OK, who's the clever promoter in the southern hemisphere, holding up the cardboard cutout of the Joomla! logo again?

We both are still deeply ingrained in using 1.5, so to learn 1.6 on top of our day jobs was pretty challenging to learn to say the least! After giving ourselves a crash course on some testing sites, visiting joomla.org's documentation we got the hang of it and where able to successfully teach it. Learning by doing right???

I'd like to thank all those Joomla newbies and returning attendees for joining our session. It was great to see some of you from prior years back again. And I'm sure Kendall would agree we had some superb Q/A sessions. And lets face it, us Joomla folks always have more fun than those...cough cough... DRUPAL people right... Ya Joomla rocks harder, I SAID IT!

So some of my favorite memories of CMS Expo 2011 (not in any special order)

1. Having the privileged to come speak at such a high quility and nutruing event. This by far is better than any expo or learning conference I've ever gone too. Even though its not a 100% Joomla expo, there isn't one that could come close to the diversity of the Joomla sessions offered, hands down.
2. Joomla vs. Drupal Smackdown. Man if you missed this you better come back next year for part two. I think the onlookers got more heated than the project heads from both camps. Kyle Ledbetter and the boys from CorePHP didn't back down and had their share of zings. Thumbs up to you fellow JoomlaVangalists.
3. I got to drop Rocket Theme's Gantry Framework mini demo into my kickstart template session. Those of you know me as a RT / Gantry fanboy, so it was cool to show of the raw power of Gantry. I heard plenty of oohs and ahhss.
4. Having Tom Canavan cause me to loose sleep after his Security session. Tom I love ya brother but the moment I walk out I have a three page task list to review back at the office. BTW, nice birth certificate reference, ha ha!
5. Checking out Johnathan's session on CSS3 and the unveiling of Automated CSS3 Generator Plugin. OMG rounded corners in ALL browsers without spending hours doing css and image slicing. A MUST HAVE EXTENSION!!! Go buy it now!
6. Microsoft giving out "Make web not war" Joomla t-shirts. yes...I took a few. ;)
7. Sitting through Avery Cohen's Google analytic presentation. I tell you folks this dude is hilarious. By far one of the most entertaining/lively speakers I've seen. Not only did he school me in new Google secrets, he kept the crowd laughing and interacting constantly. I heard so many good comments from other attendees. Hats off to you Avery, you rocked the crowd! BTW this talented SEO king is a member of our Joomla Chicago group.
8. Kendall, is now known as the VGA cable master. So from now on its Kendall "VGA" Cabe, ir KCVGA for short.
9. The food. Hotel Orrington's breakfasts and lunches where amazing. Their staff was so friendly. I've never seen a harder working bunch. These guys take pride in their work and the amazing service shows!!!!
10. Meeting other Joomla evangelists.
11. I'm sure I'm missing some so I'll append later.

I would also like to personally thank Linda and John Coonen for their tireless work and devotion to the Joomla Chicago user group and for lost sleep for running CMS EXPO. The Expo event gets bigger and better as each year passes. All those who attend do nothing but rave that this is THE BEST Joomla / CMS event they attend. I'm very thankful to know you guys and be involved with people who are so passionate about teaching Joomla to the masses.

Raise the fist of the Joomla child! m/

Congratulations to our buddy, Ed Swiderski. Ed was one of our original crew who started up JoomlaChicago CMS Group a few years back (seems like yesterday). Oh, and he happens to be one of the final two bachelors still vying (publicly) for Jillian's hand on ABC TV's "The Bachelorette."

Ed's the real deal. Heck, even my wild mother-in-law (Judy "Brown-eyes" Brown) thinks Ed's a "keeper." Like we're surprised you're one of two available bachelors left standing on ABC's "The Bachelorette"?  Ed, good luck on the final show in your very public courtship of Jillian, and a big thank you goes out from all the singles out there who are glad you're pushing the envelope, and making Match.com or eHarmony seem much more mainstream. ;)

Yup. Leave 'em wantin' more.

Ed Swiderski made Chicago proud, when he showed them all that ya really gotta be willing to walk away, in order to stand out from the crowd. A few episodes back, Ed, who was clearly a contender - chose to leave the show, in order to keep his job.

Swiderski Wisdom Lesson #1: Women like men. They like men even more when they have a job.

Well, apparently, without the Clark Kent of the Bachelorette on-set, the ABC executives came-a-callin' after Ed high-tailed it back to Chicago. OK, maybe he called them and pleaded to come back on the show when he realized nights out with the boyz was gettin' old. We'll never know.

Maybe the time away helped Ed realize his feelings for Jillian? Ah, the double-edged power of the Takeaway is strong, glasshoppa. No matter, abscence does make the heart grow fonder, and now, Ed's back on the scene, wooing Jillian.

Y'all keep up with Ed, and wish them all well in the coming episodes, as Jillian whittles down her list of available hunka-hunkas. Maybe she'll choose our friend, Bachelor Ed!

Good luck Ed and Jillian! - From your pals back in Chicago!  When the crazyness dies down, c'mon back to JoomlaChicago! Oh, and bring a friend! ;).

See Ed and Jillian on ABC's The Bachelorette.

"Men do less than they ought,
unless they do all they can."

 - Thomas Carlyle