I have to admit, that I cannot believe that February is already over half way finished. I had noted earlier that February was to be my month of fun. Honestly, I can’t even remember what prompted it initially, but I can tell you I have been so busy and most of it has been fun.

Some things I’ve done in February:

• Visited Vancouver
• Connected with amazing friends, old and new
• Celebrated a friend’s birthday
• Received Yo MTV Raps Cards
• Went to Snoop’s All-Star Weekend party
• Hung out with a friend from grad school I haven’t seen in forever
• Went to an art show
• Saw my friends win 2nd place in a film contest
• Almost bought a macbook haha
• Met another KSU Alumni
• Rediscovered the pool area in my community
• Received a new BlackBerry

I have many more things planned in the last few days of February. However, I am becoming burned out quickly. I typically enjoy almost any opportunity to go venture out into my new home sweet home, but I have decided that tonight I am going to bed extremely early, and that tomorrow and Wednesday at least are going to be time for just me (and possibly some trips to the gym). I’ll be bouncing back for this weekend though, you best be damn sure!

I’ve been spending a lot of time since I have been back from Vancouver thinking about what I could possibly write about Interaction 09 and all that I learned and experienced while I was there. I have realized that it was about so much more than the education on techniques, processes, and deliverables that were shared in workshops, lightning rounds, and keynotes; it was also about friendship.

There is no way for me to completely describe how amazing the experience was from a personal level. Up until Interaction, I had never met any of the people that were attending face to face. Thanks to Crowdvine I was able to begin tracking the people that I wanted to meet. There were people that I had conversed with through volunteering for the IxDA via email and phone. There were some that I had found through the lovely IxD twitter crowd, and there were some I was just plain a fan of. Not only did I end up meeting nearly all the people I had aimed to (Christian, I promise next time we are doing coffee or something), but I met so many more that I admired and those I had never been aware of until the conference started.

I made some great professional connections, but even more than that, made truly mind-blowing friendships; friendships that are truly real and extremely overwhelming, to the point of being emotional. Being around so many talented minds was truly inspirational.

However, as with anything else, I also learned that some relationships end up being one sided. Sometimes these relationships can appear to be fantastic, but when evaluated, it’s learned that you are the one putting all the effort into the relationship and making it work. Not much is being returned to you. While this does have to be done on occasion especially when learning a new craft or skill, I feel that mentors and other role-models should play a more active role in those relationships. It made me start to evaluate who I interact with on a daily basis through mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and email.

And now, a list of people that I found truly awesome at Interaction, that I hope to continue to learn from and build better friendships with.

If I am following you on twitter (and even if I’m not), chances are very good I want to keep in touch. My account is locked, but please request a follow. My id is @toniambartz

• Mario – I cannot even begin to describe how truly energizing it is to even be around you. You are so inspiring and great to be around. Hell you completely threw me off my rocker and flattered me when you said I was an amazing person. You’re always in a good mood and constantly trying to make sure everyone else is having a good time.
• Denise – Super awesome woman!! We didn’t get to see a lot of each other (and I’m always told I’m the social butterfly), but hopefully that won’t happen again.
• Matt – I enjoyed meeting you. It was great to hear about all the awesome things that Toronto’s IxDA group is doing and to have some good IxD conversations as well.
• Liz – It was so awesome to finally meet you and be able to have discussions about IxDA, the profession in general and just get to hang out. I look forward to helping out more with the organization.
• Dante – What a great and innovative session you led at the conference. Not to mention you are fun to hang out with. And hey, anyone that thinks I’m awesome is a friend of mine. I hope we keep in touch.
• Eric (kink.com guy) – It was determined we are tied for the best business cards right? Rock out.
• Will – It was great to get to hang out with you, and no, not just because you had the kick ass suite. Maybe it was because we stalked each other haha. Hope we keep in touch, and hopefully will be at another conference together at some point!
• Whitney – Any friend of Mario’s has got to be phenomenal. It was nice to meet another down to earth woman around my age that is passionate about her career.
• Nasir – Glad to have had the chance to spend time with you and discuss the organization as well as hear your ideas for local groups. Next time I will be at karaoke for sure!
• Shaun – I cannot believe it took us until the last day of Interaction to meet. Thank you so much for all your help before the conference in regards to local groups and I hope to continue sharing that knowledge in the future.
• Angel – Loved getting to meet you finally. Any friend of Colleen’s is a friend of mine. Thank you for all of your help and support with starting up a local group.

