Totally dropped the ball on providing a SXSW recap, sorry. Some high points:
• Chugged club soda with almost all of my Austin friends and many of my SF friends.
• Saw the best hair-metal cover band in history do Journey songs better than Journey.
• Watched from the VIP booth as thousands of maybe-too-enthusiastic guys swarmed around a stage for a live taping of DiggNation
• Asked one of the lead Facebook dudes some tough questions about the redesign (but maybe not tough enough…still hate it after two weeks)
• Watched guys from Firefox, IE, Opera, and Google Chrome spar over Web standards
• Met Dooce, and listened to her, the “Stuff White People Like” guy, the Lolcatz/Failblog dude, and the original Wonkette talk about the secrets of blogging with my friend, the Passive-Aggressive Notes girl.
• Met a lot of my tech-reporter-blogger heroes (whom I won’t name here out of embarrassment).
• Sat on a panel of judges with iLike‘s Ali Partovi to evaluate some new music startups that are launching soon.
• Maybe danced just a little bit. But not too much. But maybe a little.
• Flew home to NYC to find out WE’RE HAVING A GIRL!!!! (yeah, I buried that tidbit way down here so only the real blog readers would see it!)
• Flew back with Mere to play a show.
• Had a lot of fun hanging out in Austin with the band
• Local friends like Cindy and Piet showed us around and took us to the spots where the locals hang out when we got sick of the SXSW crowds
• Ate a ton of awesome barbecue at Stubbs and Iron Works.
• Saw a flier for the Mere show on the sidewalk in downtown Austin. Loved seeing Mere’s name in Austin, even if it was underfoot on the sidewalk!
• Mere show went well, considering the lineup changes and the fairly thin crowd (though it wasn’t as thin as it looks in the video). It was a fun day for a barbecue and live music, and it was fun to have friends there. And hey, the trip was free! Video travelogue of the trip is embedded below (part 2 of a 2-part series on YouTube, sorry so long).
Yeah yeah and yeah!!! AND I get a cameo in the video. SWEEEET. So happy you’re having a girl. It was the best thing I heard at SxSW. Congrats!!!!!
Now you and C will have to create a family blog like the rest of us. Parenthood is calling. I hate the dilemma of separation between private & professional. Thanks for this post. I've been waiting on it.
girls are great for dads. (boys are much more oedipal and want to kill you.) congrats!
Thanks Paula, you were present at like five of those bulleted items, too! Nathan, I dunno. Maybe instead of starting a new family blog, I’ll just become a daddy blogger. I’ve been resisting writing posts about stroller shopping and nursery colors, but maybe I should just embrace it. Thanks for the congratulation, Kerry, and for not bring Electra into the conversation.
I say dive right into the nursery paints and stroller debate Kyle! Congrats on a little girl! They sure are fun!
really? not a single mention? no pics? i’d pretend to be hurt but i’m too hurt to pretend. no i’m not. great seeing you dude, will be in NYC in may and june for some hangout time. congrats again on the baby, and no hard feelings about telling me both my kids have lame soccer names.
Oddly enough Barash, I don’t HAVE any pictures of you and me from SXSW except a super blurry iPhone pic of you and your bro singing Skid Row with a live band. I’m not too good at taking pictures. Also, I don’t remember the soccer name insult, but I’m naming my first son Ronaldinho as a gesture of solidarity.