Digital Impulses

Seattle trip to Gnomedex 8.0 windup: Nice and Relaxing

0826: Still in my hotel room at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront. My flight for L.A. leaves SeaTac at 1400, so I will be checking out of the hotel at around 1100, hopping in a taxi to SeaTac and hopefully getting through the nightmarish TSA security screening process with plenty of time to spare.

In a nutshell, Gnomedex 2008 was absolutely terrific and I had a really great time.  Chris and Ponzi really put together an excellent speaker lineup and kept the audience significantly engaged.  The presentations by Mark Bao, Scott Maxwell, Beth Kanter and others were outstanding and easily worth the price of admission.

While I was there, I got the chance to chat briefly with Derek K. Miller, Robert Scoble, and Eric Rice.  These are all people whose blogs I read and enjoy regularly and it was great to get a chance to speak with them personally.

Gnomedex is easily one of the highlights of my year and an event that I really look forward to attending.  If this year's conference was anything to judge by, I cant wait to see what Chris and Ponzi and their awesome support staff cook up for Gnomedex 2009.  Count me in, for sure.

Gnomedex 8.0 Day 2

Update @ 1405: Guy is on stage with a geeky, meaty discussion on using "hubble" to look for black holes using the Internet.  This is the *very reason* I come to a conference like Gnomedex.  This topic is simply fascinating.

Update @ 1154: Adeona guys are on stage talking about PHYSICAL computer security and how you can protect your laptop and get it back if gets stolen.  Pretty neat stuff.

UPDATE @ 1118: Eve Maler from Sun is on stage speaking about managing on-line relationships with vendors. She is reiterating the VRM concept first put together by Doc Searls

0953: At the Bell Harbor International Convention Center for Gnomedex 8.0 Day 2.

Ignite Portland was just up on stage and now Sarah Lacy is giving a presentation on blogging and how it is evolving.  She is walking around the room, shoving a mike in front of people's faces, getting their opinions.  It's certainly a different way of doing things.  The audience is having varied reactions to what is being espoused.

This is all starting to sound like a little bit of group navel-gazing, quite honestly.

Another hugiantic Cruise Ship in Seattle

So here I am this Saturday morning and I walk outside the Sheraton Marriott Waterfront Hotel to find that yet another GINORMOUS Cruise Ship has docked across the street next to the Bell Harbor International Conference Center. These things are awe inspiring, let me tell you.

It's absolutely gorgeous here in Seattle today with a slight nip in the air this morning and spectacular blue skies.

The smell of the ocean and the preening of the Pelicans and other birds make for just an idyllic setting.

Did I mention that I just *love* Seattle, folks?

Gnomedex 8.0 Day 1: Here we go!

@ Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle, in the Main Conference room on the 3rd floor.

10:52 A.M.

A little frustrating at the beginning of the morning.  It took me almost an hour to get a WiFi connection, but eventually, after like 5 reboots, I have signal and it's working great, really smooth and fast.

Right now on stage, there's a guy making a presentation on LOLCATZ, of all things.

UPDATE @ 1115:

I had no idea.  The icanhascheeseburger guy sez the following:

At their peek, the site was using 200 Mbps, serving 80 pages per second and have generated over 1 BILLION page views.  They have a database of 800,000 LOLCAT images.  Simply amazing!

UPDATE @ 11:35
SearchEnglineLand
Guy from a company called "searchengineland.com" is on stage making a presentation about the history of Search on the Internet, I think.  Some of these issues are serious, but it's just not all that interesting to me.  I keep yawning. This subject is just not capturing my attention stream.  I don't know.

Update @ 1552

The Day 1 afternoon sessions at Gnomedex 8.0 have been centered around using technology to advance social causes.  The sessions seem to be very well received.  I'm happy for the presenters, but I certainly do wish that the content was more internet issues / Internet technology / Internet security focused. *sigh*.

Gnomedex 8.0 Day 0.5: Tired, but pumped

Wow, what a day!

I returned from the Gnomedex 8.0 pre-registration party at the Bell Harbor Convention Center a little while ago.  It was incredibly busy and incredibly crowded over there.  The food was great and people seemed to be having a great time.  The vibe was electric and Chris and Ponzi seemed to be headed for another run-away success with this year's conference.

An Emergency at the Space Needle gift shop
Earlier in the day, I took a taxi over to the Space Needle and did took some good pictures.  Unfortunately, while I was paying for some trinkity souvenirs, the girl that had just taken my money at the register suddenly fainted, slumped to the floor and smacked her head on the floor pretty hard.

She came too in a few seconds and had a crowd of people around her immediately.  They got her help pretty quickly and was taken away from the Space Needle in an ambulance.  I hope she turns out to be OK.

After the Space Needle, I went to the Seattle Museum of Art and got to see that pretty throughly.  I then walked back to my hotel to rest up and relax and get ready for tonight's Gnomedex 8.0 launch party.

So, I will be posting pictures eventually, because for now, my card reader connected to this IBM T60 XP laptop has decided  NOT TO READ my digital camera's flash memory card (I suspect it's because the cards are formatted for my Apple iMac at home).

Anyways, more tomorrow as I can after Gnomedex 8.0 starts at 0800.  Ciao!

Gnomedex 8.0 Day 0: T-I-R-E-D

In Seattle.  At the Sheraton Marriott Waterfront hotel, across the street from the Bell Harbor International Conference Center where Gnomedex 8.0 will be held this weekend.

My flight into Seattle was hellish, with extreme turbulence the last 20 minutes that made me quite nauseous.  I eventually got a taxi and got a ride ($40.00) to the hotel.  I arrived at the hotel at 1900 and was showered and out the door for dinner just before 2000.

I had an awesome steak dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel and then came right back to my room, where I am currently writing this post.

I am dead tired and will be calling it a night.  Much more later as my 2008 trip to Seattle for Gnomedex 8.0 unfolds over the next few days...