You learn a lot going to Code Camp, and I seemed to have stumbled onto something that maybe I shouldn't have. If my little girl says some 5th grader smacked her around at recess this week, I'll know why: I'm talking about something I wasn't supposed to be talking about.
We all know about the .NET stars of the Boston region, guys like Thom Robbins and Sam Gentile who get lots of press. But what I discovered this weekend at Code Camp 4 is that the guy who’s pulling the strings down there in Beantown is really Jason Haley.
That's right. He's the guy with The Power. He may be mild mannered, courteous, overtly nerdy, but Jason Haley is calling the shots in Beantown.
Ridiculous, you say? Okay, how's this for evidence? I'm catching up with Jason Saturday morning in the hallway and some fellow comes up to him with the look of Bonasera the Undertaker standing before Don Corleone. "Jason. I must discuss something with you." I moved away to give him privacy, but could have sworn I heard him say, “…and now my daughter will never be beautiful again.”
Then I see all of the Starbucks Coffee and Dunkin' Donuts in the cafeteria as a "gift from the Beantown .NET User Group" though everyone knew it was Jason Haley who was behind it. Was this an example of a ruler appeasing his subjects with caffeine and sugar? I wonder.
And then there was Jason's presentation on "Writing an IL disassembler for fun." It was scheduled as the last session on Saturday, starting at 7:15 PM. The session I went to broke off a little early so I went to check on Jason. I saw a darkened room and concluded that no one went to his session. I wasn’t surprised; I mean, really, IL disassembly at 7:15 on a Saturday night? How incredibly nerdy is that? The poor guy. I was going to have to cheer him up when I saw him later at the Westin.
But it seems I was at the wrong room. Jason was next door, and the room was PACKED! Guys were asking questions about PE Headers or some other disassembler geekiness and Jason was cool and calm, giving them the IL disassembly goods. Still, I was suspicious. Could this many guys truly be so interested in IL disassembly, or were they local geeks who feared reprisal from one of Haley’s thugs with a list of no-shows? You tell me.
My suspicions were confirmed a little later on Saturday night when we were hanging out in the Waltham Westin lobby and bar. Sam Gentile was having his usual Coca-Cola and was standing behind Jason Haley's chair, and Sam--well, being Sam--kicks Jason's chair and barks, "Get me some wings!" Of course, most people would have jumped out of their chairs and disappeared in search of Chicken Wings for Sam Gentile. I’ve seen it happen before. When Sam Gentile kicks your chair and demands something, you jump up and get it! But no, not Jason. Not the Geek Godfather of Beantown. Jason doesn’t even bother to turn his head, just keeps looking straight ahead and without any display of emotion says, "Get your own damned wings."
Wow! Make no mistake. Jason Haley is the Geek Godfather of Beantown.