I have been sent by the sugardaddy (current employer) to the Software Development West conference (great idea! my productivity will really improve... after this vacation (: ). The conference is pretty good, if underrepresented by the dynamic languages community. There was that "Learn Perl" tutorial by Randal Schwartz, but no thanks, that part of my brain is occupied (by something better).
I ended up signing up for some good (stop laughing!) c++ tracks and some design patterns stuff. I actually believe in good c++ programming. Seeing is believeing - check out the work done by the boost guys. The problem is that to get there without being completely turned off by some of the language's baroque features is a long road, and few end up making it.