Category Archives: Event Coverage

July 27, 2009

I’m officially a Big Nerd. I have the t-shirt to prove it!

So I’ve been back from the Big Nerd Ranch for a couple of days now, and I’ve had time to reacquaint myself with real life. I’m able to look back on all of last week with hindsight now, and connect some dots. I definitely learned a ton in that class. If I had needed to [...]

July 23, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 6 (Teaser Trailer)

Zip2-Alison Yes, that is me on a zip line, going 35 mph, 150 ft above the ground. There was coding today, of course. I just didn’t take any video of it! I’ll be writing more about that (and the zip lines) later tonight.

July 21, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 4: My brain is full. Please try again later.

I can’t believe how fast this class is going. I feel like I have months of iPhone programming knowledge behind me already. Topics covered today: the accelerometer (tilting, shaking), phone rotation, working with table views, and editing/adding/deleting data from an app. I worked ahead a little bit and learned how to control the phone’s camera, [...]

July 20, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 3: There's an app for that

Check out those icons. I made those apps! They even do things. As you can see, today was a big day. We learned a lot. It feels like Thanksgiving for my brain: I’m completely stuffed, but I’m craving seconds, and I will eat more no matter what. The Quiz application is really simple. There are [...]

July 19, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 2: Objective-C overload

Today was our second day learning Objective-C. We got much deeper into it today, and the programs in our exercises were getting more and more complex. By dinnertime, we had learned how to tap into services being broadcast from other peoples’ computers and capture the information (iChat, printer sharing, iTunes library sharing, etc). It was [...]

July 18, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 1: Basics and a wood tick

Today was the first day of class. I woke up and took a bath in my jacuzzi, which is perhaps the best way EVER to wake up in the morning. It was a gorgeous day outside, and I had a pretty awesome view from my room. Breakfast was at 8:30, and there was a nice [...]

July 17, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch Day 0: I have a jacuzzi!

I’m here! The Banning Mills retreat is beautiful, though I didn’t get to see very much of it today. When we got here from the airport, I basically dumped my bags in my room and went right to dinner—where I spent the better part of 4 hours talking with the instructor and a group of [...]

July 16, 2009

Tomorrow is the big day!

Of course, by “the big day,” I do not mean I’m getting married or having a baby. I’m going to the Big Nerd Ranch! Tomorrow I’m off to Banning Mills in Whitesburg, Georgia to attend Beginning iPhone Bootcamp. I will be locked away in the middle of the woods for a week, chin-deep in Objective-C [...]

June 22, 2009

Big Nerd Ranch, here I come!

I’ve been on the waiting list for the Beginning iPhone Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch for almost a month now. Today I got the exciting news that I’m IN! From July 18-24 I will be on the geekiest trip I’ve ever taken. Hooray!!! I will definitely be blogging about the trip daily once I’m there. [...]