Category: It Happened to Me

The cold that plagued me at BloggerCon — my first cold in about a year or so — probably the result of slacking off on popping those vitamins — finally caught up with me. Luckily, I’ve got chicken soup, a laptop, WiFi and a bunch of backlogged things I’ve been meaning to post.

Here’s sick day item number one: a scene from our visit to Montreal for Paul’s birthday. Here are me and Paul at the James Bond theme bar Le Pistol, on Montreal’s lively Rue St-Laurent. Steph, who’s known online by her cute nickname Sniffles, was kind enough to take the photo:

Here are a couple of videos I shot during Joi Ito’s presentation. It doesn’t catch any particular moment; it’s merely me simply doing a 360 degree pan.

A few people will be pleased to know that the blonde woman they’ve been asking about is in video #2. Guys, if you really liked her, you should’ve struck up a conversation. The worst she can say is “no”.

(Actually, she can say worse things, but these cases are rare and extreme and should be handled only be experts such as myself.)

But still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Perhaps a consultation of Halley Suitt’s How to Be an Alpha Male is in order. C’mon boys, that’s what God made testoterone for!

Video Number One (600K QuickTime)

Video Number Two (700K QuickTime and featuring…her!)

Here’s the Good Reverend Doctor A.K.M. Adam, a.k.a. AKMA. He truly is the Ferris Bueller of the Blogosphere:

Oh, he’s very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads–they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.

Besides, he’s the only priest I know who’s ever referenced Fatboy Slim in a sermon. If I ever have a crisis of faith (or if I ever do anything to make the baby Jesus cry), he’d be the first guy I’d call.

---

Boris had the full gargoyle desk setup going on at Joi Ito’s presentation: iBook, iSight and digital camera on desk tripod.

During the presentation, they had the #joiito IRC channel projected on the large screen. I typed “I JUST WANT THE CON TO KNOW THAT BORIS HAS BEEN SNIFFING ALL THE BICYCLES SEATS ON CAMPUS.” Geez, I do so miss being the class clown.

---

Roland Tanglao refers to Chris Lydon as “the eminence grise of the Blogosphere” and I must concur. Here he is, quoting Emerson at the final session. Ralph Waldo was one deep brutha, as is Chris.

---

Here’s Dan Bricklin at AKMA’s session. It was terrifically cool to breathe the same air as the guys who invented spreadsheets — not only was Bricklin there, but so was Bob Frankston! Boss Ross and I had lunch with him, talking tech about DNS, universal namespaces and other problems that Frankston is ready to solve. It’s nice to see that after all these years of coding, he;s still fired up to do more. I hope I’m like that when I grow up.

---

Without Doc Searls, the adult supervision of the Blogosphere, I wouldn’t have this cool job. I met the Tucows guys when he came down and had a bloggers’ dinner here in Accordion City. Thanks, Doc, I owe you big time!

---

A number of people mistook me for Joi Ito. We’re both Asian, we tend to wear dark colours, we’re hotter than atomic kimchi, and our names are so similar (mine’s pronounced “Joe-wee” and his is approximately pronounced “Joh-eee”). Joi was the coolest — at the Sheraton Commander, in order to loosen up the bar staff into letting me play accordion at the bar, he sprung for a bottle of Veuve Cliquot.

Funny moment: He asked me if I was Hawaiian. Prior to this year, I was never asked that question. This year, I’m asked that all the time. Is it the sideburns?

---

I had a lovely night out with Kevin Marks, who was also the WiFi saviour of the conference.

---

“I’m glad,” said AKMA, when we said farewell, “that there was someone like you with whom I could entrust Si for the evening. I feel comfotable with him in your sphere of influence.” D’you hear that, world? An actual priest trusts me to keep his son out of trouble and thinks I’m a stand-up dude!

Somebody call Hell and tell them to warm up the zamboni.

---

Thanks, Dave, for organizing the con and being such a good stealth disco victim!

---

Here’s me and the Joi Ito audience behind me. Sorry guys, the beautiful blonde you’ve all been asking about isn’t in the shot.

---

Boss Ross and Si at AKMA’s presentation.

---

Here’s Ryan “Skadz” Skadberg, who took me out on the town after BloggerCon; jamming and hilarity ensued. Thanks, dude!

---

Dave “Cluetrain/JOHO the Blog” Weinberger and Dave Winer take in AKMA’s presentation.

The sale of my house by my landlord has taken some strange twists. I got a call this weekend, saying that it had been bought. Followed by another call, saying that the buyers had backed out. Now, the buyers want a second look tomorrow morning. I’d just like to get it over with so that I know whether I need to begin the house hunt or not.

Today, as usual, is another busy day here at Tucows — I’m taking care of Blogware’s online documentation all afternoon (chek it often, as I’m updating it often). However, to whet your appetite, here are just a couple of photos of me and the Boss Man:

Yes, Bloggercon was a success. Yes, I finally got to meet and have some face time with some of the people behind the blogs and the IRC nicknames. Yes, I got to show Blogware to a number of people and learn about what they wanted in their blogging software. Yes, I got invited to play accordion at the closing session (Thanks, Dave!). Yes, I’m coming back home with a ton of ideas and all fired up to make cool software.

All that pales to this: I stealth discoed Dave Winer.

See the video (408K QuickTime).

Update: I forgot to mention that Ryan “Skadz” Skadberg took the video for me. Thanks, Ryan!

I have arrived in Boston and am killing time until the various dinners held by various Bloggercon luminaries take place later on tonight. I’m entering this from the HOTEL@MIT’s business center; it’s going to be a couple of hours until my room is ready, so I think I’ll poke my nose around and try and catch what they call “local flavour”. Maybe some clam chow-dahh too.

I just got off the phone with Boris, who’s driving down here from Montreal. He’s just crossed the border, so I figure he should be here by dinner. Look out, Beantown, Trouble Incorporated is about to hold a meeting in your city!

Anyone for a beer somewhere in Cambridge, either this afternoon or tomorrow evening? I’m reachable via phone at (416) 948-6447.

In the meantime, I’m going to look up and down Mass Ave and see what’s happening.