Hell yeah, I got to sleep until about 7:15am. Like I said yesterday, I’m going to be completely used to west coast time just in time to hop a plane back home. Saturday’s going to suck! At least in terms of my sleep pattern. Only good thing about Saturday is going to be that I’ll get to see my kiddos. Starting to miss them a lot!
I had 1 lab this morning, along with two sessions. Some unfortunate news. I did finally get in to see an actual Safari/Webkit guy today. I explained the issue we’ve been having with the NTLM authentication on iOS devices. He was baffled. But, at least this guy knew why he was baffled. Apparently, most authentication schemes use some form of cookie or header scheme in passing and holding on to authentication tokens. NTLM does use that, but it must use it in some different way. Suffice it to say, we couldn’t find the issue. But, he did give me some specific things to do to submit the issue to Apple to hopefully get it fixed.
One of the morning sessions showed me something that Apple’s doing to help ease development. It looks absolutely fantastic, and should speed up development of apps by a good bit. Essentially, they’re taking some of the plumbing code off our plate and automating it. Looks pretty nifty. Can’t wait to try it out in my own apps!
Lunch and the afternoon sessions were pretty standard and non-eventful. I did get a text message from Jayme at the start of the second session. She was, or I should say they were, having some issues actually getting to leave Atlanta. Apparently, there were some storms up on the northern part of the east coast, and Boston was delaying flights. She did end up making it, but a full 3 hours after she was supposed to. Ouch!
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The Thursday night of WWDC, Apple sponsors a “party” at Yuerba Buena Gardens. Technically, it’s called the WWDC Bash, but it’s affectionately know here as the Beer Bash. Why, you ask? Because, you show up and they give you free beer. How cool is that? Plus, they always bring a band to play the place, so everyone can let go a bit.
Before I tell you who the band was this year, let me back up a little bit in the day. Between every session, in every room, they play music as a filler for sound. And they literally have the same basic soundtrack in every single room. So, the handful of songs (maybe 20 or so) repeat over the course of the day. Since Monday, I’ve been hearing this song called “The Sound of Sunshine” (thru the magic of Shazam) by Michael Franti & Spearhead. Very catchy, islandy, feel-good kind of song. While the WiFi was magically working today, I actually purchased it from iTunes on my phone and was playing it several times myself during the day. I even posted a status update on Facebook saying I was enjoying the song.
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Lo and behold, the band that was there tonight was in fact, Michael Franti & Spearhead. Small world, huh? (It’s actually not that small…they are originally from San Francisco, so it was a hometown band-done-good kind of thing.) Anyway, they played about 18-20 songs over the course of the set, and it was pretty great. It was a little hollow and distorted because the sound system was a) very close to me and b) not the best in the world. But Michael himself made up for it in charisma. A very seasoned live performer, he knew how to play to the crowd, and it showed. He was funny, he was aware of his audience, and he was just fun! Plus, it was free AND I had a beer in my hand. Who was I to complain?
Speaking of beer, I actually had two beers before the music started. Beer, to those of you who do not know me well, goes right through me. Quickly. So, by the 3rd song in the set, I REALLY had to go to the bathroom. I asked around and was directed to the restorooms inside the Gardens. Unfortunately, there was a line. Why was there a line? Because this, my friends, is WWDC. Of the 4,500 developers here from around the world, there are probably 20-30 females. Seriously. And apparently, I’m not the only one who beer goes right through. But, all of that is to say that he played “The Sound of Sunshine” while I was relieving myself. Damn it! No, damn my bladder! Fucker.
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Anyway, let me tell you about the interesting food that was served (along with the beer…did I mention it was FREE?!). They had this grilled cheese section set up. Yep, you heard me right. Grilled cheese section. But, there were varieties of grilled cheese (I didn’t honestly know there were varieties before tonight, but there you go). I happen to pick up one with Grilled Pepperjack and Fontina cheeses with Figgy Fennel Jam on a Panor Roll (whatever that means). Basically, it tasted like a grilled cheese with some sort of jelly in it. Not bad, actually. Just a litle too sweet for my tastes. Next to that section, they did have some absolutely delicious sweet potato fries (of which I think I had thirds) and some sort of pasta salad with mushrooms, shells, and a mayonaise based dressing (from which I stayed far away). I also grabbed some grilled chicken bites to complete my dinner meal.
Once the show was over (and I had consumed my share of alcohol), I left about 8:45pm and figured I’d catch a movie at the Metreon, right down the street. I didn’t know what was playing, but since it was just me, I figured I could be flexible. I decided to go see Source Code, which I knew Jayme would go see with me, but only because I wanted to see it. I don’t think she’ll shed a tear for it. Everyone who had reviewed the film said they liked the beginning and the main jist of the story, but not the ending. I’ve got to say, the ending didn’t bother me at all. I know it didn’t wrap everything up in a logical, neat little bow, but that was okay with me. I actually really liked it!
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After the movie, I had planned to just head back to the hotel to crash, but I saw Mel’s drive-in right next door and figured, what the hell? So, I went in, ordered a milkshake, and chilled. Good milkshakes. Can’t say much for the wait staff, though. Not a lot of bright lightbulbs in the joint, if you know what I mean. But the place had a nice atmosphere and the shake was good, so overall, not too shabby.
After Mel’s I finally did head back to the hotel. After all, tomorrow is going to be a LONG day (and a half)!
The Day’s Images [slideshow]
