Getting into a rhythm
I got back to LA from my third Adaptive Path User Experience Week and now, four days after returning, I just registered for my third SXSW Interactive conference.
2003 is the year I started working as a bona fide web professional. That January I left school after realizing that I had already met all the requirements for my bachelors degree a semester early. I left Peoria to move to Washington, DC, to start as the first Webmaster for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
I discovered A List Apart later that year and began falling under the spell of the web standards community. Every time I opened a file I had created a mere months prior I couldn't stand to look at the markup. Riddled with table and font tags, rife with  , dripping with junk markup my work was unreadable. Dreamweaver had made me lazy. I bought an Eric Meyer book and switched to Top Style.
In March of 2004 I saw that all the bloggers I respected were converging in Austin for SXSW. I didn't yet have the courage or clout to ask to go to a conference but regretted that I didn't push for it. On my way back to Union Station from my office a few weeks later I caught sight of a man toting a SXSWi messenger bag and was overcome with jealously. I had merely read about the great presentations but he had been there.
I wouldn't miss it again.
That fall I wheedled my way into attending the Adaptive Path User Experience Week event and my mind expanded as a result. User profiling. Information architecture. The shortcomings of the CMS model. I was enthralled.
The next spring I made it to Austin and the rest, as they say is history. I was hooked.
I met my future coworkers at that first SXSW. I made friends all over the country, web geek friends. I learned a ton and had a great time.
The second AP UX Week and SXSW both suffered from not yet being grounded in the new Internet explosion. However, this last week at my third AP UX Week gave me hope for next year's SXSW. I think that we in the web community have found our bearings again. We've realized that we aren't in a new bubble but instead are actually making new and exciting tools that people can use.
There aren't, to steal Jeff Veen's metaphor, five online pet stores that are each leaking millions of dollars.
So what are you waiting for? Go register and I'll see you in Austin!
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