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I passed this sign on the way to the hotel from the Convention Center (where I was able to quickly grab my registration materials, chat with Justin Hall and get directions to my hotel, all while parked in a "no stopping or standing" zone).

I am only one of 16 million. I feel so small.

I found the hotel with ease, checked in, splashed some water on my face and stuffed my camera, Visor and some cash into my man-purse then bolted out the door. The hotel was only five or six blocks from the restaurant. It was 7:00 p.m.

I had plenty of time.

In 2000, I arrived a day early for the conference and met up with Matt Haughey and Robert Occhialini for dinner. It was a great, low-key way to kick off the week. Knowing nothing much was scheduled for Friday this year, I decided to invite a few friends old and new to join me for a casual pre-SXSW dinner. I called it Break Bread With Brad.

The casual dinner soon became a shampoo commercial...and they told two people and they told two people and so on and so on. Before too long, this had become a major 'do and I couldn't have been more pleased. So many of the folks whose work I followed and admired in one place. I was giddy.

I was also unlucky. Although I'd reserved a private room at a great Austin restaurant, I learned three days prior to leaving St. Louis that the room had been double-booked and I was suddenly stuck with dozens of dinner guests and no where to dine. An afternoon on the web and the phone found me the nice folks at Iron Cactus, who had no private space to reserve but cordially agreed to "rope off" a section of the restaurant for the bread breakers. The party was back on.

Unbeknownst to me, while I was in the air en route to Austin, the folks from Iron Cactus called to reconfirm my reservation and, receiving no answer from me, assumed the party was off. I arrived at the appointed place at the appointed time to find a large group of web publishers wandering about the bar -- the "weblog diaspora", Derek Powazek called them -- with word from the management that the wait for a space would be...long.

Fortunately, Jish Mukerji had arrived before almost anyone and assured the hostess there would, in fact, be hungry webfolk on the way. Thanks to him, the wait was merely long and not interminable.

Folks ordered drinks, introduced themselves, chatted convivially and -- for the most part, patiently -- waited until we could sit for dinner. I think a good time was had by all.

If I make it to SXSW in 2002, you can count on "Break Bread With Brad" happening again. Rest assured, I've already staked out a couple of potential venues and will, next time, be absolutely certain everything is confirmed and double-checked.

(The PCS network finally caught up with me and my jetset lifestyle about midway through dinner, and my phone beeped to alert me to a pending voicemail message from Iron Cactus. Ain't technology grand?)

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