Finding people who do stuff instead of just talk about it

Over the last few months, I've been more and more interested in tinkering with things, building stuff just for the hell of it, and making my life more efficient. Most of the time when I talk about my projects to the people I work with (like my current solar powered Mac mini project), I get an odd look and then the inevitable, "but why?". Why is it so hard to find people that like to build shit just for the experience of learning something?

I follow a ton of blogs, news, and other random feeds, and I just don't hear that much about things going on in Denver. But, after a little searching, I managed to find a few things. First was an Autonomous Vehicle Competition put on by Spark Fun Electronics in Boulder:



It took place on a Thursday, so I had to dip out of work for a bit, but it was well worth it. There were a ton of people all interested in building things, how stuff works, and sharing their ideas about stuff. I talked to a few people, and because I was Twittering the event, I had five new Boulder area Makers following me on Twitter by the time I got back to the office. It's nice to have a few friends on Twitter, that you know IRL BTW.

I left that event inspired, and really ready for more. And, as luck would have it, the first Denver area maker meet up was scheduled on April, 23. I found out about this on the Make blog. This was in the evening, so I rode down there and checked it out. John Maushammer was the guest speaker, and he gave an excellent presentation on his home made pong watch:



My jaw was literally on the floor listening to this guy. He's definitely a top notch maker.

I was able to meet a few more people, and I realized that some of the people at the Sparkfun event were here too. I'm pretty excited about meeting new people, and learning as much as I can.