On Thursday morning I’ll be leaving the Pacific and heading back to the Old World - perhaps the oldest of the old, Rome. As usual the flights from the Western section of the New Empire eastward are really quite painful, but such is the cost of living where the sun melts into the sea (over and above cursable rents). The question may be asked as to why I am headed out so far. Well, as those of you who have actually looked at the right column of this blog may have noticed, I have an interest in Mac OSX programming. I’ve tried for the last two years to really try to get some time (or discipline, I prefer to blame it on the former) to master the idiom and be able to make Great Software that would make my life (at the very least) and the lives of others ever so slightly better.

Last time I was at a BNR class, I meant to keep a blog history so that I could: Shill for my friends Have a travelogue Regrettably, my best intentions fell to lack of discipline and I did not keep my story together. As such, I’m going to try to work day-by-day with sharing my experience. At the end I’ll provide a summary as well as some specifics about “what to do / what not to do if you’re taking the Rails class”. Last night, after my bitching about ATL, we were picked up by our contacts Emily and Jaye who were holding a great big BNR poster-board to help myself about about 8 other people congregate.

Per the typical BNR experience, last night, post-dinner, many students returned to the training facility to go over the things that were unclear, try things out, and talk with the the instructor, Charles Quinn, about projects that we dream of undertaking. I had questions around using the session continuity features in ActiveController, and just needed some examples and some time to let the concepts come together. Ultimately I figured it out and some of us last few left in the center headed down to the bar and had a beer before bed. I can’t say I slept particularly well. I had the strangest experience.

The example and exercise scripts during the RoR class center around receiving requirements for a company that produces widgets. Never content to simply accept the assignment, I have pushed my, uh, unusual sense of humour onto the project.

We were working this afternoon and there was a horrible rain storm. The kind folks at our facility sent vans to retrieve us from the meeting center and take us to the dining hall. Midway through lunch a transformer down the line blew and plunged the hall into darkness. Fortunately the meeting room is on a different generator and we were able to keep working. Now, as we finish day 2, a golden burning sun has re-emerged and we’re about to go out for some Mexican food.

Goodmorning. I had a late morning this morning … because I had a late night last night. Last night, per BNR tradition ( and I can say this because of me experiences at the Cocoa camp ), post dinner ( and occasionally a drink or two ) many of the students returned to the classroom to review, invent, create, etc. under the tutelage of our teacher. I basically re-ran all the exercises from Day 2 again, inventing scenarios to make sure that I truly “got it”. In training, it’s very easy to simply nod and do the exercise but, as my math teacher says, when you are working the problem alone, you will get the loneliness.

Hi all, After the lengthy tour of duty yesterday, I’m back in for another lengthy day. I think that Wednesday is really the grinder day. First, you’ve been lectured to for the last 3 days. There are very few minds that can take 8hr. / day lectures without feeling a bit tapioca-ish on the 24th hour. Secondly, you’re listening and then working very hard on something that you just were introduced to. You have these head bashing against a wall sessions and then, suddenly, you’re set free ( because you’re doing something that’s old hat, something you learned, say, that morning ) and then you hit the wall with all that built-up acceleration.

Yesterday’s post looks a little incoherent with a day of rest between it and I. Based on the entreaty of Mr. Graitcer in the comments, I thought that perhaps I could try to characterize what it is to be fatigued in this way. First, let’s just say that it’s not the expectation of the teacher or the class curriculum that you work yourself into fatigue of this type. It’s not necessary or required. Yet in both of the BNR classes I’ve taken, the students worked late into the night on their own projects, or improving the assignments. Therefore, the motivation to work to this level of fatigue is not extrinsic, it is clearly intrinsic.

Day Four: It’s a good day. The reason day 4 is a good day is because you’re out of “how rich is this language and how many other key concepts must I learn to be functionally literate” phase. You see, you’ve covered the dead basics on the first day. Day two is a real challenge because you’re learning the bits of the language that are advanced and that you will need to know to really be able to work “out of the middle section of the book”: the part where it moves from introductiory to non-trivial. Day three is the hardest, as I’ve detailed in great detail previously.

Well yesterday was a brief morning session where we covered profiling, how to get help, and took a look at some of the student generated work that had been created during the week. After that we were shuttled back to Atlanta where we all dispersed, catching our flights to the various parts of the map. My plane was delayed by an hour ( mechanical ) so I arrived in houston about 7:30. After getting to the park and ride I proceeded to drive back to Austin, getting home about midnight. While I was flying I had a chance to post a wrap up and advice page which will be next in the posting list.

I had a good experience in the class. I was able to learn the material without falling behind, feeling like i was drinking from a firehose, or feeling like each additional word was just a drop of water on a saturated sponge. There were definitely people who feel more comfortable with the material right now than I do, but I thought I would like to tell you things in my background that I believe helped me be successful in the class. Unlike a college institution, the BNR does not enforce pre-requisites. As such it is your responsibility to assess whether you have the tools and knowledge necessary to get what you need out of the class.

This post is a ‘jumping off’ point for reading about my adventures at BNR’s RoR camp in February of 2007. Day-by-day Recap Day 1 Day 2 Day 3.1 Day 3.2 Day 3.3 Day 4 Day 5 Summation / Preparation Preparation Thanks Staff Thanks to Charles, my teacher, and Emily and Jaye who handled the logistics. Big thanks to Aaron for coming out to check on us! Thanks as well to the Callaway Gardens staff who were so friendly and accommodating of a nerd