SXSW Day 0

What a whirlwind of a day that was. The Friday was just registration which left plenty of time for socializing. The day started off at noon going to the convention centre and lining up for "the badge". The badge is your ticket in to everything but also a great way for others to know who you are (and to know who others are). After that, I hooked up with Matthew Oliphant, Mike Rundle, Anton Peck and Will Pate for lunch. Turns out these guys are pretty funny in person.

After lunch, I headed off to the Texas State Capitol to go on a tour with Carl Camera and Robert Nyman along with his friend Daniel (I sure hope I heard your name right). Carl has a connection on the inside and we got to see some fabulous stuff. I'm going to post some pictures as soon as possible. There was so much history and some cool stories along the way. Thanks to Rod, our unofficial tour guide. This was definitely a highlight of my trip so far!

I walked back to the hotel and got changed. It was a hot day in Austin and the evening was still to come. I knew there was to be a billiards party around 8:00 with Bryan Veloso and some other members of 9rules. Before that I hooked up with Erik Sagan, Eric Shepherd, and Dave Seah (the other Dave). Erik is a riot. Did you know he works as a janitor? (that'll be on the quiz). And Dave is super organized. And Eric was pretty cool, too. We headed out on our way to the bar but stopped in for a bite to eat first. While munching away, Jakob (who's name I kept forgetting all night, sorry!) hooked up with us.

Then it was on to the bar...which, as it turns out was closed for a private party later that evening. Crap. While standing there wondering what to do next, a disheveled man came up and said "Hey, Snook!" Turns out, wearing your badge as a way for people to recognize you is a great way for the homeless to hit you up for money. After that amusing incident and putting away my badge for later, we headed back to the Hilton to wait for others and figure out our plans for the evening.

Carl and Robert to the rescue. They knew of some web-standardistas that were going to be at a club called the Ginger Man. So we began our trek once again.

Okay, by this time, my legs were killing me... I'd been up and down hills, up and down an umpteen sets of stairs and walking down 6th St. a few times. Anyways, here we go for another five block walk.

Turns out, this place has a lineup. Go figure. While waiting in line, however, we run into Jon Hicks and Alan (who reminded me of Alan Rickman but wasn't sure I should mention that). Then I felt like a kid when I saw Jason Santa Maria, Shaun Inman, and who I'm pretty sure was Khoi Vinh. Of course, being the shy guy that I am, I didn't really introduce myself. Getting inside, I took off all pretense and started introducing myself to whoever I could.

(I know I'm going to forget some people here...damnit)

First Molly (heh, ball of energy), and Andy Clarke (who has a cool aire about him). There was Stuart Colville, Matt May, Andy Budd, Richard Rutter, actually introduced myself to Jason Santa Maria (and did this really poor thing to Nyman by not introducing him, too. I do this to my wife all the time. Okay, introductions aren't my thing.), Veerle and Geert. Veerle is sweet. Super talented but humble about it. Too bad I can't quite pronounce her name right. Oh man, I know there were more. I also didn't take many pictures once we got inside. That's a shame.

Okay, well, it's Saturday morning and the first presentation starts in 45 minutes. Time to take the walk down to the convention centre.