People have been asking me about the camping arrangements for PHP Appalachia, so here's the deal, if you're interested.

In order for us to formally reserve camp sites or cabins, we would have to provide upfront the full deposit on the cabins and one night's fee for the tent sites. Not only do we not have the cash to front that, quite honestly I'm not sure how many of our attendees will want to camp versus making other arrangements (how many people can think that far ahead? :) )... thus making it difficult to reserve anything formally at this time.

However, what we've worked out with the Pigeon Forge KOA is that you can call and make your own reservations for whatever you want (camp site versus tent site) and mention that you're with the PHP Appalachia group. They'll do their best to keep us all together as a group.

Although they're completely open right now, the sooner you make arrangements, the better chances you have of getting a reservation and being put with the rest of the group.

To make your reservation, you can call the Pigeon Forge KOA at (800) 562-7703. Incidentally, at the moment, if you try and reserve online it erroneously says that they're all booked up, so you'll have to call.

At our giftsforengineers.com site, we use ZenCart for the front end, but 100% of our backend was written by me. In the course of working through some personnel changes here, it's forced me to take on additional responsibilities which have also caused me to take a closer look at my own code. The majority of my code was written some 6 years ago, with some additional modules added on as needed as the years went by. It's clear to me that our whole system could use some major reworking, if not a complete rewrite.

I know how I personally tackle a project like this but I am looking for helpful resources and some different perspectives before I jump in. I considered purchasing Martin Fowler's "Refactoring" book, and I already have "Code Complete" -- but I'm really looking for new-ish articles from other people. I think my database is fine, so I don't see this as an issue... what I'm really looking for are good articles on refactoring code. I've googled and found a few things, but I'd like to get an opinion from the peanut gallery. Feel free to comment here, or you can send me a tweet to @ElizabethN.

After a bit of a PHP Appalachia feeding frenzy earlier, all rooms have now been accounted for. However, if you still want to attend, there are a few things you can do:

1. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and request to be put on the waiting list for any rooms that might open up. If you are unable to attend, you will of course get your money back.
2. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and reserve a spot at the nearby KOA (http://koa.com/where/tn/42109/) to stay in a tent or a cabin. They are currently closed for the season but will reopen next week. We will be confirming large group availability then, but you are able to reserve individual cabins now.
3. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and make other arrangements for accommodations at a nearby hotel of your choosing.

Keep in mind that we will be limiting the number of attendees at the conference to 50. We still have spots open, but unfortunately I don’t know how long they will last. Of course if you register and then need to cancel, you will get your $15 back… so you should register now and at least reserve your spot.

[cross-posted on phpappalachia.org]

We have only 2 rooms left! So if you’re interested in staying at the lodge, you need to contact me (elizabeth _-at-_ naramore _-dot-_ net) as soon as possible.

We are also coordinating a group at a nearby KOA if you’d rather camp or if you need a less expensive alternative. There will be a lot of coordination between the two groups, so everyone can appreciate the full unconference experience.

As well, we have developed cost-effective sponsorship packages, so if your company is interested in sponsoring the event, let us know.

[cross-posted at phpappalachia.org]

I've started updating the PHP Appalachia site (http://www.phpappalachia.org) with more details on our 2008 un-conference.

It's important to note that we've changed the date to October 11-14, 2008.

We have 6 rooms left in the lodge, so if you want to reserve one, you need to act quickly.

If you'd prefer to stay somewhere else you can still register for the conference; registration is only $15 to cover the cost of incidentals. Your registration fee includes an official PHP appalachia t-shirt.

Check out http://www.phpappalachia.org for more details.