Yesterday in my home town, saw ‘The Race That Stops a Nation’ — the color, fashion, and fervor that was The 2006 Melbourne Cup. Writer Mark Twain said of the event in 1895, ‘Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.’

Of course, it wasn’t the only event on this week, albeit across the other side of the planet; the PDF Central Conference also kicked off this week in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

A few new faces were present as well as many of the usual PDF enthusiasts, including our own Planet PDF man-about-town, Robert Milne.

As you’d probably expect, the hot topic was Adobe’s new product — Acrobat Connect — based on the recently acquired-from-Macromedia Flash capabilities.

Stay tuned next week for all the gossip, session summaries, and a Q&A with the Stacey Sell, Tech Ed Solutions CEO and founder. Nettie Hartsock and Robert Milne will be reporting in full.