Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here!
Posted on March 9, 2002 by Christine | 6 Comments
I arrived in Austin last night around 8:30pm thanks to some pretty hard rain and nasty driving conditions. I parked at the hotel and walked on up to Break Bread with Brad at the Iron Cactus on 6th Street. Meryl was already there waiting for me. I got to finally meet in person Jay & Jish. After that it was a whirlwind of meeting people, including Ben and Mena of MovableType; Andre (FilePile); Mike, Mike; Dinah, Nick of Digital Web, Tom and the list goes on and on… One cool discovery about my glasses and the fact that the last default skin had my photo on it – people approached me & said “you’re Christine, right?” I guess I just have one of those faces that is hard to forget.
After we left the Iron Cactus, we headed on over to Polly Esthers for a Karaoke show that I don’t think I will ever forget. Some of the show stopping hits were Mena’s classic rendition of “Stand by your Man”, to Jish, Rob & Bryan singing “Dead or Alive” (the Bon Jovi classic), Jish & Brad singing “I’ve Got You Babe”, Jish Brad & Rob singing “Like a Virgin”. But the very, very BEST of all was Ernie singing “Oops, I Did it Again”. I can not begin to even put into words how hysterical that that was. Seriously, seriously hysterical. He had the moves down, that’s for sure. (I wonder if he has Darren’s Dance Grooves?) Yes, these and many more moments will be brought to you soon in photographic form… Towards the end of the evening one of the locals got up and sang “You don’t have to call me Darlin’, Darlin’”, one of the classics from my college days. They sing that song every night at the Dixie Chicken, so I know all the words and like a lot of the crowd I was singing along quite loudly – and was a bit surprised to find Brad singing with me! I would have never guessed it, but he knew all the words. It is, after all, “the perfect country and western song…”
Today at noon was Anil’s event, Kick. Kickball with 40+ people is pretty amusing. We had a great time out there in the sun and it was a good chance to meet a lot of other people – Rebecca, Cam, and more. After Kick, Meryl & I headed over to Whataburger for lunch (we would have gone to Sonic for Robyn and Todd if there had been one within walking distance of the park!) then it was off to the Convention Center to pick up my badge. We caught the end of Lawrence Lessig’s presentation on copyright and then the Simplicity in Web Design Game Show put on by the guys from 37signals.com. I got to meet Dori there, which was pretty cool because she was my secret santa partner last year.
People I saw but didn’t meet were Jason Kottke, Meg Hourihan, Matt Haughey, and Jeffrey Zeldman. (Plus the other 8,000 people I haven’t met!)
Whew! After all of that I needed some down time. Meryl & I returned to the hotel to change, and we were going to head over to the Opening Party … until we saw how far away it was. So I thought I would take some time & get the modem set up so I could check in here and also so I could get my work e-mail. Meryl is just a sweetheart, I am so glad we are rooming together! And on that note … we are here, where are you?!?? Seriously though, I would honestly recommend SXSW to anyone that might consider coming next year. Do NOT pass it up. It has been great so far, and we are only 24 hours into it!
We are having a great time! Wish you were here!
Related posts:
- Maybe…
- First of May!
- I am so THERE!
- I Wonder Why You Don’t Call Me…
- Everyone Needs a Little Jish in Them…
Comments
6 Responses to “Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here!”
I’m Quite Clever
About Me
Hi! I'm Christine. Wife to Mike. Mom of Jason. Owned by 4 cats. Houston & Destination Wedding Photographer & owner of Hot Mama Boudoir. Blogger since 2000. Living in Houston, Texas since 1985. Living in a 1920 Bungalow in the Heights since 2011.
Want to know more? Just ask.
Extreme
March 9th, 2002 @ 8:22 pm
Oooh — so glad you got to update! I’ve been living vicariously thru Meryl’s e-mail updates ’til now! Tell everyone we said “hi” — sounds like you’re having a blast!
Can’t wait to see pics…talk to you soon…
March 9th, 2002 @ 9:16 pm
Aw man… I wish I had known about this celebration. I guess that’s what I get for not keeping up other bloggers. Damn narcissistic self-absorption, always tripping me up…
March 9th, 2002 @ 9:50 pm
I’m so glad you are having fun!
March 10th, 2002 @ 9:40 am
I AM here….
March 10th, 2002 @ 4:48 pm
Ohhh I am so jealous. You have no idea.
Sounds like you are having a blast!
March 12th, 2002 @ 1:04 pm
Are you sure they weren’t walking up to you and saying “Look, isn’t that Drew Barrymore wearing glasses?”