Go West, Young Man
Back in September, as soon as SXSW tickets went on sale, I purchased one. I didn't wait for the okay at work. I didn't check my calendar. See, every year for the past three or four years, I've been dying to go but for some reason never made it. This year I finally made sure that I wasn't going to be denied.
I've been to Austin plenty of times (since my wife's family lives there) so I know the city a bit, but I'm pretty clueless about SXSW. I guess you could say my expectations are pretty high from all the press this event gets, so we'll see how it goes. Here's what I'm hoping for.
Learning
Although I've heard from plenty of people that the panels are much to be desired, I still think I'll be able to get a lot out of them. I've been to a few conferences in the past, but they dealt more with marketing and SEO bullshit rather than design and development. The panels at this years SXSW, from the descriptions, look pretty promising.
Meeting
I've been in contact with a lot of designers and developers over the years, but haven't actually met many. I'm looking forward to getting out behind Twitter and shaking hands with the people in this community.
Eating
I already know about the food. I'm a connoisseur of fine BBQ and you won't find any better than in Austin. Probably won't get a chance to hit The Salt Lick since it's quite a hike, but I'm hoping to go to Rudy's. And I've never tried Ironworks, so I hoping to give that a spin. What I'm really craving, though, is the Mexican. My plan is to get some tacos immediately after touching down.
Drinking
I've been on antibiotics to cure a nasty sinus infection so I haven't been able to even touch a beer for a couple weeks now. Needless to say, I'll be ready to throw a few cold ones back. I always hear about The Ginger Man, so that's one of the places that's on my list.
My main goal is to meet as many people out there as possible, so please feel free to contact me via Twitter. See ya'll there... Can't wait!