A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

Last Sunday I arrived in Chicago for a software development conference called Agile 2009. It was a week long event that myself and 3 other Point2′ers were attending. Our week was jam-packed with workshops and talks, filling our brains with all sorts of knowledge. I’m not going to get into the details of the conference here, but if you’re interested you can check out my posts at Point2′s Developing Code, Connecting Industry blog.

• Day 1 at Agile 2009
• Burying Agile, The FBI, Harmful ScrumMasters, and More
• Hyperproductivity, Performance Reviews, and Too Much Pizza
• Coaching, Leading, and the Experience Design

Friday morning myself and the Point2 crew took a walk to the John Hancock Center and traveled up to the observation deck. We then spent some time trying to figure out what gifts to take back to our significant others. I failed miserably so hopefully Michelle is not too disappointed. We then headed back to the hotel since the guys had to catch their flight back to Saskatoon. I was staying for the weekend so we said our farewells and I took a walk to Navy Pier.

I decided to do the Skyline Boat Tour since I had already done the Architectural Tour with Michelle. This one took us a few kilometres out into Lake Michigan and described the high profile building making up the Chicago skyline. This was OK, but didn’t even compare to the architectural tour that takes you down the Chicago River into downtown. If you’re ever trying to decide between the two, please take my advice. It also didn’t help that it was pretty cloudy out. You could only see about halfway up some of the really tall buildings.

After grabbing lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company I caught the train out to my sister’s place in St. Charles. Since I was in Chicago I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to hang out with my nephew and two nieces. I spent the weekend visiting with my sister and her family.

I just wanted to take it easy so the most eventful thing we did was take the kids out to Odyssey Fun World, a giant Ruckers type place. For lunch we went to Sonic. I cannot stress how badly I’ve wanted to hit this place up. I always see the commercials on the American stations, taunting me. I’m happy to say the burger was great, plus it was pretty cool because they are set up like the old A&W drive-ins.

My flight leaves just before 4pm today so I’m just getting the last of my visiting in. Fortunately I will see them all again in less than a month when they come out to Saskatoon for the wedding. Holy smokes! Did I just say less than a month?