SXSW Interactive 2008

I’m getting final stuff prepped to take off for SXSW Interactive 2008 in Austin, Texas tomorrow. I’m going with three of my design team co-workers; one from here in Indianapolis and two from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

We’re staying in the Courtyard Marriott right next to the Austin Convention Center, so we’re in the heart of everything, which is pretty keen.

I went to the city-county building this morning and voted absentee for Carson for the special election next week, since I won’t be back until late Tuesday.

Attending this event last year was a huge learning experience for me when it came to site design work on the job. Over the last year I’ve had the chance to create some designs that I’m really happy with based on some design principles that I learned last year, so I’m excited to be able to go again and see what new things I pick up.

Ironworks BBQ

Photoset of SXSW Interactive 2007

Continue ReadingSXSW Interactive 2008

SXSWi 2008

I’m going to SXSWi this year. Yay! The trick is, though, that we have a big corporate conference in Boston March 2-4th, and then I’m leaving for Austin on March 6th – March 11th. So I’ll be home one day in between two trips. Fortunately, Boston will still probably be cold; Austin will be warm. So different sets of clothes, and hopefully, not much laundry on the one day off.

This will be quite the interesting travel week.

Continue ReadingSXSWi 2008

A Cloud of Bats in Austin

Austin is home to the world’s largest urban bat colony; they live under the Congress Street Bridge, where the unique construction of the bridge lends itself to being a great shelter for them. In the summer, the bridge is home to over 1.5 million bats, and at dusk they leave the bridge to fly off down the river to feed. Watching the bats is a huge tourist attraction in Austin, and the bridge is right next to our hotel, so we walked down to hang out and watch them fly off. I took several videos of them.

Continue ReadingA Cloud of Bats in Austin