I’m settling back into my normal routine after getting back from Penguicon, but thought I’d post a few words about my experience.
First off, the hotel. It was pretty much teh fail. I couldn’t get on wifi at all, which caused me to approach my MythTV presentation much differently than I would have otherwise. Also, my room was directly across from the lounge-side rooms, which meant much merry-making just outside my room while I was trying to get much sleep. I bet the party floor was less noisy. And the AC in my room - it filled my with teh angers! It basically worked when it wanted to, and upped the humidity in the room as well. Oh, and did I mention that I reserved a non-smoking room, but the room smelled otherwise? So yeah. I’ll attend even if it’s at the same hotel next year, but will probably stay at the hotel next door.
Second, my talk on MythTV. There was a bit of scheduling confusion. The program guide, and the official schedule on the wall by the consuite, both had me down for my requested two hours. The single-page handout, the one that everyone planned when they wanted to be where, had me down for one hour. I checked with ops, and was given the go-ahead for two hours. I mentally prepared myself for one hour, anyhow. Good thing, because I polled the room when I started, and the consensus was that everyone had planned to be somewhere else by the time I was supposed to be half-way through. Turnout was better than I expected, considering I was scheduled opposite the charity auction. Maybe 20-30 people overall. I let them know it was my first time presenting anywhere, and was told by at least one person that he couldn’t tell it. Maybe he was being nice 
Finally, on with the con! Overall, it was much better than last year, starting with opening ceremonies. Apparently Wil Wheaton was kidnapped by Dr. Horrible, or had swine flu, or something, but he managed to prepare something for his editor, Andrew, to read in his absence, and it was teh awesome! The rest of the opening ceremonies were excellent as well.
After opening ceremonies, I stuck around for John “Maddog” Hall’s talk on Sustainable Computing. This is the second time I’ve seen Maddog, the first being at the Ohio Linux Fest a few years ago. It was a very interesting talk.
After that, I just walked the con floor until “Midnight Mind Merge.” I didn’t stay long, as I was planning on being up early the next day, but had fun none-the-less.
Saturday started with “Making Fiction Work In Audio.” I learned that I should definitely listen to more podcasts
I followed this panel with a panel titled “Can I Be Your Friend? Bringing Authors and Readers Together,” where that I learned that John Scalzi has a vanity search set up, so that last sentence was just for him
The next panel was “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later,” but didn’t mention universe building much at all. It was still a good time.
Then I attended “Building Community in a Free/Open Source Software Project.” I learned exactly what I need to do with WP-United, so this was probably one of the most directly helpful talks I attended.
From there, I went to “So You Want to Quit Your Day Job?” which was aimed at writers, but was very informative. I also stalked Elizabeth Bear (who’s real name is much longer) to her next panel, which was called “To See a Universe in a Grain of Sand.” This panel was put on by four Sarahs and two Dans, one of whom was an honorary Sarah for the panel. Very entertaining panel.
I then tried to get back into Poolside 1 for “What’s So Funny?!” but it was too crowded, so I headed off to get some grub at the consuite instead. I headed back to Poolside 1 to see “Copywhat? Copyrights! Open Source Licensing in Literature,” but left early to gather my items and then mentally prepare for my talk on MythTV.
While waiting for my timeslot to come up, I was approached by a very pleasant gentleman with questions about MythTV. This helped to calm my nerves immensely. Then I did my thing and enjoyed myself so much that when I got home from the con, I immediately volunteered to present at Ohio Linux Fest this fall. I haven’t heard back yet, but I hope my presentation is approved. I also spent much of the extra hour chatting with a few folks who attended my presentation.
From there, I dropped my equipment at my room and headed back out for a talk on PHP by its creator, Rasmus Lerdorf.
Finally, I finished Saturday with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog live performance. As described elsewhere, the original was great. The live Pengicon version was “Awesome with Awesome Sauce!”
Sunday, I had planned on going to the discussion on National Novel Writing Month. However, my aforementioned noisy hall kept me away way too late to get up early enough for it, and I decided to cut out shortly after I got up mid-morning. So I pretty much skipped the last day of the con, but enjoyed myself greatly.
One last thing - I stopped by the consuite several times, and it was nearly always one of two situations. 1) too crowded to make it in and get some food, or 2) no actual food to be gotten. I did manage to score a sandwich once or twice. I was probably just lucky, though.
edited on May 7 to add: Despite the criticisms above, I wanted to make it absolutely clear that I had a blast. I’ve attended the past two years and plan on attending every year for years to come. Any scheduling snafus are a result of the sheer scope of the con, I’m sure. So many things going on at once that it has to be near-impossible to coordinate. So, to those who put this thing on every year, many, many thanks for such a wonderful time. Oh, and did I mention? I already have the perfect costume planned for next year! And a different talk to volunteer for.
Technorati tags: linux, mythtv, penguicon, scifi