[Warning: This post is fairly echo-chambery - because I had a good experience, my write-up is positive. Plus, there's only so much time on this planet to focus on anything in particular, and I like to focus on the good things. It reminds me why I'm doing all of this.]

I went to the Microsoft MVP summit this week.

I kept quiet about it which is why you haven't heard much on the subject. I decided not to go blabbing for the following reasons:

1) I'm not an MVP

2) See number one

I thought there might be some resentment about a non-MVP/RD attending. If I were an MVP, then I might feel that it cheapens the experience to let yahoos like me in, but it turns out that nobody (that I met) wanted to complain, so I figure it's all right to write.

Plus, if there can be a FrontPage MVP, then I should bloody-well be allowed to show up. I mean, don't get me wrong: FrontPage is wonderful (blah, blah, blah), and I use it everyday at work (<-- big lie), but it's the kind of thing that opens up the doors for other riff-raff (like me).

Anyway, FrontPage teasing aside, it was a good experience. Like other conference type things, I learned more from hanging out in the hotel lobbies/bars/strip clubs than I did at the actual events, but the events were good, too.

The highlight of these things, though, is getting to meet people face to face.

Of the people that I hadn't already met elsewhere, I think I had the most fun with Sam Gentile, James Avery, and Peter Provost. I hadn't ever chatted with any of them "in the flesh" before, but can now recommend it. If you happen to see skin walking by that contains any (or, even better, all) of these people, then stop it for some chit chat.

Sam, in addition to his technical chops (which, he will assure you, are ample), is one entertaining sonofabitch. We talked about everything from coding to the current state of the rock music industry (verdict: it sucks). No matter what, Sam had some "colorful" commentary. Even though I don't really agree with him about some things, I like the way he puts it all. He doesn't sugar-coat anything. In the end, I think that you either accept Sam and his eccentricities, or you lose out by getting offended by some of his stronger opinions. I chose the former, and had a lot of fun because of it.

Another person was James Avery. I knew him through the blogging arena, and it was a kick to hang out. There was a partyish sort of thing going on last night, and we went from room to room with Sam, checking things out, and my enjoyment of the evening increased as James got drunker. By the time karaoke came around, he was just a little bundle of joy. I like people who don't feel the need to take themselves too seriously all the time.

Finally, there was Peter Provost. He's another fairly opinionated bastard, but also very entertaining. The best talks we had were probably about *nix. He spent a lot of time doing C/*nix/X-Windows work. Perspective is a good thing, and he had plenty. The best bit of hanging out with him, though, was talking about flying. I mentioned that I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a steel tube cruising at 40,000 feet, and he started telling me stories.

Here's a big tip to everybody: When you meet someone who's afraid of flying, don't tell the story that Peter told me.

He was in a 747 that was Europe-bound. A few minutes into the flight, there was a rather unpleasant exploding noise. Exploding noises aren't good when you're in a 747 (they're probably not good most of the time, but since this story is about flying, let's leave the rest of the world out of it for the time being). Peter knew it wasn't good because even the flight attendants stopped in their tracks and looked scared. Since their job is to pretend that everything's OK when you hit turbulence and your drink is on the ceiling, you know it's bad when they look freaked.

The sound, as you may have guessed, was an engine saying goodbye to the world. Granted, it was a 747 and had three others with which to land, but that's still totally freaky.

Yesterday, Peter also went out of his way to introduce me to a Slovakian whose plane lost an engine on the way over. That's great - thanks, Peter!

So I'm pretty excited about the flight home now. Nothing like boarding a piece of rusty steel that was assembled in 1967 and retrofitted with computers that are in charge of flying you from point A to point B. As a full time nerd who gets to watch software fail on a daily basis, the thought of letting an Airbus 319 fly me back home leaves me cold. I bet the thing's written in BASICA and is one big GOTO statement.

Anyway, yeah. That's what I've been doing all week. Hanging out with geeks and feeding my fear of flying.