PASIC Plans

So I'm starting to think about my trip to PASIC, which is just two short weeks away. It is being held in Indianapolis, which may be the best possible location for me. It is within driving distance and it is a town that I know a bit and am comfortable in because I used to take business trips there about once a month for two years. I don't like travel that involves stress and confusion. Indy is easy for me so I ought to actually be able to enjoy myself.

Some make fun of Indiana, but Indy isn't a bad town. It is still trying to recover from the rust belt economic diaster of the last 30 years, but it is trying hard.

Being on a tight budget and pretty well in the know, I have chosen to stay at the hostel, which is only about 6 or 7 miles from the conference, which is being held, I'm happy to say, downtown. Today I spent some time planning the details of my bike route from the hostel to the conference. Mainly to save money on parking I'm planning to bike in to the conference each day unless the weather is crazy bad. To save money and, well, because I can. I've got my choice of a very nice bike path, The Monon, or pretty decent streets to travel in on.

I also just realized that Broadripple, the quirky/cool part of town (ala Willy Street in Madison), is only a few blocks north of the hostel and also on The Monon. Which means I'll have plenty to do in the evenings...restaurants, live music, street life, etc.

This may well prove to be the best trip I've taken in a long time. Like putting on a comfy old sweater.

I'm also pretty psyched about the swag potential. There's a HUGE list of exhibitors for the conference...and surely most of them will have a sticker or magnet or keychain or whatnot that they'd like me to haul home with me. Lots of useless shit with cool labels. Woo hoo. I better bring the large messenger bag.