Two Conferences, Two Weeks
Just a thought from 25 July 2006 about Geek, Life, Powazek.

A small collection of thoughts after attending two conferences in two weeks.

• The US government is full of people who are really passionate about what they're doing. In other jobs, you "work." But when you work for the government, you "serve."
• Those of us who have been making webstuff since before the word "weblog" came around, myself included, have a built-in irreverence about the blogosphere, like an older brother who rolls his eyes when his kid brother shows off and everybody goes, "awww." But I couldn't help but notice how, at both conferences, blogging was accepted as just part of the web world. Now that the specialness has worn off, maybe we can have a real conversation about what they're good for, and what they're not.
• I could totally live in Portland. The trains are quiet (and free downtown), the coffee is great (thanks to Chris for bringing me by Stumptown), and the geeks are nice (reminds me of the geek scene in San Francisco 10 years ago, but without the polyamory).

• Everywhere but San Francisco is freaking hot.
• If you're ever in Portland, you must stay at Hotel Lucia. Swanky and friendly. They even have a pillow menu.
• Washington DC is hot, humid, and the traffic, as far as I could tell, is constant. It's no wonder our country is so fucked up. If I lived there, I'd wanna bomb something, too.
• When a guy whisks you out of the taxi line and says that he's got something "better and you've gotta try it," it's not, and you don't.
• Webvisions is a lovely conference. Small, like SXSW was in the 90s, but professionally run and full of smart people having great conversations. Highly recommended.
• Andy's talk at Webvisions was a favorite. Everything we web nerds think we invented has been done before.
• I'm a lucky, lucky man to get to hang out with so many smart people. To all the people I met: It was great talking with you. Let's do it again sometime.