Best DjangoCon 2009 Day Ever!
*This was originally posted on blogger [here](https://pydanny.blogspot.com/2009/09/best-djangocon-2009-conference-day-ever.html)*.
This might sound a bit [familiar](https://pydanny.blogspot.com/2009/03/best-pycon-2009-conference-day-ever.html), but yesterday was a day I don't think I will ever be able to top again. It was one of the pinnacles of my geeky existence, and I fear that the rest of my life will be a dull effort to recapture the glory that was yesterday. Why do I think this is so?
- Fresh Oregon state blueberry pancakes for breakfast with [James Tauber](https://jamestauber.com/), [Brian Rosner](https://oebfare.com/), and [Jannis Leidel](https://jannisleidel.com/). If you know me well, you'll understand why the pancakes were so important.
- Great keynote speech by [Ian Bicking](https://blog.ianbicking.org/).
- I gave my first [Django](https://djangoproject.com/) and [Pinax](https://pinaxproject.com/) related talk in a single combined event. Me and James Tauber gave a [Pinax Tutorial](https://www.slideshare.net/pydanny/pinax-tutorial-090909) that besides a demo gaff at the end went very well.
- Saw a really good talk by my new [Public Broadcasting System](https://pbs.org/) (PBS) friends! Those guys are really smart and I'm delighted they are in my home area.
- I participated in my first conference panel ever! We (me, [Katie Cunningham](https://elephantangelchild.blogspot.com/), [Gary Wilson](https://gdub.wordpress.com/), [Shawn Rider](https://pbs.org/), and our host [Brian Luft](https://lincolnloop.com/)) told our story with getting Django (and [python](https://python.org/)) into our shops. Lots of great questions at the end.
- Finding out that my 508 form project [django-uni-form](https://github.com/pydanny/django-uni-form) isn't just used by [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/) and Pinax, but also by PBS!
- Chocolate peanut butter filled cookies for afternoon snack.
- Got a chance to tell [Chris Wanstrath](https://defunkt.github.com/) not only how much I appreciated that [github](https://github.com/) kept me from having to learn all the [git](https://git-scm.com/) functions besides the basic ones, but also fended off the inevitable person accosting him about github performance issues (I fully recognize that scaling complex dynamic sites can be hard).
- The weather was amazing with a nice second trip to [Powells](https://www.powells.com/). We should move the conference outside.
- Fondue for dinner that was so good it shut down [James Bennett](https://jamesbennett.com/) for 2 minutes!
- I witnessed my fellow [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/) Dangonaut from Ames Research Center, Mark Friedenbach [(NAI](https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/), [NLSI](https://lunarscience.nasa.gov/)) get <span style="font-weight: bold;">married</span> to his lovely fiance, Ariel Lee. Pictures to follow soon!
<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Best. DjangoCon. Day. Ever.</span></span>
I'll say right now that yesterday tied my '[Best Pycon 2009 Day](https://pydanny.blogspot.com/2009/03/best-pycon-2009-conference-day-ever.html)'. I'm delighted I got something just as good as that wonderful day in the same year.
By the way, watching Mark and Ariel get married was much, much better than [Zed Shaw](https://zedshaw.com/) kicking me in the nuts.
Tags: pycon djangocon geek celebrities django holidays python NASA pinax legacy-blogger
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