Almost Ready For SXSW...Barely

March 08, 2005 | 8 Comments

Well, fate is making preparations for this year’s trip to SXSW a bit of a pain. I’m working through it and am quite sure it’ll all sort out in the end, but sheesh, could it be any more difficult?

First, my mom left today for permanent residence in Florida. Bye mom, I’ll miss you. Not that I wasn’t unprepared for that, but it’s kept me really busy of late.

Then, whilst printing out my itinerary, I realized I had booked the Omni Southpark instead of the Omni downtown. (I know…) Not the end of the world, but I was really looking forward to being in close proximity to the convention center and (probably more importantly) 6th street. After many Web searches, quite a few minutes on hold, some talking to automated phone systems (I hate that) and a charge of a couple hundred bucks I’ve rearranged my trip so that I’ve got my first five nights at the Hilton. Whew.

But it didn’t stop there! I learned today that my sinuses are still all messed up and that my doctor wants me to go on several long term, stomach upsetting medications. It didn’t even phase him when I mentioned I was heading out of town. 8 pills a day? I think I may wait until I get back to start that. Sure I can’t smell, but I’m not going to spend my whole trip in the bathroom, that’s for sure.

Then to top it all off, St. Helens blows its top and the initial report makes it out like flights are going to be changed and rearranged for a week or more. Turns out that’s baloney, but I bet you can picture the “no f’n way” look on my face when I heard that.

I think it was just the northwest’s salute to my mom on her way out of town!

Ah, well, hopefully tomorrow will bring less turmoil and I can actually get my laundry and all that done. Good thing I’ve been prepared for my panel for quite awhile. And there was some wonder what the rush was…It pays to get that stuff out of the way, believe me.

ANYway, hope to see some of you this weekend. It’s going to be great. And, I know, those of you who can’t make it might gladly put up with some of this stuff. So, in the end, I’m pretty happy and thankful that I will be able to make it.

Filed under: News

Comments

1. Garrett said:

Why do things always seem to go down like that? Don’t worry though, 6th street will make it all seem like a distant memory.

Oh yeah, the panels should be great too. Hope things go a little smoother for you the the rest of the week.

Posted on March 8, 2005 08:16 PM | #

2. Mike said:

Here’s hoping this is the end of that type of luck for you and the actual trip itself is wonderfully enjoyable.

It would be great to join all the amazing people going but alas, I am but a slave to my car payments - for now.

Have a great time. I’m looking forward to reading all about everyones exploits down there.

Posted on March 8, 2005 08:52 PM | #

3. Kevin Tamura said:

Damn Keith, hopefully things smooth out out the rest of the week.

Posted on March 8, 2005 09:03 PM | #

4. Calrion said:

Sheesh, and I thought I had a big week.

I’d love to join you and the others at “South By”, but unfortunately will be stuck in Aus. I’ll just have to grab what bits I can off the web: that’s what it’s good for, right?

Those sinus pills sound horrible; we had a guy at work a while back with sinus problems–�€‰sounded like he always had a cold–, one operation fixed everything and he’s back to normal. I guess everyone’s different though, hopefully those pills will do some good!

Posted on March 8, 2005 11:24 PM | #

5. Calrion said:

Humble apologies for the mess above!

(They’re supposed to be em-dashes.) It looked fine in the preview, I swear.

Posted on March 8, 2005 11:26 PM | #

6. Keith said:

Calrion – No worries. I took care of it.

Thanks everyone for the sympathy. I’m actually fine with it. Got keep positive and I know it’ll be fine, but I appreciate it greatly.

Posted on March 9, 2005 09:04 AM | #

7. Jason said:

I’m heading to SXSW as well and when I booked my hotel I made sure I checked it over 3 or 4 times (I’ll be at the Hilton as well). Actually, I’m still checking my confirmation every now and again.

Posted on March 9, 2005 11:00 AM | #