TITLE: Strange Loops
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: October 08, 2010  3:53 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<A HREF="http://strangeloop2010.com/">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/conferences/strangeloop2010.png"
        ALT="StrangeLoop 2010 logo"
        WIDTH="120"
        ALIGN="right" />
</A>

As busy as things are here with class and department duties,
I am excited to be heading to
<A HREF="http://strangeloop2010.com/">
   StrangeLoop 2010</A>
next week.  The conference description sounds like it
is right up my alley:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Strange Loop is a developer-run software conference.
Innovation, creativity, and the future happen in the magical
nexus "between" established areas.  Strange Loop eagerly
promotes a mix of languages and technologies in this nexus,
bringing together the worlds of bleeding edge technology,
enterprise systems, and academic research.

Of particular interest are new directions in data storage,
alternative languages, concurrent and distributed systems,
front-end web, semantic web, and mobile apps.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

One of the reasons I've always liked OOPSLA is that it is
about programming.  It also mixes hard-core developers
with academics, tools with theory.  Unfortunately, I'll
be missing OOPSLA (now called SPLASH) again this year.  I
hope that StrangeLoop will inspire me in a similar way.
The range of technologies and speakers on the program
tells me it probably will.

<A HREF="http://www.desmoinesmarathon.com/">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/running/des-moines-marathon2010.jpg"
        ALT="2010 Des Moines Marathon logo"
        WIDTH="180"
        ALIGN="right" />
</A>

The day after I return from St. Louis, I hit the road
again for the
<A HREF="http://www.desmoinesmarathon.com/">
   Des Moines Marathon</A>,
where I'll run strange loops of a different sort.  My
training has gone pretty well since the end of July,
with mileage and speed work hitting targets I set back
in June.  Before my taper, I managed three weeks of
50 miles or more, including three 20+ mile long runs.
Will that translate into a good race day?  We never
know.  But I'm looking forward to the race, as well
as the Saturday expo and dinner with a good buddy the
night before.

If nothing else, the marathon will give me a few hours
to reflect on what I learn at StrangeLoop and to think
about what I will do with it!
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