I am seated front and center for the CASCON keynote, having decided to
run off my laptop battery so that I don't have to sit near the edges
of the room.

My jeans are spattered with mud (and possibly cement) from the
construction site that I had to walk through in order to get to the
Hilton. The pouring rain wasn't kind to me, either, and there was an
appalling lack of sunlight at 7:30 in the morning. I guess winter is
here.

Despite that, I am here. In one piece. And suitably well-fed. I may
yet survive the day.

I've put up Alvin's poster in the technology showcase. Mine doesn't
look so intimidatingly empty after all, what with the provided signs.
If I have to, I can just handwave.

Ah, there's another thing I forgot to do: print out something
interesting for the back of my laptop. And print business cards. The
lab printer's broken, so I didn't get to print them last night.

It begins.