LFNW

Greetings from SeaTac

Well, hello there! Been a minute! Life caught up with me again and I have back-burnered my website, oops. Its 0630 on a Saturday morning in the drizzly city of Seattle, and I could NOT be happier. This community is nothing short of amazing and I am humbled and glad I am here. Lets get into my travel and how I got here.

A Flight Filled Friday Fest

I couldn’t sleep Thursday night hardly! I was so excited and nervous to be around a group of unknown folks. Would they accept me? Would I even talk? I arrived at Eisenhower at just after 0300 Friday morning for check-in and my flight. I got NomadBSD set up and took some notes. Eisenhower folks were tired, but overall helpful. Seen a couple familiar faces from my time at the old airport, but mostly nobody I knew. Our flight to DFW was uneventful and quick! It felt like no sooner did we takeoff and we were in Dallas. I think it was a 51 minute flight. DFW is MASSIVE to me. I had to catch a Skyrail tram to get to my boarding terminal! I caught the tram just in time for its departure and arrived at my terminal destination with five minutes before boarding. We boarded the plane to SeaTac and that was another uneventful flight. I need to find more to do! That flight was just over three and a half hours long. Both flights landed earlier than expected and I was super happy about that. Did you know that at SeaTac you have to get on a bus to get a rental? About that…

Everything Wasn’t Just Sunshine - Some Lessons in Travel

Have I mentioned I’ve never done this before? I’ve never done this before. When LFNW was announced, I was on the fence. Shortly after, my heart just said, “You NEED to go. Networking will be good for you.” Before now, I’ve never felt such a sense of community. I’ll get into that here in a bit, but, let’s get into some clouds, shall we?

When I booked this trip with Expedia, (not sponsored, but, hit me up! Here is my email ) it was super easy and I had no qualms with the bookings. I went for a round-trip for DIRT cheap, a suprise rental car for a reasonable rate, and a hotel for a great rate as well. Fast forward to yesterday. Flights, great. I’ll have pictures soon enough for your eyes to view! I get to the rental counter and OHBOY.

I need to call Expedia ASAP. I show that it should have been paid for minus the depost, but, they still charged me out the wazoo. Did you know you need a credit card, not a debit/credit card to rent? You need a credit card to rent. I’m in line and catch a breeze wind of a conversation that I hear this. In my defense, I was given bad information twice. Before I left home, I emptied my normally full 3D printed Nano wallet of anything non-essential. I brought my CashApp card, my Revolut card, and my debit card, along with insurance and DL. Like, 5 things essential to me. I get to the counter and they inform me that since I only have my debit card, they have to charge me the max deposit (500$) and check my credit worthiness. Mind you, that was done when I reserved the car already. They also had to change my car because, “We can’t do EVs or Luxury on debit.” No joke. When I looked up deposit amounts, minimum was 200. I had that available and my hotel deposit plus a bit extra. Wound up with a 732$ bill. Not fun on day 1. Somebody will need to give me answers ASAP.

Lessons I have learned from this:

Have a credit card with a decent open balance!
Trust nobody, not even yourself
Have stuff to do on a flight. Music and podcasts are great, but when you are caught up, having other things is great.
Don’t fret the small stuff. I have learned a ton from this and am more aware for the future.
Look more for closer. I have a two hour commute to BHam and surrounding area for the fest and traffic here is a disaster during my travel times.

Clouds over Calif….Seattle

The weather here is great for a midwesterner! I’m sure all you PNW folks are sick of it some days, but, this area is so gorgeous. First thing I told Lady Dragon was, “Can we move here?” But, really though. Can we? I’d have a built-in community and maybe some cool opportunities for growth! Would have to keep the Vitamin D supplement going though, that’s for certain. I would have to condense my stuff, though. 3d printed computer cabinet here we come!!!

Shout outs

Look. The community here is nothing short of incredible.

To the three gentleman I didn’t get names from that came over to my table and shared cool stories at the pub Friday evening, you guys rock. Gives me a good warm hope for this fest moving forward
Firecat: Who GNU Linux and coffee would be such a cool time? Also, thanks for thinking of my potential plight with my possible woes! Big kudos.
Rapidmustang and Lady Mustang: YOU GUYS ROCK. Again, Linux, open source, and lunch?
Chris and Brent: The welcome is great! You guys are right. This community is just…wow. Maybe the cult of GNU is actually a thing! (If you know the reference, more kudos)

Can we just say that Linux and Open Source make everything better? I’d say so.

In closing for today

Day two starts at 1PM PST. My brain is still in CST, as is my Nomad install! The sun is getting ready to peak over here and its already sunny in my neck of the woods.

Brent kicks things off with Nextcloud at 1 and I will be there for certain. I hope that somebody gets my shirts reference today.

I am probably going to go to Aegis Games and get some singles today. I need to find some trinkets for my family back home as well. Signing off for now! Need to get some food and more caffeine if I am going to survive the trip! I am in Seattle after all.