If it weren't for the code sprints the following day, my third day at DrupalCon would have been much more wistful. I hugged Pazi before I left for the day, as when I returned in the evening, she would be half-way to California.

My second day at DrupalCon Portland 2013 was also the longest day of sessions. There was a keynote session right away in the morning. I didn't feel the need to go, but I got up early anyways. Unlike the previous day, I managed to get a seat in the same room as the speaker, rather than the overflow room. Perhaps it was the fatigue, or the fact that it was in the morning that resulted in my inability to remember much of anything about the session.

I love technical conferences. In 2008 I had the opportunity to attend IBM IMPACT. I assisted in building the booth for my company, but I love attending the sessions the most of all. It was a amazing experience. Since then, the only professional conference I attended was a web-only cloud conference in 2010. It was a disappointing experience and left me feeling like I had wasted the company's time. If I were in person, however, it might have been more interesting. Then, I learned about the Minneapolis DrupalCamp.

GenCon is coming up!  I leave for Indianapolis tomorrow afternoon.

I'll probably be fairly absent online until next week and will likely miss things.  I'm already getting into that pre-travel semi-panic "Ack, gotta do X Y Z Alpha Omega Zayin Qoppa OMG" mode.  Laundry and packing tonight; planning to overnight w/ Pazi & Tess, so effectively I'm "on the road" as of latish this evening.

I always feel disconnected and surreal whenever I return to the US after an international assignment.

The first thing I notice is the change in sound. After three weeks in Germany, the sound and rhythm of American English sounds oddly foreign. I found this welcome on my previous trips, but this time I found myself missing the distinctive pattern of German before boarding my first flight home. Even the sound of my own voice seems oddly out of place.

Back in July I visited the International Rose Testing Garden in Portland, Oregon. I had taken my camera hoped to post pictures that evening. Needless to say, I didn't quite get to it.