I know you'd rather be there in person, but here's the next best thing. Last year, Berkeley did a one-day Ruby on Rails course and put the videos online.

http://radlab.cs.berkeley.edu/wiki/Ruby_on_Rails_1-day_cours...

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4910EFAA8600A920

EDIT: You mentioned getting your questions answered quickly. I'm constantly amazed at the number of smart and responsive people in IRC channels. You might want to give that a shot.