It was fun this week to meet Martin Fowler and David Heinemeier Hansson at RailsConf. It's always cool at a conference to meet someone who's done great work, chat with them, and try to figure out how you too, can do great work. If only others appreciated it also...

Wife: How was the conference?

Geek (Me): It was excellent. I got to meet and chat with Martin Fowler and David Heinemeier Hansson, and they were both very cool.

Wife: Ermm...that's nice...

Geek: Ya, David created a Web Application Development Framework called Rails using a rather obscure Japanese gentleman's language called Ruby, and came up with a number of new and synthesized ideas in a way that no one had yet. It's sweeping the 'net and folks are digging it. Martin is one of the pioneers of Object Orientation and agile methodologies, as well as an Extreme Programming Guy.

Wife: I've never heard of these guys, but I'm glad you're glad!

Geek: Well, meeting Martin is kind of like meeting Michael Caine, he's a very respected guy, talented actor, he's been around for a long time, done a lot of great work, and you're never disappointed with any thing you see him in. Meeting David is kind of like meeting Tobey Maguire, because Spiderman kicked butt and everyone enjoyed it, but it's unclear if he'll get a lot of work and do great stuff after Spiderman. But, still, he's Spiderman, so he'll always have that.

Wife: Ah, well, that is cool!

Geek: Darn right.

Wife: Some Geek People out there seem to know who you are also...what actor are you in this analogy?

Geek: I'm Bruce Campbell, of course.

Wife: Who?

Geek: Exactly.