Kevin’s TechEd Diary – Day 0

Dear TechEd Diary,

It’s the day before TechEd, which leads to my 3rd favorite week of the year (just behind Christmas/New Year and Easter/Holy week).  My flight appears to be on-time. The day here in Minneapolis will be a good one, weather-wise.  It will be nice in Houston, too.  I haven’t packed much yet, but a quick hour of playing today’s game #1: “Which old conference or funny t-shirts best represent who I am?” is going to be playing out very soon.

Last night and early this morning I suffered through all the tweets and Facebook messages from friends in #theKrewe.  These are the folks who arrived a day or two earlier than I could and have already had dinners and parties and (I’m assuming) far too many drinks.  Oh, how I wish I were there already!  But not to worry. I’ll catch up with (and to) them this evening.

Later today I’ll be playing another favorite TechEd travel game: Spot the Geek.  At the gate and on the plane, I’ll notice other funny-or-geeky t-shirts or old conference bags or other tech-logo’d apparel.  And I’ll settle in comfortably, noting, “yes.. these are my people!”  I’d say hello and talk to one of them, but I’m way too introverted for that.  (True!)

I’ll land in Houston later (defying death again), wait for my t-shirt-carrying luggage, and check social media (or just look around) to see if someone else is around that might want to share a taxi downtown.   I’ll check in to my hotel, drop my bags, and if there’s time I’ll head out to the convention center to register and take a few photos.  (Yes, dear TechEd diary, I’ll share them with you.)  This year I’m not taking my Canon or my Sony; relying instead on my new kick-a** Lumia 1020 for all photos and videos.  I even got the camera-grip / spare battery power thing for extra comfort and extra usage.  Rock-n-Roll.

“What’s on the agenda for the evening?”

Tonight is the “Krewe Meet-n-Greet” at the House of Blues.  This leads to playing today’s game #3: “What was your name again?”  I’m horrible with names.  I really do need to work on that.

But more importantly, which t-shirt should I wear to the party?

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Oh.. PS – Happy Mother’s Day.