I woke up at the completely indecent hour of 5:30 AM…

Okay that’s a lie, I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 but really I didn’t wake up til closer to 6 in the morning to drag my snoozey self out of bed. I’d been up all night (til 1, maybe 1:30) and I was tired. Exhausted. Without rest.

I wasn’t going to let a little exhaustion stop me though, there were big things on the horizon and I was going to be there. I rushed to get ready, made a breakfast snack for K (I had a feeling Dr. Normal would be sleeping in while Saturday morning cartoons were enjoyed by the 6 year old) and just after I put on some lipstick I saw Verso’s car pull up in front of my house. A quick hello and then I tossed my bag in her back seat and we were off.

Our destination? WordCamp Portland. We arrived shortly after 7 and the hustle and bustle of the day had already begun. There was no shortage of things to get done before 8 AM, luckily there also seemed to be enough volunteers to get the required tasks done…

And so the conference started and the insanity also began.

And by insanity I mean?  A really well composed gathering of 150+ people all coming together to talk about WordPress.

I was expecting anarchy.  Chaos.  A free for all… or maybe a touch of boredom but what I got was a good day with great people and an education on WordPress worth so much more than the $10 registration fee I paid.

More than anything else though, I saw clearly that Portland spirit at work yet again.  Not only were we there celebrating, educating and being educated on WordPress, we were helping each other.

Whether we’re talking about the organizers, the sponsors, the people who tackled tasks at the conference or the person sitting across the room that tweeted out an offer of help to anyone who needed it, the story was the same: A community coming together.  Everyone seemed to have something to give.

My only regret about word camp is now that I’m writing about it I sound like a fucking hippie…

Enough of this touchy feely stuff, tomorrow I’ll tell you what I learned.