This moment finds me in the US Air Lounge in Charlotte, waiting for my connecting flight to Indianapolis for the annual CEDIA EXPO. (I’ve already come face-to-face with the cruel, harsh realities which are life as a lowly Silver Elite member, cast down on high from the Olympus of Gold Elite status as I didn’t even get a bump up to First Class for my Myrtle leg today. Oh, how the mighty have been humbled, forced to sit on the wrong side of the curtain, smelling the air riff with the despair, anguish and malaise of the coach classes!)

So, I’ll be kung-fu hustling at EXPO all this week; up early, in bed late, and seeing all of the latest technology that the industry has to offer at every moment in between. I can promise there will be…

Demos: What will be the hot demo clip this year? And will someone to try and top the Ultimate Demo given by Kaleidescape, Stewart Filmscreen, Digital Projection, D-BOX and Totem at CES? Will there be some new version of 3D that doesn’t make you beg for the blindness that does not come? Will Dolby or DTS add a new audio channel, perhaps FLOOR! (“You’ve never truly experienced underwater movies until you’ve hear FLOOR!") Will someone find a way to automate the cumbersome bathroom process? I don’t know, but I aim to find out and then tell you all about it!

Dinners: Already got dinners lined up for each night of the week. Looks like it will be Asian, Steak, Italian and then a celebration banquet on Saturday night. I’ve never attended the final night banquet before, but Jeremy Glowacki – editor at Residential Systems and all-around-nice-guy – is being inaugurated as a CEDIA Fellow and I want to see his coronation.

Drinkings: You know there will be plenty of this. Will I discover some new beers worthy of reporting? Will Kim Lancaster continue her streak of ordering excellent wines? There’s a rumor that Ric Johnson is packing a flask filled with 50 Year (FIFTY YEAR!) Glen Fiddich; will I find him and get to try some? Will we see a rebirth of The Consulate?

The Darryl: I’m going to be sharing a room with The Darryl Wilkinson so you know that that alone is going to produce its own hijinks and adventurous. Will I smash Darryl with a lamp during the middle of the night and blame it on a night terror? Will I smother Darryl with a pillow Big Chief style in another night terror whoopsie? Will Darryl bring some new flavor of vodka to top the flavor assault which was Bakon?

I’m also going to be on an education panel this year; discussing HDBaseT technologies and their applications in the real world. It’s on Friday afternoon from 4:00 – 5:30 and I’m sure it will be every bit the hoot that it sounds!

I’ll also be tweeting and shooting YouTube videos at the show so you can keep up with all of the action there. You can follow me on Twitter at @SciaccaTweets and check out my YouTube channel here. And, of course, if you happen to be in Indy and see me in the halls, be sure to say, “Hi! Can I get you anything?”