3-5 to 3-15-2014 SXSW

So, Austin is known for having the SXSW (South by South West) Festival every March.  (People come from all over the world, the town swells, and traffic comes to a near standstill.We rode our bikes everywhere, so traffic wasn't an issue, thankfully.)  Anyway, the festival has three components: Interactive (for tech and web stuff), Music, and Film.  Obviously, we were most interested in the Interactive part.  (The music and film events usually had super long lines, and we're not into that.  Maybe we'll figure it out better next year.)

Our first SXSW event - a party at the Paramount Theatre, followed by a presentation by the creator of SXSW,
among other notables.

The Startup Crawl started in the lobby of the Omni Hotel building. 

The Startup Crawl was very busy, and it was hard to make it around to talk to all the vendors.

Eric spent most of the time at the Startup Oasis in the upstairs of Old School Bar & Grill on 6th Street.
He made use of their daily "Office Hours" to meet with experts in different areas of business.

One of our favorite parties was the "I F-ing Love The Science Channel" Party.
Bartenders all wore lab coats, drinks were served in beakers with glowing ice cubes, and they had
good food and freebies.

The Capital Factory had a lot of good stuff going on during SXSW Interactive.

Eric got to ride around town (and network) on the Can We Network bus.

Cara found the Bates Motel in downtown Austin (complete with a vending machine of "Mom's Killer Brownies")

Okay, not quite sure what Eric had going on here...

Cara enjoyed the Silvercar Moonroof Party with new friend, Lisa McNally.

View from the roof at the Silvercar Moonroof Party

Another view from the roof at the Silvercar Moonroof Party

We found a nice cool spot to rest for a bit.  Cara loved the shade concept here.

The Yahoo! Lounge was a good place to chill and get some work done.
Plus, they had a constant rotation of acts that would perform a couple of songs, then get interviewed.

We even enjoyed a near private performance by Spandau Ballet at the Yahoo! Lounge.

Video of Spandau Ballet

You see all kinds of stuff on the streets.

We did catch some good live music at The Tiniest Bar in Texas.