So apparently Austin is on the other side of the world. It takes 20+ hours to get there from California. I am right now sitting in the Denver airport, watching the time of my flight to Austin get moved later and later. This is shaping up to be one of my worst traveling experiences ever. After getting up at 4 am for my 6 am flight, we found out the flight was cancelled due to fog, and there are no other free flights for several days, since it’s Spring Break. (Damn students.) My only option is to drive myself 3 hours over the mountains to Redding. I got there shortly after dawn. Then I set off for San Francisco without much of a hitch. San Fran to Denver wasn’t bad; I got about an hour of sleep on the plane. But then in Denver all hell breaks loose. The plane was supposed to come from Minneapolis where apparently there is a big snow storm. The plane got diverted to Duluth to refuel, and then is supposed to go to Minneapolis and then here. Of course, by the time they get here they will be at least 3 hours late and the crew won’t be able to legally fly anymore, and we’ll have to wait while they change crews. So I’m hoping to get to SXSW by the opening session tomorrow at 2 pm. Wish me luck. Jess is picking me up at the airport so I don’t have to deal with the rental car in the middle of the night, which will be a lifesaver. I sure hope all this is worth it…

OK, it was worth it. I had some reservations about going, and then some trouble getting there, and I had a bad cold the whole time, but SXSW was definitely worth the trouble. I have heard mixed reviews about the panels, but for me there were a couple of gems that alone would have made the trip worthwhile. Jason Fried’s “How to Make Big Things Happen With Small Teams” was excellent, and more than enough to make the boss happy for sending me. Curt Cloninger’s “How to Hotwire the Creative Process” was also very interesting, and I’ll be taking some tidbits from that back to the group. And Jeffrey Veen really set my pants on fire. Eric Meyer’s Emergent Semantics sparked some thoughts I’ll probably get into more later, and Design Eye for the Idea Guy was a lot of fun. Panels where I learned no new content were still valuable for learning process, and for getting a little live look into the brains of the people whose work I know. But, as everyone else is saying, it was not about the panels. SXSW was really just a big giant lovefest, and I’m all about the love, baby. (I’m also all about the beer, but that’s another story…) People were warm, friendly, and willing to talk; as jazzed as I was to be in a room full of people with like minds. The air was electric with creativity and talent. The sub-text of conference— the panels as well as the hallway and bars— was “it’s all about the people”. This conference was definitely more personal than any other I’ve been to, and it’s nice that the overall vibe was one of inclusion. Compared to an academic conference, there was much less ego involved. So, I got the shot in arm that I needed, and I’m definatley hooked. I’ll be there next year, hope you will too. Oh, and I’m pissed that Jeremy Keith stole my title.

I just picked up the book this weekend, and I found myself trying to explain to my husband why I pretty much wanted to curl up with it and read all weekend. Is has been pouring, as it does during winter in the temperate rainforest, and coffee and a good book seem like the ideal way to pass the time. Plus, this book lets me hold on the SXSW vibe a bit longer (“I met him, and got a couple of big smiles” and “I absolutely heart him, what a sweet guy”). Anyway, I started explaining to him what the CSS Zen Garden is and its significance to web design. He was having trouble understanding the relationship between the HTML and CSS in the project, so I actually had this converstation: “The HTML is like the DNA— it is static, the same for every design. The CSS is like the regulator genes; changing CSS rules affects the phenotypic expression of the HTML.” “Oh, now I get it!” An example for those of you reading who aren’t biology geeks: The difference (genetically) between male and female humans is that females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y chromosome. Two people can have the exact same DNA throughout their entire genome (unlikely, but possible) except for one having two X chromosomes and one have one of the same X chromosomes plus a Y chromosome. These two people will look completely different, be different genders, and potentially have completely different medical histories, all because of what’s on the Y chromosome. The cool part is that all that’s on the Y chromosome is regulator genes— genes that turn on and off the expression of DNA that’s already present in the rest of the genome. In this case, the regulator genes affect the DNA that codes for physical traits, sexual organs, hormonal levels, etc. And you end up getting something that functions like a male instead of a female. So basically, the Y chromosome overrides the default styles of the X chromosome, and you end up with a 3 column fixed layout with pixel fonts instead of a two column liquid layout with more organic typography. Or something like that.

Apparently he’s been there all along…

Do they realize how hard it is for a girl that grew up in the ’80s to walk into work in a suit and prepare for a meeting with the assistant dean right after hearing the Violent Femmes on the drive in? I had no choice but to be singing along at the top of my lungs, driving too fast, and causing pre-coffee adrenaline to spill into my bloodstream. I got to work wanting to yell obscenities, smash a few things, and tell all the establishment sell-outs how they just don’t get it. I think I deserve special props for having a nice, civilized meeting with the assistant dean, and for being able to somehow convince myself that, despite the suit and the nice, civilized meeting, I am not one of those establishment sell-outs. I will wait patiently for my lunch hour before smashing things.