Interz0ne was interesting. I used my student ID, so my entrance fee was 25.00. Note: It said 20.00 with a student ID on the website. The very idea of a student rate makes me wonder though - Is there such a thing as a hacker without a student ID? I know that I, for example, would MAKE one if I didn't have one. They DO come in handy! I'd hoped to meet more people that I knew but that just didn't happen. I ran into 2 people I had met - one guy that I knew from online and one girl that I had met out in Phoenix a few years back. Wireless worked the first day but did not work on Saturday. I left around 5pm. I saw several of the talks. I enjoyed the one by acidius a good bit, and the hacking 101 by Hacker Joe. At this point I am fairly literate so while none of the material was totally fresh, I did pick up a lot of very good trivial points that I am sure I will use later on. The folks from Yak.net were some of the brightest and most personable that I met and talked to. There was not one of them that I was not impressed with. I learned about memestreams.net while there and was very intrigued as I've had some ideas that seem to run along the same lines. Therefore, I just had to check it out. I think getting turned on to memestreams is one of the best tidbits I took back home. As an older geek woman, I think its a really good move not to have strippers at the con. Not that *I* ever mind a good looking stripper of any sex or sexual orientation- but I do think that in order to be promote the seriousness of the subject matter and to increase the professionalism of the caliber of the average attendee that its important to be aware of other people's sensitivities. Some of the speakers used quite frequent over the top sexual references. While I've been called the queen of sexual inuendo myself, no one at the con knew this, and I caught several of the guys looking at me as if to apologize or for reassurance - to see "is this okay around you?" The glances and looks actually made me more uncomfortable than the masturbation analogies made by the speaker(s) and certainly shifted my attention away from the subject matter. The hotel was nice. It was interesting that the web rate was less expensive than the conference rate. That said, the free beer/drinks were great on Friday night. I was disappointed that there was no hospitality room.. Some of the best conferences I've been to make it a point to rent the floor(s) to the attendees with a central room rented out to the organizing bodies. Folks bring in cheese, crackers, nuts, chocolate and the bathtubs are always iced down and full of beer. Cicso is always great about buying beer and munchies if they suspect they have an attendance that might be influential in buying routers. (And this strategy does work!) Folks will hang out in a room like this and are there to meet people and talk, so lots of good networking and conversation happen. I imagine that age and/or lack of sponsor support would make this sort of fun prohibitive at Interz0ne. Alas..... As it was, the con was a great price and at a good proximity, so I'd definitely reccomend it to other tech types in the local region. | 
