I love attending geek IT conferences! That is, like, an ultimate vacation for me, just sitting and enjoying talks from experts, as well as mingling with crowds of people that are of the same industry — it’s fun. I especially enjoy the free books, notes and software that they hand out, like the ones that Chris Pirillo is now giving out for free to all Gnomedex participants and viewers. According to Chris, you can download them for free only if you have obtained the coupon code given during the conference, which I find unnecessary because I got the code simply by Googling it. The code is — of course — gnomedex. Chris, if you’re reading this then… uh… now you know.

Scott Rosenberg (whose feed I subscribe to) shared about one particular speaker, Derek K. Miller, who used a video link to speak while he was in bed, and revealed what it was like to blog about his cancer experience and treatment. I particularly like the comment that Derek received from one of the viewers about not letting his condition consume him, and I’m glad Derek continues to move forward with his life. I find it very inspirational in the way people use blogs for something as personal and cathartic as this; the way it touches other people’s lives and the awareness we get when we speak/blog about it, makes the Internet experience more rich and meaningful to our virtual and actual life.