Image: Barcamp Boston 8
Barcamp Boston 8 took place on the weekend of October 26th at the MIT Stata Center.
It's a great event, where attendees plan and present the sessions. It's fun and everyone helps out.
Image: Stata Center
I arrived early on Day 1.
After picking up my name badge I looked for some coffee. There wasn't any around.
No Muffins For You!
I did see a table full of Costco muffins. They were all lined up on the table in sealed packages.
Image: Sealed and Packaged Costco muffins
Someone was standing in front of the table, blocking access to the muffins.
"Can I get a muffin?" I inquired.
"No." was the muffin man's response.
"You can't have any muffins."
"Why?" I wondered.
The muffin man responded, "If we opened up the muffins, then people would come over here and ask where is the coffee? But there is no coffee here yet, so we can't open the muffins. The coffee is on the way."
"They told me that no one can have a muffin until the coffee arrives."
This seemed strange to me.
A crowd was gathering at the perimeter of the muffin table, but warily staying away from the area.
What's the muffin penalty?
I thought about Chris Guillebeau, who told a story at the recent World Domination Summit. He said that he wanted to use a space in the city for an event. If I remember correctly he couldn't get the space, but inquired as to what the penalty would be if he used it anyway. They response was $500.
That got me to thinking. What would be the penalty if I took a muffin? ;-)
I decided against taking a muffin.
My earlier decision not to go to Dunkin' Donuts, for coffee on my way over to Barcamp, was turning out to have been a poor choice.
Leave the area
At that moment, someone walked by with a Starbucks coffee. I knew that there was a Starbucks around the corner, so I decided to take the path of least resistance and leave the scene completely. That's how my dad always handled conflict. He didn't get involved in it. ;-)
So I left the building, and as I walked outside, I took the time to look around and saw a cool mirrored MIT logo.
I walked over and took a photo.
Image: MIT: Stata Center
Ahh. I felt better.
It was chilly out.
I thought about it and decided to go back inside.
A question for the muffin man
I walked over to the muffin man and asked him a question, "What if I want to eat a muffin, but not have coffee?"
Silence...
I thought that was a good question. ;-)
So I asked another, "Who's in charge here?"
The muffin man motioned over towards a table. "Over there," he replied.
So I walked over and saw an old friend Shimon Rura, along with Barcamp 8 organizer Jay Neely.
I said hi and asked if the muffins could be opened prior to the arrival of the coffee.
Simon replied, "Sure, open the muffins."
Open the muffins!
So I went back over to the muffin table, informed the muffin man that the muffins could be opened, and proceeded to open up the packages and yelled, "The muffins are free!"
Image: The muffins are free
People came over. I said "Good morning." They smiled. We chatted. I organized the muffins by variety. I sliced them in half. I keep the table full of muffins. I had fun.
I am the Muffin Man!
Photo: @stevegarfield and breakfast at Day 1 of #bcBOS at @MIT Stata Center. pic.twitter.com/gjA6otxzRK
— BarCamp Boston (@BarCampBoston) October 26, 2013