Saturday, March 11, 2000

Day one in Austin

Live from Austin, TX

Yes, I've arrived in Austin, more or less without incident. Good flight, decent hotel, wheels (unexpected free car upgrades rock!). Spent last evening knocking about town with Matt Haughey and Robert Occhialini; we spent a convivial dinner debriefing the state of the Weblog Nation (which, as everyone knows, is the natural next step after having depantsed the Weblog Nation).

We made the scene, such as it was, at the GSD&M Festival Pre-Party. Some have noted the bad acoustics of the space and the dearth of attendees, but frankly, it's difficult for me to find fault with any party that features an open bar and halfway decent hors d'ouevres. (Downside: Miller Beer sponsored the gig, so no Shiner.) It was also unexpected and pleasant to have folks come up to me and tell me they enjoy reading The BradLands. Non-webloggers, even — can you imagine?

The DeepLeap crew was much in evidence too, and I'll be heading over to their non-launch Launch Party tonight. It was pretty much a coin-toss as to who had the better sticker swag; both DeepLeap and "Hello" stickees were coveted by the assembled masses. Cool to (finally) meet Cam, and also Nikolai Nolan (Fairvue, up for a web award tonight), Denise Czaja, and the sweet-and-low-down Heather Champ from Harrumph and Jezebel.

Nota bene: Digital cameras, digital cameras EVERYWHERE. Expect webloggers to well and more-or-less-truly document this event to death. I think Robert already has enough shots of me to build a virtual The Brad. Be very afraid.