Quite unexpectedly, I got an invite to attend Mix06 in Las Vegas next month. Normally this conference costs a grand to attend. So I'm in, no matter what it costs to get there and stay at the Venetian (where Blue Man Group also lives, I might add).
The thing I'm most excited about though is seeing Bill Gates speak. Yeah, he's no Steve Jobs, but he's the richest man in the world, and Tim O'Reilly (as in the book publisher) gets to grill him about stuff. For a geek like me who develops with Microsoft products, this is a pretty amazing opportunity.
They're planning something like 50 sessions all together, with tracks for developers and marketing monkeys and such. People I've always wanted to meet will be there, including Rob Howard (Telligent, formerly MS, author), Lynda Weinman (lynda.com, author), Scott Guthrie (MS), Nikhil Kothari (author) and others. I mean, we're talking about a lot of very smart people all at one place at one time.
Oh, and I'll get to see Blue Man Group one night as well, hopefully. Yay!