Is it just me? Or does Silicon Valley really feel like it's coming back?

Now, my first SD West shindig, as it happened, was on the very cusp of The Bubble. Remember the New Economy? I was hauling butt skyward with it. The magazine put me up at a posh hotel. For registration swag, I got a courier bag so nice I'm still using it. The vendors threw a party where they hired a whole club, and a band to play live. Everybody was all abuzz on deploying massive enterprise integration projects.

Fast-forward to next year. I stayed at a motel. At the Editorial Board meeting, one of magazine's stalwarts--a guy I'd admired for years before I ever started writing for SD--frankly begged for a job. The show floor had to be partitioned off so the remaining vendors wouldn't look so lonely as they grabbed desperately at anyone wandering through. I got a coffee mug in my registration packet. The attendees scurried about, looking hunted, and were suddenly fascinated by open-source tools.

This year...I'm staying in that place with the $90 bathrobe. (Thanks, SD.) At the show-floor party tonight, I had to elbow my way through *crowds*. Throngs, even, and the vendors had so many developers in their booths that we self-appointed Lords of the Press could hardly get a word in edgewise.

Kids, I think we're back. Now let's do it right this time.