Tonight's fire alarm was, indeed, genuine – not at all staged. Someone on the third floor was demonstrating a cooking technique, and apparently the smoke detector didn't like it. At first, I was a little concerned about the incident, as everybody had to shuffle outside the building and onto the sidewalk. But after walking through the doors and into a sea of geeks, I noticed that nobody's expression had changed. Here was something new to talk about, here was a new friend to make. Amazing. Simply amazing. I'm so proud of this year's Gnomedexers (utterly); you're redefining what a conference could and should be.