A friend just asked me what he should be doing to get ready for SXSW this year, so here you go, too:

- Make an iPhone portable schedule for yourself w/ SCHED (2009 will be up soon to replace 2008’s, here: http://sxsw2008.sched.org/) and use that to keep track of things. That way you can recycle the terrible program immediately, which doesn’t list the unofficial parties anyway.

- SXSW is old school and a lot of parties end up publicized on Upcoming.

- Don’t miss the 32 Bit party Scott’s throwing w/ Get Satisfaction et al. Last year was 16, year previous was 8. Good times, plus you get to see Thor & Amy Muller throw down to Love Will tear Us Apart. Amazing.

- Follow the RVIP Lounge on Twitter and jump in it whenever you get a chance! http://twitter.com/RVIPLOUNGE

- RSVP for a Pure Volume House badge now. It’s kind of where everyone ends up when there’s nothing else to do after 2am — http://www.purevolume.com/house — free drinks, uneven live bands, open til 4

- There’s basically 3 late night places to eat and I forget what they are right now, but I bet they are listed on the SXSW Insider’s Guide Ning — http://sxsw.ning.com/

- You could follow the SCHED sxsw blog — http://sxswblog.sched.org/ — or Austinist. I follow SXSWbaby on Twitter to get updates. http://twitter.com/SXSWbaby — and the blog is pretty good, too.

- Rejoice as there’s nothing for Valleywag to cover anymore!

- Don’t let Julia Allison cut you in line.

- And if the party or talk you’re at isn’t worth your time, it’s completely fair to pretend-Twitter that you’re somewhere better instead.