Today was day zero of JavaZone 2006 - there were some all-day courses but I did not arrive early enough to take part. The official conference starts tomorrow. There will be three members of the NetBeans team doing presentations: myself, Brian Leonard, and Geertjan.

There will also be a presentation by Bruce Tate. It took me a while, but at the end of my flight to Oslo, I realized Bruce was sitting across the aisle from me. So I said hello and we chatted as we waited to get through immigration and then rode the express train to downtown Oslo. He seemed excited about the news that Sun had recently hired the JRuby guys. Even better, he was able to provide me with some critical information on how to locate my hotel - when we exited the train station I was planning to walk to the wrong Radisson hotel. Hmmm... I'm getting guidance from Bruce Tate - could be risky. :-)

I had lunch with Geertjan, the hardest working blogger in the NetBeans world. I suspect he will be too modest to mention this, but Geertjan was recently given a "People's Choice" award in the software division at Sun. It's an internal sort of thing, but it is still a big deal. He won in the "customer experience" category, which is fitting given the excellent results he delivers for his customers: the readers of his tutorials and blog entries.

The dinner and drinks provided for the speakers were very nice. Lots of good food and conversation with famous people such as Geert Bevin, Romain Guy, and others.

Some Photos, Click For Full Size

	It's a beautiful day
	Geertjan and his Norwegian beer
	Karl Johans Gate
	A stop smoking campaign?
	Guys whose name begins with G-e-e-r-t are very passionate about what is and is not allowed during a presentation demo