Robby on Rails: Tag argonexpress

The Argon Express 2008? It's not too late!

Robby Russell — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:39:00 -0600

Picture yourself and your laptop. It’s been over a day and you’re sitting on a train with a group of Rails developers with a view like this over your shoulder.

Hacking and reading on the train.

Enjoying the sceneary of the U.S.A.

Two years ago… a group of us went from Portland to Chicago for RailsConf 2006 on the Argon Express.

I know this is a tad late… but uf you haven’t purchased plane tickets to Portland yet for CabooseConf or RailsConf 2008 and would be interested in catching the train from somewhere the East Coast, email me and we’ll talk. I’m hoping to organize the Argon Express 2008 over next few weeks.

RubyConf Express

Robby Russell — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 17:03:00 -0500

Wow… this is awesome!

The sd.rb group is following up on our concept for The Argon Express. People are heading to RubyConf 2006 from San Diego, California to Denver, Colorado on the RubyConf Express.

We had a blast on our two-day trip across the country… check out our photos on flickr.

It’s great to see the tradition continue!

Have fun! :-)

the Argon Express

Robby Russell — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 01:31:00 -0500

While at RailsConf, I was asked probably a few dozen times how the trip to Chicago via Amtrak was… and my answer was, “fun!” It really was… granted it wasn’t easy to sleep on the train but we did have fun.

Here are a few photos from the trip… in chronological order. Be sure to see the gallery as people are adding more and more photos to the group.

Walking to Union Station in Portland, OR.

Group photos before boarding…

Traveling on the train along the Columbia River

Late night hacking..

Late at night… leg streching

Breakfast on the train

Stopped in Wisconsin

Hacking on the train…

More hacking on the train…

The Mac shot…

Arrived at Union Station in Chicago, IL.

A video is coming soon too!

Snakes on a Train

Robby Russell — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:39:00 -0500

First of all, thank you Allison for keeping people updated for the past few days as the sixteen of us traveled across the country together. We made new friends and enemies over those two days and we’re already talking about RubyConf and next year. :-)

Yesterday…. Allison posted that we arrived in Chicago. We are all at the conference hotel now and last night we had the world famous Giordano’s pizza. Then we headed downtown to a few clubs (several of the argon express passengers came). I just woke up from the best sleep since Portland as I didn’t have to try to sleep in an awkward position on a train seat.

I also updated the Flickr group for the Argon Express. Hopefully the others who joined us will be posting photos to the group. :-)

The Argon Express Has Arrived!

allison@planetargon.com (Allison Beckwith) — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:50:00 -0500

Hello Chicago!

I just got a message from Robby announcing their arrival in the windy city. I’d advise that anyone eager to catch up with the Argon Express passengers stay away until they have all showered. 40-some hours on a crowded train? No thanks! :P

Hope you all had fun on the train, be sure to add your photos to the Argon Express group photo pool.

The Argon Express: St. Paul, Minnesota

allison@planetargon.com (Allison Beckwith) — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:44:00 -0500

I got another update from the Argon Express this morning during a stop in St. Paul Minnesota. Here are some of Robby’s thoughts from the train.

We just left the Amtrak station in St. Paul, Minnesota and we can now see the Mississippi to the right of the train. Sleeping on the train has been one of the biggest challenges and Josh and Alain snuck into sleeper cars last night.
People have been commenting how they haven’t seen so many laptops on a train before.
Montana is really huge.
We’ve had good luck with the power and have power strips running in two areas of the train so nobody has run out of battery life.
We’re going to try and post more pictures to the groups in the next day as we have more internet access.

Robby did seem to find a moment to post some more photos. Be sure to keep checking the PLANET ARGON Argon Express photoset for more updates.

I just caught Robby online, and asked if anyone is working on any interesting projects… here is what I gathered:

Chris Anderson is working on a version of Asset Compiler for audio files with the help of Jeremy Voorhis.
Trevor and Mark are working on something and did a lot of swearing about has_many through but… not sure what
Steven and David are working on rspec for rails
Other than that… not sure what people are up to… personal projects and client work

And lastly, here is a portion of a blog post Robby was working on yesterday. He asked me to share it with you:

Sitting in my seat on the Argon Express and been looking out the window for most of the day. Brian is reading my latest copy of Scientific American Mind and I’ve been reading, Wherever you go there you are. Jeremy Voorhis is reading the Betrand Russell book I brought and is in front of us and Jeremy Hubert just took his shoes off and is watching The Pink Panther. Josh Knowles got the internet up for a few minutes… long enough for me to see the last post by Allison. I predict we’ll have very limited internet for the rest of the day, which is just fine with me.

