This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka "The Guy with the Red Tie"), Founder of GarysGuide, Mentor at ER Accelerator and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

An Ode To Code

Coding can be fun. Coding can be hard. Coding can be intense. Coding can be stimulating.

Coding is language. Coding is art. Coding is science. Coding is communication.

Coding pays the bills. Coding helps build dreams. Coding disrupts industries. Coding transforms experiences.

Coding is the future.

Coding changes the world.

Wanna code?

And now, lets see whats going down in the sweet, sweet world of tech this week...

NJ Tech Meetup 20
Featured Speaker: Joy Marcus, Venture Partner, DFJ Gotham Ventures, previously US GM of DailyMotion.
Monday, 7 p.m. @ Babbio Center, Stevens Institute Of Technology, Hoboken

iOS Designers Meetup/Drinks
The unofficial meetup coinciding with Apple's iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour.
Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. @ Solas, 232 E 9th Street

TechStars NYC Spring Program Happy Hour
The final deadline to apply to the next Techstars class is fast approaching (Jan 23). So don't miss the oppty to pick up any last minute pointers on how to make ur application techstars-worthy!
Wednesday, 7 p.m. @ Central Bar, 109 E 9th Street

NYC Gaming Meetup
Presenting will be Mo Lam (TwoChop's new platform), David Weinfeld (Screach Interactive), Jeb Balise (Crosswords by PuzzleSocial), Jason Costa (Race Condition), Alberto Escarlate (WeTopia), Jeff Hsu (Catball Eats It All), Johannes Krämer (The Elf Advent(ure) Calendar) and Kevin Harper (Baby Dance Off).
Wednesday, 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

Silicon Alley Startup Battlefield Series 12
Pitches, pitches and mo' pitches! VC Panel includes Jeanne M Sullivan (General Partner, StarVest Partners), Shai Goldman (Partner, Silicon Valley Bank), Peg Jackson (Managing Director, Gridley & Company) and Somak Chattopadhyay (Partner, Tribecca Venture Partners). 15-minute pitches include Andrew Cohen (Founder & CEO, Brainscape), Stuart Wall (Co-Founder & CEO, Signpost), Sonia Sahney Nagar (Co-Founder & CEO, Smarketplaces) and Jonathan Weinberg (Founder & CEO, Autoslash).
Thursday, 6 p.m. @ Chadbourne & Parke LLP, 30 Rockefeller Plaza 36th Floor

Ultralight Startups: Investor Feedback Forum and Pitch Showdown
Graham Lawlor is back with the first edition of the popular Ultralight series in 2012. Panelists include Gil Beyda (Founder & Managing Partner, Genacast Ventures), Art Chang (Founder, Tipping Point Partners), Micah Rosenbloom (Founder Partner, Founder Collective) and Mark Wachen (Managing Partner, DreamIt Ventures). Startup Pitching are Alison Anthoine (Paperlex), Francisco Prat (LifeWellth), Viktor Marohnic (ShoutEm), Crowley Tom (Enthusiast Nation), Oladapo Ajayi (AppsBidder), Jeff Thomson (Prodideo.com), Max Belenitsky (Text A Cab) and Joana Anker (Little Compass).
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Ave 6th floor

TechAviv NY Jan 2012 Meetup
Presenting will be Tal Chalozin (Founder & CTO, Innovid), Corey Anker (Founder & VP Marketing, LittleCompass) and Shana Schlossberg, Founder & CEO, EZBZ).
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. @ Nixon Peabody, 437 Madison Avenue

iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011
Apple and iOS5 come to town!
Friday, 5:30 p.m. @ Millenium Broadway, 145 W 44th St

More on the horizon...

Women Entrepreneurs Festival on Jan 18 @ NYU Tisch School of the Arts
New York TEDx Community Happy Hour on Jan 18
Database Month! 10gen CTO Eliot Horowitz, MongoDB: Scalable & Agile Document DB on Jan 19 @ Pivotal Labs
Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) Reception sponsored by EveryScreen Media on Jan 19 @ EveryScreen Media
SXSW Interactive NYC Community Meet Up on Jan 23 @ Drom

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)