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"I'm a New York City girl. It's a little too quiet around for me."

So spake Earth woman Dale Arden at the conclusion of the movie Flash Gordon, explaining why she didn't want to stay on Mongo. If she found Mongo to be too quiet, I'd hate to hear what she has to say about San Francisco.

Last week, I made my second trip ever to the west coast, my first to the ocean. I've been to numerous Macworld Expos before, of course, but never to Macworld San Francisco. One a year has been enough for me, thank you kindly, but hey...with enough frequent flyer miles under my belt, a week of vacation days carried over from the previous year, and a newborn baby at home who hasn't realized it's not until college that she's supposed to stay awake until 3:00 in the a.m., why not fly across the country for a few days of Macintosh goodness?

Few days? No. Imagine my surprise after booking my flight that Macworld Expo S.F. is not three days, as conventional wisdom would indicate, but four. Yes, I'm a moron for not paying closer attention, but come on. What could happen in San Francisco that would require four days of expositing instead of the three we always got in New York? The answer? Not much.

Actually, that's not fair. The iPod news is big, as just about any advancement in the iPod is big. I can remember that when the iPod was first announced, I said it was the first piece of hardware released by Apple that I had no desire to own. I'm now on my second iPod which I use practically every day (I can vouch that the battery will last for the duration of a flight from Detroit to San Francisco). Attack Apple all you want, my friends, but more than any other company, they really do know what we want before we know we want it.

Well, most of the time.

Aside from the iPod mini, though, Steve's keynote didn't have the attendees (those smart enough to actually check to see what day the keynote was) flowing out of the isles in search of the next big thing. This is fine, as Apple can't be expected to floor us at every Expo, and they can't be expected to hold all major announcements until an expo. Still, a laid back keynote tends to lead to a laid back Expo...or is it just San Francisco?

In agreement with Dale, I'm a New York City girl, or would be if I still lived in New York City and didn't have so many manly attributes...such as a receeding hairline and the ability to throw a football. It's not that I really have anything against San Francisco (except that stores don't open until 10:00 a.m. on Saturday and that $3.00 is far too much to spend on a simple trolley ride), it's just that it's not my speed. It's too calm, too quaint, and that laid back attitude seemed to carry itself over to the show.

When ATI asked Bill Stiteler and I what the most exciting bit of the show was, we had no answer for them. Actually, up to that point, the most exciting bit was their announcement of a 256MB RADEON card for the Mac. Are you kidding me? We actually get to play with power like that? Halo might actually perform admirably?

Speaking of Halo, where were all the gaming companies? Aspyr and MacSoft joined forces again, and theirs was always a crowded area. Freeverse was there and busy as well, what with two—count them, two—Best of Show awards for ToySight and their new kid-friendly web browser Bumper Car, both of which will be profiled here soon (congratulations guys, gals and babies of Freeverse). Feral Interactive even flew in all the way from England to prove that Mac games are about more than just...well, as Feral president David Stephen put it, "Rat-a-tat-a-tat."

But...I don't know. I recall a time, not so long ago, when there were complete gaming tournaments on the show floor. When MacPlay, Ambrosia, GraphSim, Blizzard and a bunch of smaller companies all had booths, or at least desks. When the gaming area didn't feel like it was shoved into the backyard for the kids while the grown-ups played with Adobe and Macromedia out front. Mac gaming is stronger than ever, but you wouldn't have known it by visiting Macworld Expo San Francisco. Best to just sit at home and read all the press releases from the companies that were there. Mercy. Applelinks is going to have to double its game review staff over the next couple of months.

It wasn't just the game area that was sparse, mind you. Big chunks of bot the north and south floors of the Moscone were sectioned off as there weren't enough exhibitors to fill the space (which offered the hidden advantage of providing more room to eat). Now, the Moscone is huge, so it would be difficult to fill it anyway, but come on, people. I know times are tough, but get out there and hawk your wares. I mean, it's not like you have to give out free T-shirts anymore. Give-away promotions went away with the Clinton administration.

Of course, it's not like we at Applelinks would've had time to cover much more, anyway. Two of our three reporters, Bill and I, pulled double duty as both media and exhibitor, also working the Think Different Store. Our third, Gary Coyne, unfortunately had to leave the show early. It was a crazy few days, and you really get an odd sense of balance when you see the same show from different persepectives. For instance, I now know how annoying it is to vendors when you try to talk them down on price on Wednesday afternoon or refuse to buy a product until Friday afternoon because you think you'll get it cheaper. I now know how it feels to answer the same questions thirty times a day, often for the same person...especially when the questin is in no way relevant to what your're demonstrating/selling. I now know why so many exhibitors go out drinking every night after the show. And finally, I now know what it's like to run into Sinbad so many times that you start to feel more excited about finding paper clips on the floor.

You might think from reading all of this that I'm down on the Expo. Not so, not at all. I loved checking out the exhibits and I loved meeting my fellow Mac enthusiasts. Whether the Apple announcements are big or small, whether the pacing is frantic or relaxed, and whether the exhibitors are flowing into the hallways or roped in with curtains, for me, the expos are all about discovery. What are the familiar developers bringing our way next (sweet new iPod accessories from Belkin, Unreal Tournament 2004, and a new PCI graphics card from ATI are just a few highlights). What new developers are about to make their mark? What cast member of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. will show up this year?

Now that the show's over and I can look back on all I saw and did, I can finally answer ATI's question. What am I most excited about? A small German company called Boinx Software has created a program called iStopMotion that greatly simplifies the creation of stop motion and time lapse animation with your digital camcorder. We'll have a full review up soon, but I'll say here that this is the kind of software that makes the user feel it was created just for him; it's simple to use, it's deceptively powerful, and it's tremendous fun. It brings purpose to the digital lifestyle, making it more than a marketing phrase for Apple.

And to think, had I not attended the show, I probably wouldn't know anything about iStopMotion, Boinx, or many of the other innovations now available to us. I wonder what it must be like for Apple employees as they wander the isles, meeting the people who are taking Apple technology and using it to create such amazing products. It must be a pretty cool feeling, like a father's pride for his daughter when her field hockey team wins the State Title for Cuyahoga Falls Senior High School in 2022.

So, yeah, my frequent flyer miles are spent, my vacation days are used up, and the littlest Hiner is starting to sleep through the night, but I'll still attend every Macworld Expo I can. Even if the exhibitors are fewer than I'd like to see, you're bound to find "the next big thing" hidden in there somewhere. And hey, if not...look! There's Sinbad!

Again.