So, turns out SXSWi is awesome. I’d heard horror stories of getting South by Scurvy, not being able to get into any sessions, standing in endless lines, and meeting douchebags. Somehow I managed to avoid all that.

Here are several highlights from my experience:

I Ate an Amazing Burger with a Couple Canadians

Getting into Austin, I connected with @dillisquid and then he introduced me to @mikewavrecan, who introduced us to @windomearle. The four of us got referred to Mike’s Pub on 7th for the greatest burger in Austin. I didn’t have any other burgers, but the lunch was all together badass.

I Met Seriously Smart Content People

I was basically star-struck to meet the people whose books and blogs and Twitter feeds I’ve been reading — like @ticjones, @halvorson, @kissane, @melanie_seibert — and get introduced to new people who love content, too, including @evany and @jenhyde.

I Didn’t Barf on My Shoes

Right as I began my talk Saturday morning, I felt this crazy nervous searing pain go from the left side of my stomach to the right. I thought, “Wait, I might actually barf.” But then it was gone and I was rollin. I was happy to close the talk with about 20 minutes of active questions and then more after the session officially ended, and then I ate Stubb’s with friends and felt cool as a cucumber for the rest of the weekend. Woo!

Aaron from TeamCoco.com Gave Me Stickers

While I was on the phone with my parents back in Ohio letting them know how the talk concluded, I walked right past a guy I’d seen in all of the @teamcoco videos. I stalked him for a couple blocks and then abruptly asked if he was HIM, and indeed he was. A bit of chit-chat and 10 Conan stickers made me giddy for much of the rest of the afternoon. Hey, it’s the little things.

Turns Out I’m Awesome at FlipCup

Ok, so I wasn’t completely cool as a cucumber. I didn’t want to disappoint @keithmuth, @averyvery, or @castig with my less-than-ideal FlipCup technique for BeerCamp 2011, so I got to Emo’s early with @dillisquid (who, apparently, I’m AOK with disappointing since I didn’t reference him above) and practiced the shit out of making those orange plastic cups land on their mouths. Luckily, one of my competitors felt sorry for me and told me to lift instead of pop the bottom, at which point I had been informed of a sage-like technique that made me impossible to beat.* I then learned from @tomsturge that my midwestern accent of saying “Tahm” instead of “Tuhm” wasn’t going to get me very far when I head to London for FOWD in May. So I guess I’ll be practicing my talk over the next couple months with a forced English undertone.

Jeffrey Zeldman Hugged Me

I had really wanted to meet @zeldman so I could tell him that one of his tweets last year made me cry, in a poignant kinda way. It’s a long story, but anyway, I seemed to never be where he was until my last hours in Austin, when I turned around in the hallway at the Hyatt and BLAMMO, Mr. Zeldman was standing right behind me. I blurted out, “Jeffrey Zeldman, I want to tell you something,” to which he just outstretched his arms and I without thought just stepped in for the hug. I thought maybe it was because I was wearing a pin that said “Bear Hug” on it — which I scored by hugging @varick the night before at BeerCamp c/o the fine folks @nclud — but, nope, turns out JZ’s just a hugger. This made me way happier than I can express. So then we chatted and caught @hoyboy‘s awesome facilitation of a workspace culture session. I finally met @hoyboy in person, then got introduced to @seb_ly while grabbing coffee with the veritable @vlh and @ccashdollar. Twas a seriously rad way to end my Austin experience.

Wrapped in all this conference goodness were two nights with my dear friend @b_tay, who knows all the best places to get food and also happens to date Leroy Brown, and a weekend away with @therealmig, who unfortunately *did* manage to snag the scurvy on his first day in Austin.

I’m happy to be home, but I’m already looking forward to next year.

* Completely false. Team Throat Punch didn’t make it past the first round. So I joined Four Loko Workweek, which got knocked out of the running in Round 2. But I didn’t completely bonk, at least.