WD06 - Said and done?

There are just a couple more things on my mind after writing about the events of Web Directions 2006.

During the afternoon on Friday there were some more prize draws (door-prizes and the such) during which I was the lucky winner of a free ticket to next year's SXSW 2007 in Austin, Texas. This is the be-all and end-all of events and I was absolutely wrapped. My head soon filled with the possibilities of meeting my favourite web rock stars. My envious new-found peers congratulated me at the after-party. I felt that buzz for a good week or so after the event, desperate not to let go.

Unfortunately the prize did not cover flights or accommodation, and after adding up the associated costs (which is quite large compared to the actual value of the ticket), the buzz started to dampen. I'm pretty confident my employer will not foot the bill for this trip, nor can I afford it myself, after having just built a new home. I'm still thinking about my options, but at this stage I'm unlikely to be able to attend. Very sad.

The after-party was at the Pumphouse, Darling Harbour (thanks to the fantastic dudes at SitePoint) and was a rip-roaring hoot (that's a good thing). I wasn't sure how the drinks worked at first. Were they free? Cheap at least? Oh, you need to get these drink cards from SitePoint peeps. Is there a limited number? Do we get one each? I sucked up to initiated conversation with as many SitePoint-shirted folk as I could find, and soon found myself with a stack of cards which ended up doing me for the rest of the night. I even had two left over when they raised the lights at 11pm.

Slightly miffed at the early conclusion to official merriment, we began the march to whichever pub would take us, being lead down the Sydney streets by John "El Capitan" Allsopp. After a while walking I decided to head back to the hotel before the wife decides that I'd been stabbed or some other paranoid scenario that we love our wives for.