I went to Blue Ridge Ruby, and it was an excellent time! I'm extremely grateful there's a regional Ruby conference (only a 90-minute drive away!) with great speakers and great company to boot.

My apprentice, Josh O'Halloran, got a sponsorship ticket and was immediately welcomed by the community. After 12+ years as a Rubyist, I had forgotten just how quickly & warmly we embrace newcomers. It's something we should continually practice.

Also, we need to make weird projects again! Talking about _why, Tenderlove, conference talks of yore, and other watershed moments in the early days of Ruby made me realize that we've been so focused on legitimizing, optimizing, and working with Ruby that we've stopped making dumb, silly things. If there's one critical thing I took away from my time in Asheville among folks that use the language I love every day, it's that we are better when we're collectively goofing off.

That, and root beer taught me the importance of B2B sales.