. If you’re interested, or know someone who is, stop wasting time and get to http://girldevelopit.com/chapters/detroit
From a discussions perspective, it was just announced that Michigan is 3rd in the nation in high tech jobs growth. Solid. http://lnkd.in/nsgK6G
It appears the US and Europe are chatting about “The Google Problem“. But is there actually a “Google Problem”…and if there is, umm, are we going to have a ITintheD problem? http://lnkd.in/uhDwC3
There’s a brewing case about “Twibel” (libel on Twitter) that has me about nine different layers of concerned about free speech…and it should probably freak you right the hell out, too. Read and comment out at http://lnkd.in/yDkEuT
The deadline on our “Help IT in the D Lose the Egg” contest is this weekend…so time’s almost up if you’re interested: http://www.ITinTheD.com/4581/help-it-in-the-d-lose-the-egg/ We’ve gotten some really sweet submissions thus far, and I’m almost positive that we’re going to have to open this up for a vote.
The Justice League Discount Double Check on IT in the D tickets is also expiring here pretty quickly, so if you want to save $20, you’d better do it quickly: http://www.ITinTheD.com/4575/justice-league-recap/
Star Wars Night at the Palace in the party suite tickets are starting to get burned through, so that’s another thing you’ll want to get on if you’re actually interested. It’s January 4th, and what geek wouldn’t want Star Wars Night tickets for Christmas? Go: http://www.ITinTheD.com/4631/we-would-be-honored-if-you-would-join-us/
There was a bunch of other items and jobs in Wednesday morning’s updates as well, so if you haven’t read through that, you should: http://www.ITinTheD.com/4586/professor-hinkle-has-nothing-on-us/
That’s all folks. See you Thursday http://www.ITinTheD.com/event/december-2012/