I got clearance from the boss and put my order in for Chris' upcoming XML conference. The last one was the first conference I had ever been to, and to say that it was unique among all the others I've attended since would be to understate the matter in a very large way.

The location is awesome. Last year's conference was out in the burbs, while this one is just "out there." I think it's in a forest or something. I plan on wrestling a bear to the ground with my own hands (but, just like when I'm fishing, I'll let it go after I've bested it in a game of Man vs. Nature). If anybody else who's going to the conference would like to come wrestle bears with me, then let me know - maybe we can organize a bear wrestler's dinner or something where we can swap bear wrestling stories.

I'm especially excited about getting drunk and wandering into the forest in the middle of the night to kick some bears' asses the list of talks this year. I've been focusing a lot on Chris Anderson's topic: "Developers Hate XML." That's a helluva way to help kick off an XML conference, and I'm pumped about it. Many developers are rightly skeptical about all the XML hoopla. The main reason I went to last year's conference (and the reason I'm going to this year's (aside from bear wrestling)) is that I'm an XML skeptic. I've used it to some great success in my own projects, but I like hearing from the people who basically think in a universal language of hierarchical data.

Jeff Barr is also going to be there to talk about "Amazon Web Services - A Year in Review." I loved last year's talk on Amazon WS, it having been my first exposure to an application of XML web services that really did something. I used it to build my RSS for Charity project (which is currently on the fritz, and I don't have the bandwidth to fix it right now (although I'm still donating dough)). I can't wait to see what he has to say this year.

Yup. I'm pumped. Are any of you going?

After Blog Mint [?] :

I haven't talked to Steve in a while. Hope things are going well for you, Mr. Maine.