This weekend was one busy time. PlayMotion! was presenting our stuf at NextFest. NextFest is Wired magazine's trade show for upcoming technology. This year it was in Chicago so we packed up our office into a suburban and a u-haul trailor and drove up (well, I flew so I could stop in Boston for my Mom's retirement party). We were setup in this huge hall on Navy Pier.

Alongside us there were a bunch of other really neat technologies (and a few that seemed like they still had a ways to go). I got to see the Moller SkyCar, a flying car that I've been following the progress of since high school. There were a few other games like ours there, or ther artificial reality type games that were neat. Although they weren't supposed to be there, I saw LightSpace, the other company I almost worked for this summer. They were there with BodyMedia, a wearable bio-sensors company, because they wanted a fun system for people to play with as they demoed their sensors. The funny thing was I had been looking for some sensors to do exactly what they do and I had even thought abou them because I had a friend who had used some of their sensors before. He told me they didn't do what I wanted, but I guess that was just the ones he had, because at the show it was exactly what I wanted. GM had some hydrogen powered cars, including a Hummer. Patrick ask if it was a hydrogen guzzler, ha! So much I can't remember. I got a lot of great pictures though.

Then event went great for our company. We were always crowded. There were several media organizations coming by and we were already on TV and in print a couple times. In addition to showing off what we do, we were giving out PlayMotion! tattoos, and so our advertising was plastered all over most of the attendees.

On the personal side of things the trip was great. Of course I loved getting fired up setting up the exhibit, getting there early in the morning to run it, and talking to fellow exhibitors. It was also my first time in Chicago. It was a nice city. I'd call the weather great, except that it was too good. It was nice and sunny every day but it was 95 when I got there, ouch. I saw Dave and Jessica while I was there.

Then there was the drive home. After running the show all day Sunday, we had to break everything down, pack it up into the car and then at 9 o'clock, after all that, we had to drive for 13 hours back to Atlanta. It was actually a lot of fun. It was very late and the car was big with a trailor so you'd think the driving would have sucked but it was actually great. We took turns. During my turn, I was never tired. The thing wasn't hard to drive on those flat, straight roads especially late at night with no one else around. I sat up there and talked to Nick while he drove, and Patrick talked to me. We had some interesting conversations about states that the US could afford to lose and other things. I got to drive through and see a whole bunch of states I'd never been to before. Add Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee to the list. If I count I think my total is now 24. We save some space on the side of the back of the surburban and with the beanbags, it made a perfect bed after a long night of driving.