The day before the con has now come and gone. After getting picked up at the airport by Dannie and Ruth (thank you!), we went to the dinner at Ming’s with a gazillion other people. I met Adam Curry and Doug Kaye for the first times in person, as well as talking to Steve Gillmor, Mike Geoghegan, Wendy Seltzer of the EFF and a bunch of people’s whose names I didn’t get. It was fun, in a complete noisy chaos sort of way.
Where things fell apart a little was in a bad assumption. We figured that everyone would be getting together at the hotel bar at the Rickey’s Hyatt, where many of us are staying. The only hitch there – it closes at 11 PM. I’m willing to go so far as to say that a hotel bar that closes that early is basically useless in its function. Dannie and I went down the street to some college bar and had a drink. It was a private function for a group birthday party but we went in anyway. A cash bar is a cash bar, really. I talked to some of the celebrants, including one of the birthday girls. After a while, I made myself at home enough to eat a piece of cake. That’s just how I am. I will wander in to your party and make myself at home unless I am physically restrained from doing so.
Festivities tomorrow start early early, like sevenish in the AM. That won’t be so horrible for me since I’m still on EST but I predict there will be many bleary eyes and stragglers amongst the Californian night owls.
I could tell one thing from the dinner tonight that will probably be a theme up until I get back on the plane for home: too many people I want to talk to and not nearly enough time. That’s definitely how it was tonight – there were at least a dozen people in the room I would have liked to talk to but didn’t even see there or don”t yet know what they look like. Having all day tomorrow will help, as will nametags.