The day has finally arrived

January 14th has dawned bright and clear and I was up with the sun (well, almost), thinking I would get in line early and get my badge before the rush. I’m registered for the Users Conference, but the Power Tools Conference is pretty much all there is on the first day of the Macworld Expo, so I was really just trying to beat the crowd and get my conference program. I was stoked to start circling the things I want to see and planning out the rest of the weeks’ schedule.

Well, I planned wrong. There was a line that stretched all the way down to Howard St. and halfway down the next block when I got there just before 8:00 a.m. All the people registered for the Power Tools Conference were queued up and ready to go; a miscalculation on my part. It only took about 30 minutes to get through the line and it wasn’t raining, so no biggie. But once I got inside I was informed that the conference has gone green and there were no conference programs printed up on paper, only single-sheet programs for each individual day. Which kinda made me feel bad for even asking.

I did have a chance to meet iNET Interactive’s Chris Ainsworth (what you’d call my boss for the week) and Mac-Forums.com administrator Bryan Schwegler, so it was worth the trip downtown even though I couldn’t get in.

It’s my first Macworld Expo, but I’m a long-time Mac user. I use my MacBook Pro for many things, including recording live music; creating podcasts; editing digital photos and uploading them to the Web; gaming (I’ll admit that in order to play many games I was forced — FORCED — to install Boot Camp so I could run Windows XP on my machine; it’s not something I’m proud of); and working as a freelance writer/editor/blogger. I’m hoping to learn about some cool new ways to do all of these things at the Expo.

But I’m mostly looking forward to cruising the Expo floor, I’d say. Grabbing free schwag and being overwhelmed by all the activity at a convention this size is always fun. More specifically, I’m especially excited to check out Berklee College of Music’s Dream Studio, which promises to be “filled with Mac hardware and software to help bring your musical vision to life.” There are over 30 companies unveiling new products this year, too; I’m sure more than a few of them will be worth tinkering with. I’ll also be stopping by the CCP Games booth, no doubt. As a sci-fi nerd, Mac nerd, and former employee of an MMO developer, I was pretty stoked when they announced that EVE Online was coming to the Mac.

The beauty of a convention the size of the Macworld Expo is, I have no idea what else I’ll be checking out while I’m there, but I’m guaranteed to find something completely awesome. Probably many things. Stay tuned to the Macworld Expo blog here on Mac-Forums.com and I’ll tell you all about them. I’ll show you pictures, too.