The pre-conference dinner was a blast. Literally. There was so much noise in the restaurant, I could barely hear my tablemates talk. (Or maybe my hearing is going faster than it should due to all those Led Zeppelin concerts I attended in my youth.)
For a bunch of people who spend so much time WRITING about the things that matter to them, this group was talking up a storm. And taking photos! Everyone had a digital camera, some used their cellphones, some even had video. (And you know just about everything is going to end up on Flickr, which Mary Hodder assured me is the greatest, so as usual, I will be the last blogger on the planet to try it out. But finding out exactly why people use the various tools available to us -- and which ones are best -- is another of the reasons I'm here.)
"I invited Dooce to my brunch!" announced Grace D., who is holding an after-conference soiree at her home on Sunday.
"She's HERE?" (What I should have replied was, "Wow. That's so cool.")
"And she's really sweet," Grace said. She went on to tell me how she told Heather Armstrong how much she admires her and that none of us would really be here without her example. At least, I think that's what Grace said. As mentioned above, I could barely hear anything over the cacophony of 200 voices all at once. Even when they were seated right next to me.
As Jenny and I made our way to the buffet line, we passed Heather. The label on her t-shirt was sticking up, so Jenny fixed it. Dooce smiled and thanked her.
The t-shirt was EXACTLY like the one I bought on my birthday, which I posted about back in May.
I was going to wear it tomorrow, but now I think I won't. It would be like one of those Star magazine pieces where they show two celebrities are wearing the same thing and Star's editors tell you which one looks better than the other. That person would not be me.
Ah, well. It took me another 30 minutes to connect to the wi-fi network here at the hotel, so I think I'd better retire early. I'm going to need as much time as I can get before my live blogging sessions so I can get online.
