LISA14 - Day Zero

Zeroth day at LISA14!  I live in Vancouver, so travelling by bus was quick and simple...not like the people I met coming from the East Coast by plane, or by trans-continental train, or the folks I met from Belgium and Norway who were still up at (for them) 3 AM after a trans-Atlantic flight.  Found the hotel, found the (temporary) check-in desk for the conference (Metropolitan Ballroom, 3rd floor), and got my badge.  Woot!

The opening reception was great, and had a good crowd despite how early in the week it was.  Julie Miller, Marketing Communications Manager for USENIX (and all-around good egg), welcomed folks to the conference; after that, Lee Damon (Lightning Talks co-ordinator and genuine Seattleiniite) gave tips about getting around Seattle, where to eat and (for those inclined) where to find good beer.

I got to meet a lot of good folks. There was the European sysadmin who's lucky enough to be able to travel to Cuba and Ethiopia to teach people computing and system administration (and then welcome them when they return the visit).  There was another sysadmin who's bringing DevOps practices into his government job, which is its own set of challenges.  It can be tough finding ways to translate what often seems like profit-based motives to the public service, but bringing in other team mates who can communicate well makes for a good division of labour.  And I got to meet not one, but two sysadmins who have/will work for NASA -- one in an official capacity, and one as a volunteer.  I know there's at least one other sysadmin from NASA who should be putting in an appearance this week, and it'll be great to see her again.  (Side note: for the first time, humanity will attempt to land a robotic probe on a comet early Tuesday morning. I'll be the person biting my nails nervously waiting for updates.)

So yeah -- an excellent start to the week.  Can't wait for training to start tomorrow!