I enjoyed Erudil's The day I met Larry Wall anecdote.
Apparently, Larry used to work with a Steve Jenkins at NASA JPL and naturally
assumed the Steve Jenkins on the YAPC list of attendees (i.e. Erudil) -- also listed as working in the aerospace industry! --
was his long lost work buddy ... so when they met at the lunch table Larry was shocked ...
and bewildered poor Erudil with an unexpected greeting "You're not the Steve Jenkins I was expecting"! :)
Which reminds me, I have an Eating Lunch with Larry anecdote too.
I've only ever been to one Perl conference (OSDC Sydney 2008),
and experienced a moment of terrifying beauty when I found myself,
by chance, sitting right next to Larry at the lunch table!
Not sure how that happened, maybe others were paying more attention and
took care not to sit right next to him. As you might expect, I was terrified,
which Larry seemed to notice ... and as soon as he learnt I was a physics nut,
he deftly swapped chairs with his son (who was studying post graduate physics at the time)
so we could talk physics together!
Based on that brief lunchtime encounter, my impression is that Larry is
both a gentleman and a gentle man, very family oriented.
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Heh .. I've told this story before, but I met Larry at the Montreal YAPC::NA. I was sitting with Mike Stok during lunch, and Larry was sitting with two guys at the next table. The two guys got up and left, and Larry was just sitting by himself, content, and I thought, Hmm, well .. maybe I'll .. go over and talk to him.
Anyway, instead of spending the next twenty minutes thinking about it (typical neurodivergent behaviour), I just went over and started a conversation. You might think a guy who'd created a whole programming language might have a little attitude, but nope -- wonderful guy, very mellow. It was delightful to chat with him, and, of course, to thank him for creating such a cool language. Good times. :)
Oh, also, I remember Larry telling that story .. "You're not the Steve Jenkins I was expected." -- hilarious, with a sort of absent-minded professor kind of vibe. So Larry.
Alex / talexb / Toronto
Thanks PJ. We owe you so much. Groklaw -- RIP -- 2003 to 2013.
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