What sucked:

1. Biggest complaint – there needs to be a way to search sessions via the people who are speaking in them. I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I care way more about hearing people speak than what they’re speaking on. I mean, if Stephanie Klein and Heather Armstrong decided to host a session on dog poop, I’d be in the front row.

2. The online schedule is way hard to read. It took me ages to find things, and figure out where I was going. It’s a little overwhelming, but I think that’s just me.

3. I got sick, and so did a lot of people. We’re calling it the South by Plague. Next year I’m popping herbs and shit a week before and all during, so I don’t have to go crawling into bed at eight o’clock and miss all the after-hours fun.

4. The badge design is whack, as the kids say. For such a huge convention, the badges should have been better designed. Swiss Miss has the same complaint.

What rocked:

My friends! I love them. It was such a great birthday.

We launched Blattcave podcasting. Check out Blattcave.com!

The guys from AcrAttack were performing with their singing Tesla coils. It was pretty much the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Science + rock!

I got to meet Will Brierly. He was Rob’s roommate in college, and made a lot of music in their dorm. When I first met Rob, he put it all on my iPod, and so Will Brierly and the Rollerhosters became my soundtrack of falling in love with Rob.  Meeting him was so big for me.

The handful of people who came up to me and said, “Amber?! Hi! I read your blog!” and introduced themselves (hi guys!) I’d say something sassy here like, “That’s right, you better RECOGNIZE!”, but really, I am so humbled by this.

Maggie Mason, just standing there. (!!!) I was too shy to say hello; she was talking to someone and I didn’t want to interrupt. Three possible opening lines I thought of as I walked away: “OMG I READ YOUR BOOK AND IT WAS SUPER INSPIRING AND I THINK YOU ARE SO COOL HI I’M AMBER!”, “Momversation! Woooo!” with fist pumps, and “It is MIGHTY GOOD to see you!” I don’t think any of those would have been appropriate.

Free beer. Everywhere. Every day. Thrown at me. I eventually had to say enough is enough. Free food, too.

Annie telling me she was really glad I named my blog The Amber Show. I’ve never been super comfy with my name, and she managed to convince me it’s a good thing. Love her!

Chatting with Elisa, one of the founders of BlogHer.

Getting interviewed by RocketBoom (mostly because it made Rob jealous), getting interviewed by The Motherhood, getting interviewed by my buddy Derek, for 100Interviews and getting interviewed by someone else that I can’t remember. I must look interview-worthy.

The UR Blog Sux and Print is Dead panel. It’ll be available to hear on podcast, and I recommend that you do. If you listen, I’m the first one to ask an audience question to the panel.

Jeff Dowd bumped into me, and then laughed when I bounced off of his belly.

Meeting Sukhjit! Finally! We had a conversation where we kind of geeked out of the amazement of this being our life; the internet bringing us all together. She’s pretty rad.

The weather. It was cold for a while, and then it was wonderful. Flip-flops FTW!

Tracy went headfirst into my boobs for a snuggle. I’m pretty sure this is what got me sick, as she was miserably ill for most of the trip. If this is the case, it was so fucking worth it.

Geek Mommy yelled at Rob for not telling her he had “an awesome wife”.

Hotel sex, complete with jokes about things being “bigger in Texas”.