Yesterday was a big road travel day. Contrary to my usual performance, I got a slightly later start than I intended in leaving home. But nevertheless Jared and I made it to Raleigh in plenty of time for Max and me to pick up the now-infamous SpeVan and return to Red Hat for our Fedora 15 release party. We had a great turnout there; unfortunately that meant all the cupcakes were gone before I could snag one! Probably better for me in the long run though, especially considering that we stopped at Bojangles on the way out of town.
Max was a real trooper taking the driving duty from Raleigh to Spartanburg. The trip took us through pretty bad gridlock at Charlotte, as well as a couple of thunderstorms. I’m sure it was especially distracting to hear the commotion from us boisterous passengers, especially given the increasing devilry toward the rear of the van. Nevertheless, Max made sure we all got to Spartanburg safely, and we touched down in time to say hi to Leslie Hawthorne and catch a wave of very well dressed partygoers at the hotel.
(I’ve noticed that every time a bunch of Fedora people gather at an event, we attract formal wear. Sometimes, as in Berlin a couple years ago, this gives some of our younger, single contributors a chance to chat up someone of the appropriate sex. At other events, we simply marvel at the fact that our scruffy group doesn’t get thrown out of whatever establishment is home to this chaotic mixing of the classes. Last night was apparently some sort of debutante ball, which I seem to recall happened at SELF 2010 also.)
Max and Jared and I were able to catch a quick (and, thank goodness, light) sushi dinner across the street. Then we returned and joined the crowd to unwind with a drink on the outside patio, after which Robyn proceeded to take all of Max and Greg’s money in an extended round of poker. Especially painful for the boys, I’m sure, were the two Hail Mary plays (can you use a football metaphor for poker?) that saw Robyn first snatch survival from the gaping maw of certain doom, and then a half hour later go all-in on a prayer for a straight that actually came true. I half expected to see the word “FATALITY!” hanging in the air like in that Scott Pilgrim movie. As the man sang, You got to know when to hold ’em…
This morning we’ll be getting together to throw around some ideas for tuning FUDCon to ensure that the communitization of the event continues to trend in a positive way, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to go over my talk a bit more before this afternoon. Even though some of the material is similar to a talk I’ve given before, I like to feel prepared.