Screaming Penguin

As Maarten noted recently on his blog, I was asked to hop over the pond and give a talk at Javoxx 08. Woot! It's about 98% settled at this point, with only a few final details to work out, so it looks like it will actually happen. I am still a bit stunned to have been asked really, and of course honored. Now I just have to do some work and come up with a great presentation (with Maarten's help, and he is a veteran at it BTW - http://www.maartenvolders.com/jazoon08/) so that I can live up to the billing. ;) Our talk will be about GWT, specifically some cool stuff you can do with the compiler (focusing on the heart of the toolkit, the compiler and how it works, rather than widgets, etc.). I really want to thank both Maarten, and Stephan Janssen - the guy who made all of JavaPolis/Javoxx possible. (I met Stephan at the JavaPosse roundup earlier this year, fantastic guy. I became acquainted with Maarten through GWT groups and message boards, also a great guy.) I have never done the big presentation thing at a public conference before. I have done a few short talks at large companies, say 100 people tops, and many small presentations, but not JavaOne or Javoxx or so on. Should be interesting, if not too nerve-wracking. Once I get something closer to ready, I will likely be doing a few JUGs in the area too, so I will let everyone know where to come out and critique the show (AJUG, and got an email from SCJUG the other day, might solicit others). And, if you want to come along, just let me know, would be great to have a few fellow countrymen travel over there with me - I haven't yet informed Stephan, but of course I need an entourage! Who wants to be my Turtle?