Some of you may have met Brad way, way back during the 1st or 2nd
Tulsa.rb meeting at Tim's office.  Brad also braved the arriving ice
to attend the last Hack Day in December 2007 where he showed off his
new book "Advanced Rails".  In addition to writing a great book, Brad
also gave a shout-out to our own fearless leader Tim.  If you are
wanting to take the next step in Rails/Ruby programming I recommend
you purchase the book and help support a Tulsa.rb Member!

I don't know what pull Brad has but even the local Tulsa Barnes &
Noble on 71st carries his book which with their selection of anything
programming is a minor miracle.  I took a picture last time I was
there:
http://tulsarb.googlegroups.com/web/2.jpg?gda=pfXwJjYAAABJEMNorMuhisF...

You can find out more about Brad on his blog @ http://www.bradediger.com/blog/

Brad V.

P.S. Here is the description of the book from Amazon:
Ready to go to the next level with Rails? From examining the parts of
Ruby that make this framework possible to deploying large Rails
applications, Advanced Rails offers you an in-depth look at techniques
for dealing with databases, security, performance, web services and
much more. Chapters in this book help you understand not only the
tricks and techniques used within the Rails framework itself, but also
how to make use of ideas borrowed from other programming paradigms.
Advanced Rails pays particular attention to building applications that
scale -- whether "scale" means handling more users, or working with a
bigger and more complex database. You'll find plenty of examples and
code samples that explain: Aspects of Ruby that are often confusing or
misunderstood Metaprogramming How to develop Rails plug-ins Different
database management systems Advanced database features, including
triggers, rules, and stored procedures How to connect to multiple
databases When to use the Active Support library for generic, reusable
functions Security principles for web application design, and security
issues endemic to the Web When and when not to optimize performance
Why version control and issue tracking systems are essential to any
large or long-lived Rails project Advanced Rails also gives you a look
at REST for developing web services, ways to incorporate and extend
Rails, how to use internationalization, and many other topics. If
you're just starting out with rails, or merely experimenting with the
framework, this book is not for you. But if you want to improve your
skills with Rails through advanced techniques, this book is essential.

About the Author
Brad Ediger is the CTO of Tasman Labs, a real-estate technology
company. Together with his wife Kristen, a web designer, Brad owns
Madriska Media Group, a firm specializing in custom application
development. When not programming, Brad enjoys playing various musical
instruments and watching obscure films.

On Feb 15, 2008, at 11:11 AM, Brad aka iBspoof wrote:

Thanks for the nice words Brad! (And thanks for the blog mention,  
Tim.) My editor tells me that Amazon reviews are one of the most  
expedient ways to drive sales, and he doesn't mind me shilling, so if  
any of you read the book and like it (or have constructive criticism,  
of course), please think about writing a review. The book has been  
doing well -- it has been hanging out in the #4,000 to 7,000 range for  
overall sales (rank) of all books on Amazon yesterday and today, and  
it actually peaked at #3,517 yesterday.

Many of you may know James Edward Gray II from the OK.rb group and  
(formerly of) Ruby Quiz; he was of great help during the writing of  
the book, and was a primary technical reviewer. Thanks James!

Well, I have O'Reilly's marketing department to thank for that one.  
Say what you will about traditional book publishers, but I felt very  
privileged to have this one published by O'Reilly; they have a number  
of people who just get stuff done.

Brad