If I left your name out I truly apologize. There was no way I was going to be able to write about everyone tonight – I would never get to sleep. I want to keep the friendships and conversation going.

Pics of my adventure are scattered both on Flickr and Facebook

I have to apologize for not blogging while I was in Vancouver at Interaction 09, but only a little bit, as it was not because I didn’t want to update anyone, but more due to that I was extremely busy learning so many things, taking in the city, and meeting both old and new friends.

I arrived into Phoenix about 7pm tonight and have managed to get food, play with Miss Tequila Rose, and get a few pics uploaded onto Flickr. I have so much more to do and I promise, more will come tomorrow and possibly a little later tonight.

I cannot believe I am home and at the same time cannot believe I have left Vancouver already. It was such a great journey. So much more will be coming about that in the future. For now, feel free to tweet at me or shoot me an email or text. Yes, you heard me I am now able to use my BlackBerry to its full capacity again.

Well tonight is my last night at home for quite a few days (close to a week). I am currently working on running the dishwasher, doing laundry, and updating my phone plan to an international one. I might not be awake enough to pack tonight but I will be in a great position to crash early tonight and pack tomorrow morning.

I am headed to Vancouver for Interaction 09 tomorrow morning and will be there until Monday evening. I am so excited for not only my first trip to Vancouver and my first professional conference, but also to meet so many IxD colleagues I have connected with via Twitter, mailing lists and other outlets. I will be attending some fantastic workshops and hearing some fantastic speakers.

I am going to be disabling my incoming and outgoing text messages while I’m there to try and curve the cost of international calling, but those will be back on sometime next week. I am also going to attempt to limit data usage on my BlackBerry so twitter and email access will be whenever I am able to use wireless on my laptop.

Tomorrow I will be trading in my sandals and tank tops for hats, scarves, and boots. I’ll see my PHX peeps later on, and I’ll see my IxD crazies tomorrow!!!

Well gosh darn it I’ve done it. I’ve officially registered for the Interaction 09 conference being held Feb 5-8, 2009 in Vancouver. Interaction is hosted by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). This is also going to be the first conference I have attended. I am proud that it is going to be Interaction 09. I belong to several different associations, and for some reason I just feel right at home within the IxDA community. I am starting a local group here in Phoenix as well as volunteering elsewhere within the organization.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to attend this conference. So many of the people I admire I will finally have the chance to meet and to hear speak. So many I have had the chance to exchange tweets with I will have a chance to hang out with in person. It’s going to be such a spectacular time. I know I will learn and grow so much both professionally and as a person from this experience.

I will be in Vancouver from Wednesday, Feb 4th through Monday the 9th. If anyone else is heading in early, feel free to let me know and maybe we can go exploring together or grab some dinner and hang out.

I wasn’t able to register for Dan Saffer and Bill DeRouchey’s first seminar but was able to register for the second one that was added today. However, I now have a conflict with the Local Leader Workshop on Friday. Hopefully someone will be willing to trade sessions with me. Dan Saffer is a friend / colleague of my boss at GD, so that, on top of the topic of discussion, will be exciting.

Here are some of the items I am planning on attending while i am there:

• Designing for Touch Screens and Interactive Gestures: Bill DeRouchey and Dan Saffer
• Visual Complexity: A Visual Exploration for Mapping Complex Networks: Manuel Lima
• Mission Critical Interaction Design: Mikkel Michelsen
• Rapid Design Labs: Scott Weisbrod
• Sketching Haptic and Multimodal Interaction: Camile Moussette
• Designing Natural Interfaces: Notes from the Multi-touch and Multi-use: Darren David and Nathan Moody
• Designing for Teams, Designing for Touch: Joe Fletcher

Personally I think everyone should attend. Come check out the Interaction social networking site today!