As an advertising professional, there’s nothing quite like walking down New York’s Madison Avenue. But as a digital advertising professional, you can’t get any better than San Francisco. Simply put it’s the center of the digital universe. From dotcom boom to bust and back again, from Silicon Valley to the tiniest office of an aspiring startup, San Francisco leaves you with the unshakeable feeling that something new and exciting is right around the corner, both literally and digitally.

As one of the most notable annual advertising technology conferences in the US, Ad:Tech San Francisco is always a happening place. While perhaps not the bleeding edge of digital, a distinction that is best reserved for its snarky Texas cousin SXSW Interactive, it’s definitely a melting pot of ideas and ideologues that makes for smart study and instantaneous inspiration. It’s my plan to soak in as much as I can when the conference kicks off on Tuesday. Along the way, I’ll be blogging, tweeting and sharing as much as I can.

Now before you start rolling your eyes at the idea of tweets devoid of context or rambling blog posts that report everything and synthesize nothing, I promise to keep things fun, focused and — most important of all — relevant. If you’re interested, I invite you to follow along. Feel free to drop in on me from time to time and maybe make a comment or ask a question. After all, they don’t call this social media for nothing, you know.

To keep costs down for work, I’ve arranged to stay with a dear lifelong friend of mine, his lovely wife and his 6-month old son south of San Fran proper. So everyday I’ll be hitching a ride on the BART up to the Moscone Center and commuting like a native. But today, I’m looking forward to a much-needed day off spent exploring the sights and sounds of the city.