The train is quite relaxing and we stayed up really late last night, which took its toll on my energy level for the day. Sleeping on a train is not as easy as one would think.

Woke up this morning to some awesome scenery in western Montana, which I will try to upload in the near future.

As far as development projects, Chris Anderson and Jeremy Voorhis stayed up pretty late working on a variation of asset compiler for audio files… should be interesting to hear about that.

The Argon Express: Whitefish, Montana

allison@planetargon.com (Allison Beckwith) — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:05:00 -0500

I was only able to catch a short conversation with Robby this morning as the train was preparing to depart Whitefish, Montana. They should be rolling along the southern edge of Glacier National Park soon. I didn’t get much of an update on what the guys have been up to on the train, but I will keep you posted as I get more information.

It’s been just about 16 hours since the bulk of the group left Portland. Be sure to check out our Argon Express photoset and the Argon Express group photo pool for hot rails on rails action.

We're moving...

Robby Russell — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:58:00 -0500

We just left the Union Station in Portland, Oregon… we’re on the train… and thanks to Josh Knowles… we have INTERNET!

Stop by #theargonexpress and say hey to the passengers. :-)

Dear David and Allison,

THANK YOU!

Guest Blogger: Allison Beckwith

Robby Russell — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:35:00 -0500

For the next two days, I will have a guest blogger to post updates from the Argon Express. This guest blogger has been known to hang out in #planetargon as allisbe and is the Creative Director at PLANET ARGON.

Some of the passengers should be getting into Portland this afternoon and we leave in less than 4 hours!

All aboard the Argon Express in just three days

Robby Russell — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:51:00 -0500

On Monday, a handful of PLANET ARGON developers will be catching the Amtrak Empire Builder in Portland, Oregon and riding the train almost across the entire country to Chicago, Illinois.

Here is the current roster of Rails enthusiasts who are taking The Argon Express to RailsConf!

This should be pretty fun… and I’ll try to take a ton of photos and share any interesting stories from the trip.

I expect to do a lot of reading, writing in my personal journal, talking shop with many of these people, and enjoying the sights. :-)

Catching a train to RailsConf

Robby Russell — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:04:00 -0500

We’re finally getting our confirmations for who is coming to RailsConf with the team at PLANET ARGON via the ~~peace train~~ Argon Express. We’re departing Portland, Oregon on June 19th… the names of people who confirm are being added to the site.

...this should be fun… and you can still join us if you act soon!

Last Call for The Argon Express

Robby Russell — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 13:45:00 -0600

Okay, we need a few more people to get our big group discount for The Argon Express!

Spend two whole days on a train riding from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois.

...we’re talking… only $107.20 for each coach seat! (one-way… we’re flying back)

You have less than a week to decide!

Email us at argonexpress@planetargon.com!

HURRY!

:-)

The Argon Express!

Robby Russell — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:34:00 -0600

WOW! The Rails community is awesome. Last week, I finally got a chance to get a web site up for The Argon Express and the response has been phenomenal. We have people from Canada, California, North Dakota, Washington, and Idaho… all interested in joining us in Portland, Oregon… or hoping the train somewhere in between here and Chicago.

There are currently about 25 people involved in the project!

A few logistical problems have come up… that we’re working on.

Seems Amtrak doesn’t have as many outlets as we’d like… so we might have to get Rooms so we can have charging stations for our laptop batteries! heh
How many geeks can fit on a train… and will they kick us off?
Does Wifi work through train cars very well? (likely going to setup our own private wifi lan)
Who is bringing the shuttle server for hosting a SVN repository and webserver for playing with?
Will RailsConf give us a special discount as a group. ANSWER: YES We got a discount! ;-)
Will we trip the circuits on Amtrak if we run power stips and extension cords? heh
Can we find sponsors to help cover the costs for these recharging station rooms? (gets expensive for private rooms)

... if you’re interested in giving us some good ideas… and even if you can’t join us on the trip…but want to help promote it and plan it, please contact me via the email link on theargonexpress.com to join the basecamp project. :-)

UPDATES

DHH blogged about us on the Rails weblog

Chad Fowler mentioned us on the RailsConf blog!

The PA team is signed up for RailsConf!

:-D