Sun Tech Days in Manila 2008

Almost a week had passed since the extremely pleasing days filled with Java technologies from the Sun Tech Days in Manila that was held at the Makati Shangri-La. If I remember correctly, this one’s the 3rd Java event I have attended since Java in Manila (2 years ago) and the Sun Tech Days (4 years ago) that were both held in the same venue. Well, this year’s the 10th anniversary of Sun Tech Days and there was even a cake made for the celebration:

So what makes this Java event different from the previous ones?

In this Sun Tech Day event, I was attending it as a participant having VIP passes along with the UP JRDC student assistants (ada, ruzette & karen), UP ACM volunteers (marianlbt & rem), and the DCS faculty (jdlcaro, rom, mariocarreon & sir pros). Matt Thompson started the Demo Showcase that featured the technologies in live action.

Some of the technologies that were featured in the event were: Carol McDonald’s jMaki, Sang Shin’s Web 2.0 Frameworks/Toolkits & JavaPassion, Java Development on the Mac, Java FX Script, and OpenSolaris. The features of NetBeans 6.1 were so emphasized especially in the NetBeans DeepDive Session on the first day. Applications were being developed and deployed fast – almost without writing any single line of code.

So what’s the effect? I was craving to try all of the stuffs at the same time. However, as expected, there were overlapping sessions which gave me a hard time of choosing which to track to take. Luckily, there were LCDs for every track so you get to have a preview of all of the sessions (and if there’s a freebie giveaway going on).

Freebies?! I got myself these stuffs: STD bag, STD notebook, SDN moleskine, Java/JEDI pens, OpenSolaris CD, Netbeans CD, Nokia post-its, Nokia notebook, Pen+ruler keychain, and a STD bag tag/ID.

There were really lots of giveaways for the delegates; there’s even a Java leather jacket! So who won it? Check out Em’s blog post about the turn of events (and her Sun Tech Days experience as well).

Throughout the event, I’ve found out that Matt Thompson’s on Twitter too! Same as Carol McDonald and Aisling MacRunnels. Isn’t it amazing that they’re easier to reach now through just a single Twitter message? And oh, Sun Tech Days in Manila got the Best Audience Award! Woot!

All-in-all, it was a great Java week! Happy 10th Anniversary, Sun Tech Days!

Reminiscing Sun Tech Days 2004

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRLU1bJSLVg[/youtube]

Remember Sun Tech Days 2004?

That was actually my first time to attend a Java conference. That event marked as my first experience in being a volunteer or staff member of the organizers. It was also the moment where I was able to meet the members of the DILNET Staff as well as some students from the DCS Batch 2001.

Now, 4 years had passed. Today, the Netbeans Deep Dive Session and University World Tour will start in about 3 hours at the Makati Shangri-La, the same venue just like last year’s if I remember it correctly.

By the way, the event’s FREE! See you there!

Quo Vadis?

It was already a month since this very memorable event. I was actually Twittering during the ceremony (thanks to DILNET’s WiFi at Quezon Hall) at the same time figuring out what’s going to be “next in line” – yes, that familiar song that has been played a lot of times in elementary/high school graduations. I was thinking of a different context of “next in line” though.

If Twitter has the tag line “What are you doing?”, then I have: Quo Vadis, which stands for “Where are you going?”, the Biblical phrase I learned when I was still in my elementary years at Claret School.

Now, it’s already the start of June, the start of a new life, a new journey, a new path to traverse. It’s time to turn the leaf of a new book, a new story to write. And for this reason, expect a lot of changes on this personal blog whilst I deploy some new blogs as well. Where/What/Why? Wait and see.

So again, Quo Vadis? I really don’t know yet but one thing’s for sure – God knows where I shall be going as life goes on. Just like what the song Pilgrim’s Theme says: I know in time I’ll find my place… in the greater scheme of things.