SCGS Jamboree - Here I Come!

I am so excited that I am officially going to my very first genealogy conference - The Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree 2009. The conference will be held in Burbank, CA at the Burbank Airport Marriot on June 26-28.

For this trip, I will be staying with my Aunt Caroline (who is officially my hero for letting me stay at her house that weekend) in Northridge, CA. I am currently planning on communiting by bus back and forth from her house to the conference. (However, if anyone is driving and going in that direction and wants to carpool, let me know! I will split gas with you!)

I am absolutely thrilled to be going to this conference. Not only is it a HUGE learning experience, but I get to meet wonderful people who I already talk to through Facebook and Twitter and the blogs I read. It is going to be such an honor!

Thomas MacEntree over at Geneabloggers is already making some plans for all of us geneabloggers. Just to give you an idea of what he is planning, it includes mardi gras beads!

I've got my plans 90% figured out:

• I will be bringing my backpack if I have to bus it to the conference merely because I will also be using my bike to get between bus stops (it is not an easy bus trip back and forth). If I am carpooling with someone, then I have the option of brining one of my tote bags to the conference instead of the backpack, it really depends.
• Since I am pretty much going to be broke for this trip (money just isn't there), then I am mostly going to be brown bagging it for lunches and snacks, while bringing a little bit of money for dinner.
• I've got most of the lectures that I plan on attending figured out - and it was hard to make some of those decisions! There are so many great speakers and great topics that are going to be presented that it made it very hard to choose. Good news is, they will be recording most of the lectures, so even if I can't attend one of the lectures, I'll be able to purchase a recording of it on CD.
• I won't be able to buy any cool genealogy stuff from the vendors, but I figure I'll be too busy talking to everyone and meeting people and taking notes that I won't mind one bit!
• I'm taking my laptop (I don't have a laptop bag...so I am going to kind of make one - or at least attempt to make one so I can bring it along). I want to be able to blog and twitter and facebook my excitement and all of the cool new things I learn! Plus, it'll be extra handy for taking notes.
• I am going to try my best to not be shy and actually talk to people. I don't know anyone and pretty much everyone there will be older than me. I've also never gone so far away from home completely by myself (I am such a baby! haha!) so I am a bit nervous. I know everything will turn out fine though! I am just going to have to get over my shyness and talk to people.

Another cool thing about this conference is that the geographical/ethnic focus is on the British Isles where a good chunk of my relatives come from! Yay!

Anyone else going to this conference? I can't wait to meet you!