So the conference hasn't actually started yet, but there have been a couple introductory events. Sign-in has happened, and I was able to pick up my conference materials, schwag, t-shirt, and USENIX tote bag. The shirt and bag are nicer than the ones from past conferences I've attended. I might actually wear the shirt! The hotel leaves a little bit to be desired; it's probably the least interesting of all the conference hotels I've stayed at for USENIX conferences. But the neighborhood is interesting, so I might find myself spending more time outside the hotel than in the past. And that's probably a good thing.

Tomorrow is Tom Christiansen's Advanced Perl Programmming class. It'll be interesting, but I really haven't written very much perl code recently, and my next big project is likely to be written in something other than perl. But advanced programming topics, in general, are interesting and fun to learn about, and adapting the high-level ideas to other languages will be fun. So I look forward to the class.