C4 – You Sunk My Battleship!
September 10th, 2006I’m registered for C4, Jon Rentzsch’s ambitious Mac developer conference in Chicago. Even though the event runs only one evening and the following day, it’s clearly a lot of organizing for one guy (even with help) to pull off. Kudos to Rentzsch!
Registration is limited to 75 developers, so I was quick to pull the trigger and sign up. Apparently there are only about 20 spots remaining, so I guess I was smart to do so. The quick enrollment is great news because I assume it all-but-ensures Rentzsch a break-even scenario (and hopefully he’ll even earn a little profit for his troubles).
While most of the session descriptions don’t exactly jump out and scream excitement to me, the people who are delivering them are top-notch and it will be fun to hear what they have to say. I’ll have to finally get around to reading the Subversion Book so I can grill Brian Fitzpatrick on anything I still don’t understand.
Mostly though, C4 is for me a chance to make up for the socializing opportunities I missed by skipping WWDC this year. I already know that several people I’ve been anxious to meet will be present (including Rentzsch himself), perhaps you’ll also be among them? Comment here if you are planning on being there, so I can keep my eyes open for you!
Update: Thanks to Jeffrey in the comments for pointing out just how insane lodging is the weekend of C4. It’s looking pretty much impossible to find anything for less than $300/night anywhere within a few miles of the event. I’m probably going to end up staying somewhere out near the airport and just suffer the train ride in and back. The airport train runs all night long so I think this is a pretty reasonable compromise (for a savings of around $400).
September 10th, 2006 at 10:50 am
I’m one of the students who are applying for the scholarships, if all goes well and I get the scholarship I’ll be there!
September 10th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Wish I lived closer.
September 10th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Michael Bianco — You’re on. I applied as well. May the best student win.
Actually, there’s three slots, so hopefully both of us will make it. :D Hope to see you there, Michael and Daniel.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I will be attending and look forward to both the presentations and the discussion that they spark. Building an OS X app that syncs with a web app myself, I am interested in hearing any gotchas or good tips from Brent Simmons.
September 10th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
I signed up and sent in my check, but I’m having a hell of a time finding a hotel room in the area.
Where are you guys staying?
September 10th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Jeff: hmm- are they all booked up? I haven’t gotten that far yet. I haven’t even gotten a flight!
September 10th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Yeah, they’re all booked up for at least a mile around, unless you want to pay $400+ a night.
I eventually got a room at the Radisson, 1.6 miles away. Better reserve a room fast!
September 10th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Yeah, the hotel prices are insane. Luckily I have a friend relatively close who offered to let me stay at her place.
September 10th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Anybody interested in sharing a hotel room, if there is anything in the area? I’m thinking walking distance, or a short El ride. Contact me at philippe (at) casgrain (dot) com if you have anything in mind…
September 10th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Why is everything full? I just found out it’s the weekend of the Chicago Marathon!
September 11th, 2006 at 12:58 am
For the record on the dearth of inexpensive hotel space: I totally blame you guys for not warning me the Chicago Marathon swallows all reasonable hotel space. Just kidding.
I have one trick I’m going to try to play Monday that could help a great deal. Until then, there’s the CocoaDev ShareARoom page which I’ve updated for C4 and entered a sample item. Post there if you have a room you’d like to share.
September 11th, 2006 at 5:38 am
Chicago Marathon?? Great…
I’m not seeing anything downtown for less than $300 or so a night.
Is it reasonable to stay at O’Hare and train into the city? Any other satellite towns outside of Chicago with good transportation into the city?
September 11th, 2006 at 6:03 am
rentzsch: eagerly awaiting this trick :) but until then I think I will at least try to book some place near a station with all-night train access. Any suggestions? Rosemont?
September 11th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Daniel: I’ll be there! Looking forward to meeting you.
The session descriptions (mostly) don’t get my blood going either, but I’m hoping for some serious hacking. I never went to MacHack, boohoo. My personal laptop is nigh-busted for development though.. the fan doesn’t work. I hope I can take care of that before the conference.
I’m glad to see Jon’s note about a possible crash space trick. Failing that, I’ll be adding myself to the ShareARoom page.
September 11th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Uh… I believe it was “You sank my battleship!”
-systemsboy
September 12th, 2006 at 1:25 am
http://www.couchsurfing.com ?
Looks like a good bet to me Daniel….I’ve used it a couple of times…great way to socialize with new folks :)
September 12th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
The Congress Plaza Hotel still had rooms for US$199 when I booked my room yesterday, despite their website showing much more expensive rooms. For those of you just only checking the hotel websites, it might be worth calling them too to see what they actually have.
September 16th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Hi All,
I too am registered for C4, but I am driving up from Indy. Happens to be my kids’ fall break weekend, so the entire family is coming with me to (I assume) go shopping or visiting friends.
Anyway, I found rooms at the Comfort Suites O’Hare, located about a mile south on River Road, for $109 per night at priceline.com. Just FYI…
October 5th, 2006 at 5:55 am
I’ll be there, also hoping to make up for WWDC by meeting some folks. I’m still in search of lodging, so I’m open to sharing if anyone else is too.
Looking forward to it!