Today marks the start of TechEd 2004 here in San Diego. The temperature outside, unfortunately, is in the mid-60s all week. I usually wouldn't mind, but I hyped up San Diego so much in an earlier post that an out-of-towner who read that entry might feel a bit let down. Sadly I was unable to make it down to the Convention Center before noon - had some work I needed to get done that ended up taking a spot longer than I had anticipated. And once I wrap up this blog entry I'm going to be packing it up and heading back home, as I have a class to teach tonight.
Got some pictures of the Convention Center and Cabana areas, and will be posting them later. The Cabana areas are a nice venue - plush couches, XBoxes, Microsoft employees eager to talk with customers... much more intimate than the conference tracks that seat hundreds of attendees.
The Exhibitor Hall is also equally as impressive. Oodles of vendors hawking their wares using a variety of techniques. The most entertaining pitches are the companies that use magicians. It's hard to walk ten feet without being handed a slew of gizmos, brouchers, widgets, and business cards.
It's a drag that I've got to teach on Monday and Wednesday nights, since the events I'm most interested in attending happen in the evenings (the BOFs, smaller classes, etc.). It's nice to have a conference like this in your own back yard and all, but the downside is that you don't get to enjoy the after hours events nearly as much, since you have the work, family, and responsibilities that the other attendees got to leave behind for a week.
Oh well, best be making my way back home, I'll post some photos tomorrow.