A ridiculously huge Portland Nerd Dinner
Nerds descended upon the Washington Square Mall food court this evening for the May 18th Portland Nerd Dinner. There had to be at least 40 people there.
I was (fortunately or unfortunately) all suited up as I had been presenting to a visiting bank all day. As you know, many Nerds see a suit only at Weddings and Funerals (and often not even then) so it caused quite the stir.
One kind gentleman who works for MSDN even said during the Q&A that "We don't take questions from Bible salesmen!" I'd have fought him on the spot, but I'm just a tiny 42 Regular off the rack, and he'd likely crush my head. ;)
Anyway, it also marked the triumphant return of Rory to the NW - land of Birkenstocks and Socks. He was in attendance with his always charming and considerably-better-half, Kori. As he has given up colonial life he needs to have a post for us to trackback a 'blogosphere I-told-you-so' in the style of the "Sells TP."
Chris was kind enough to bring down Shawn Morrissey, Kent Sharkey and a few other people who's names escape me although I've met them before. After the dinner the MSDN team held a Q&A session. You really have to give Microsoft credit for being sincerely interested in what the developer thinks. They spent at least a half-hour talking about ways to make MSDN better before I had to go.
No doubt something amazing happened after I left as is typical with these events. Unless I literally hang out until the joint closes down, Rich Claussen always tells me the next day, "Dude! You should have hung out! Right after you left..." Sigh. I'm sure he'll post pictures of whatever I missed. :)
Seriously, go to the next Nerd Dinner whenever it may be. It's turned into more than just a great networking event. You really have to give Jim Blizzard credit for being one hell of a Developer Evangelist. The concept is really taking off. Russ Fustino (of Russ's Toolshed fame) is hosting the .NET Pub Club in the Gulf States district. Fabulous.
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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This was a wonderful chance to talk with the people who bring the knowledge to us. I can't say enough about how great it was to have that many people drive three hours out of their way ('cept Chris, of course :)) to mingle with and listen to the opinions of developers.