Etta reluctantly dropped me off at the airport this morning, it was really hard to say goodbye, it's the first time in months that we'll be apart for more than a day or two. After this I don't think I'll be taking any more than day trips without her. It's not nearly as much fun.

I spent the next six hours folded into tiny airline seats before emerging into Austin's amazing sunshine and 70 degree weather. I got over to the hotel, checked in and caught a cab downtown. I waited in line to get in line for the escalator, waited at the top of the escalator to register for my badge, waited to pick up my badge and then waited to pick up the guide. The one positive was it gave everyone something to talk about. I probably had three or four of the "how bad was badge pick-up User Experience?" conversations.

Eventually I made my way over to the bar where BarCampAustin is being held. The $2 Shiner Bock's when a long way toward forgetting the waiting. I met up with a bunch of Drupal people there. The highlight was seeing the innards of That Other Paper, Austin's alternative weekly to the Chronicle (it's the Mercury to Portland's Willy Week). I've got a huge hard on for the custom ad module they wrote. Over the next few days I'm going to be pestering them to open source it.

I feel like my networking has been going pretty well. After meeting up with the Drupal-ites we went and got some Thai food then grabbed a drink at a place called The Ginger Man. I had some amazing local beers from the Live Oak Brewing company.

And now I'm sitting back in the hotel room wondering why I'm up at 2am, local time, writing a blog post. I should be sleeping.