The Software Industry Conference began today.

As previously mentioned, I chose to drive to Denver, Colorado from my home/office in East Lansing, Michigan, which is (according to MapQuest) a distance of 1220 miles. If the directions were to be believed, the drive should have taken just under 18 hours, though I took a few excursions and at least one decent nap. My total travelling time was about 29 hours (or 27 in local time, since I moved two time zones West). From Michigan, I passed through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska on my way to Colorado.

For the sake of European comparison, this journey was slightly longer than driving from London, England to Stockholm, Sweden, passing through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark en route.

After killing several hours at Colorado’s Jackson Lake State Park, I rolled into the conference hotel at about 4:00pm local time, which gave me time to check in and move my luggage to my room before conference registration closed for the day. Alas, it did not provide enough time for a good rest before the first event, at 6:00pm, so I got registered and just had a much needed shower.

SIC began with a reception, sponsored by Protexis, in the Centennial on the top (12th) floor of the Hyatt Regency Tech Center. Fortunately, the weather was somewhat overcast, which alleviated the problem of blinding sunlight experienced in years past. I wore my Zombie shirt, since the trip had me feeling like a zombie. I talked with people… networked… schmoozed…

The main rumor was that about half of the conference attendees were newbies and the other half were “old timers”, with the latter group including some who had only been to SIC in Denver (i.e., the past two years).

After the reception, I spent some time in a business meeting with Fred Clabuesch, the Treasurer for the ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals), learning the details of a new initiative to be launched for the benefit of the shareware industry. There will be more written on that once it is ready for public announcement.

Finally, I came to the most important part of the day. I slept (well).