PDC 2009

This will be the second year I’ll be attending the Microsoft PDC, Professional Developers Conference, in LA.  I was a bit confused at first that they were having this in back to back years.  According to wikipedia, I guess it has been done before in 92-93 and 00-01.  I’m still not excited about LA but at least the weather will be very nice in the mid-70’s.

Last year this conference really blew me away.  It’s huge.  Lots of new product gets announced for the first time.  The sessions are very professional with video and audio being recorded.  Huge amounts of free food, drinks and water available.

I’m going to bring my wife along this time.  Last year they rented out Universal Studios for the night during Halloween for just the attendees.  All food was free.  They had drink stations setup all throughout the park where you could get a beer/wine/soda.  All the rides were open with no lines and they had setup haunted areas in each section of the park with fog and actors trying to scare you.  It was really cool.

Heidi is actually looking forward to just relaxing during the day while I’m filling my brain up with new stuff.  She did mention possibly checking out the tar pits and Venice Beach.

I’m looking forward to riding the train back.  We are flying down to LA and then going to take the train from LA back to PDX.  We leave Friday morning from LA on the Amtrak Coast Starlight and get back to Portland Saturday afternoon.  The trip is 29h 25m by train.  We have a bedroom reserved with a shower, a little expensive but, I think it will be a relaxing ride back with some great views of the forest, mountains and streams of Southern Oregon and Northern California.  I’ve heard the train goes places where there are no roads.