Unlike OSCON, where I gave daily updates, I've found myself in a whirlwind at LISA. LISA is absolutely the best conference I've ever been to. Unlike the OSCONs I've been attending for years prior, I don't know nearly as many folks at LISA, which has given me an opportunity to meet some new people, get different perspectives on things, etc.
The tutorials I attended? I can't say enough about how great they were. I got more out of the sessions I attended than the sessions at at any other conference. The invited-talks and such were likewise excellent. The BOFs in the evening were either entertaining or enlightening depending on the topic.
Even in the evenings, after the BOFs when I was in the terminal room (trying to avoid crappy hotel-room dial-up), just hanging out with other people, helping them solve minor issues, etc. (and getting the same in return) was great.
The last day is here (not yet completed, but mid-way through). I sat in David Blank-Edelman's "Through The Lens Geekly" talk, which I admittedly attended because I was curious to see which stereotypes from film and TV he found for sysadmins. I was intrigued by how much the "film portrayal" of SAs is indicative of not "parody", but in many cases how non-geeks actually view us. David made a lot of good points to the effect of how we need to try and reverse that mindset in people.
Overall, I can't believe I haven't made it to LISA before, and it's now officially on my annual "must-do" list for years to come. I'm glad to finally be working for a place that understands the value that conference-attendance provides (even at my last gig, I was never able to convince management to pay for a conference, although if I could worm my way in for free, they might occasionally agree to pick up hotel and food or something, but that was the only way). I've learned a bunch of stuff I can't wait to bring back and start working with to try and improve the way things work.
Lucky bastard.