A little late, I know, but I finally got some time to put my thoughts into place.  First I want to send out my congratulations to Jim Holmes, Brian Prince, Jason Gilmore, Jason Follas, Dianne Marsh, Jeff Blakenburg, Josh Holmes, and John Hopkins for putting on ANOTHER wonderful event.  I went into CodeMash ‘08 with very high expectations based on last years spectacular event, and the group did not disappoint.  A quick thank you to the CodeMash sponsors for helping those folks do that job!  Your loyalty to the development community will not be forgotten by this developer.

It was kicked off by a very insightful panel on how to "sell" yourself and your ideals to clients and/or colleagues.  Then were the two days of sessions which were again some of the most insightful and educational I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending.

The keynotes were five star once again, with Scott Hanselman, Neal Ford, and Brian Geotz all doing an outstanding job.

I strongly urge everyone to go listen to Chris Woodruff’s CodeMash Podcasts, as well as checkout the CodeMash site for slide decks and session audio.

Of course the other half the conference occurs after the sessions are long over and deep into the night.  I had great conversations with folks like Joe O’Brien (who is a way bigger twitter addict then me, Keith) , Jay Wren, and Steven Harman that I am still digesting over. 

Let the countdown to CodeMash 2009 begin!

As Teresa points out on her blog, the same old men (and women, of both parties) have been in charge of the country for a long time. According to the Congressional Research Service the 109th Congress was the oldest in history (average age 56 years (Senators averaged over 60 years! (Representatives averaged 55))). When you consider that the minimum ages for Representatives and Senators are 25 and 30 respectively, then you get some idea how long these people have been running the country. In fact the longest serving congressman is John Dingell, Democrat Representative from Michigan. Mr. Dingell first took office in 1955. That’s over 50 years! The founding fathers never imagined congressional terms this long. They believed in the citizen congress. Congressmen were meant to serve few terms and then return to their professions, politics where not meant to be their profession.

Obviously it’s time for some young blood, from both sides of the aisle. John Edwards has shown that the time of the young, internet savvy politician is, if not here, at least close at hand. Given that Al Gore invented it, it’s not surprising that Democrats/Liberals are often viewed as more internet savvy then their peers. Though being young and Democrat doesn’t automatically mean you’re an internet expert.

But at least the Democrat’s have somebody. Where is the internet savvy Republican/Conservative? Contrary to the popular wisdom; there are plenty of small-government-wanting, personal-responsibility-believing, technically savvy people out there. Why aren’t any in politics? Are they too intelligent? Is John Edwards simply the smartest idiot? I would be very interested to see how a internet wise conservative candidate (Republican or third party) would play out, I think the results would surprise a few people. If anyone knows of such a person, please let me know.