Spent four days in Austin, TX. Some idiot on the flight there tried to get up and go to the restroom during takeoff, and again during landing. Dressed in a cowboy outfit (with blue vinyl pants and clown shoes) in an attempt to blend in. Failed at that attempt.

Spent the entire weekend, and I'm talkin twenty hours a day, chatting and laughing with the 25 or so net-nerds who had gathered there for the heck of it. There was much drinking. We left the house three times, once for Mexican food and twice for Tex-Mex. Got to see some old friends and put faces on familiar handles. Let's see, in terms of this blog, recent commentors Big Daddy & Terri were there, maybe others if you read back far enough. What's nice about these things is that you meet people who you wouldn't otherwise associate, usually because of your own prejudices. A corporate chef who revealed that Al Gore is a double-dipper. A woman who runs imaging equipment on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. A guy from Apple (all hail king nerd on campus!). A musclecar-lovin Texas freak/nerd. An engineer at AMD. Other folks who I see once a year but talk to every day and are closer to me than many of my meatspace friends. And the expected contingent of folks who were really quiet and shy in real life yet brash and vocal online. Who'da thunk it?

The only thing in Austin that better synthesized nerdiness and freakiness was this.

I couldn't even post on this blog, we were so busy joking and laughing and carrying on. A busy blog is the sign of a boring life, you know. Anytime you don't see an update here, rest assured that I, your hero, am out living life to the fullest, while you, dear reader, are sitting and staring at a computer screen. :D