• Carl Bass munching on fast food in the food court, and spotted throughout the week yakking with average folks in the halls.
• Staggered classes reduced the lunchtime crush experienced at AU 2006.
• More ObjectARX programming classes this year. I'm pushing for creating a new "Developer" track for AU 2008.
• The Matt Murphy Head (peace be upon him).
• Meeting a lot of familiar faces and a few new ones!

The Cold List

• The food was worse this year than even AU '97 in Los Angeles. At least AU '97 had a Burger King nearby for someone on a budget; here in Las Vegas I ended up spending several hundred dollars over the course of the week just for food.
• Pete Kelsey's band, Dr. Ruth, didn't play. Rumor has it that the AU organizers refused to give them space. Dr. Ruth has become an AU staple, and it just wasn't the same without them.
• Shaan Hurley's gut-wrenching regimen for clearing 20 year old meat byproducts from various body cavities.

I presented the first of two ObjectARX roundtable discussions this year (the second one, hosted by Stephen Preston, also covered .NET). This was an experimental format. I liked it, and I thought it went well. If you were there, I'd like to hear your suggestions for making it better next year. I will be following up with some more posts covering topics raised in this and other AU classes.

Labels: AU 2007, ObjectARX, programming