Here are 16 ways to learn Rails. I came up with this list two years ago before I had a blog. My goal is to flush out each of these items with links over the next few weeks. 1. Read "The Books"

• Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition
• The Rails Way
• Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition

2. Join a Club - Another way to learn Rails is to be around other people who are doing it already. There are many many Ruby and Rails clubs across the globe. If you happen live in Houston, you can join the Houston Ruby Group, which meets once a month. To find a Rails group in your area, try searching on RubyBrigade.org. Or you could start your own...

3. Convert Something 4. Participate in Forums 5. Use IRC 6. Watch "The Videos" 7. Research and Blog About It 8. Take a Class 9. Participate in a Contest - One way to learn fast is to take part in a competition. The Rails Rumble is coming up on September 20th, 2008. Hook up with some other Rails programmers and see what you can create with a 48 hour time window. 10. Work on an Open Source Project 11. Find a Tutorial and Built It 12. Listen to "The Podcasts" 13. Study the Rails Source Code 14. Goto a BarCamp 15. Subscribe to "The RSS Feeds" 16. Dissassemble an Open Source Project

As part of the TipDish project, we needed to use Rmagick to manipulate avatars. I was real sad to see it required 6+ pages of install instructions for OS X. The Windows install is MUCH simpler. I was ready to pay someone to install it for me. But I decided to just plod through the instructions. Luckily I had installed the X Windows software earlier in the year, so that cut down on the install time. It must have taken 2 hours to install. Luckily there was an exciting World Series Game on to ease the pain. I'm still not sure if I have everything configured correctly. The Rails app appears to work now.

When trying to run a Rails application recently I ran into the following error. undefined method gem for main:Object (NoMethodError) To get passed this I had to do this command: gem update --system

The Lone Star state is getting it's own Ruby conference, Lone Star Ruby Conf. This is SOOO close to Houston, I might get to go. Now I wonder if Rails will be covered.

The Houston Ruby and Rails Group meets tomorrow, May 8th at 6PM: Find out more here: http://houston-ror.pbwiki.com/Meetings