AU 2008 off to a good start

I arrived at AU late last night. Normally I would have been flying from Roanoke, VA and depending on the airline would have had to go through one of the cities that was having big delays.

When I booked this flight, I had an added choice of American Airlines that I don't have from Roanoke. All the other airlines were going to send me to their hubs further east than Little Rock where I was departing. That seemed really silly to me. Not only does it seem like extra miles, but it's extra time. So, I chose American because their hub is in Dallas and I could fly from Little Rock, AR to Dallas, TX and then from Dallas to Las Vegas. And here I am!

I ended up getting to my room about 12:30-1:00 AM after getting here from the airport and checking in. I was really tired since I'd been up early in the morning and my body clock was still on CST.

In typical fashion, I had some trouble accessing the Internet and had to call support for the modem to be rebooted before I checked my email. What a geek that I couldn't go to bed without doing this. I also needed to email a couple of people and let them know that I made it safely since it was insanely too late to call them.

This morning I went to AU Registration. It's now at the very far end of the conference past where we have meals and everything. Luckily you don't have to go there every day.

I bumped into all sorts of people that I knew constantly on the way to registration and then to the Speaker Ready Room. As soon as I stepped off the elevator I saw Assis Haubert, followed shortly thereafter by Mike Perry, and then CAD Mama herself, Donnia Tabor-Hanson and several Autodesk employees that I have known over the years.

The bags are rather funky this year. I get the idea behind them. They are black with a different color stripe down the middle. They are lots of different designs. Some are solid colors and others (like the one I was given) look like a souvenir from a Blue Man Group concert. I wonder if there will be trading of bags going on during the conference between attendees or if there will end up being one coveted 'style'.

A lot has been done to make things more environmentally friendly at the event from not providing schedules to a cardboard binder for your handouts. I almost threw mine away because I thought it was a cardboard filler for the messenger bag.

I really want to take one of the certification tests, but the times are so limited that there is no way to fit it in.

I'm practicing my presentation this afternoon and helping a client with some questions and then off to the Speaker Social.

I think bedtime will be quite early tonight. Tomorrow is the first of several long and busy days.