Month of March, 2002

Washer Update

Dad and I spent a couple hours messing with the washer this evening. Of course this was after a fabulous Easter lunch by my mother. (And doing all my laundry at their house.) We eventually figured out that some mechanism that "shifts gears" isn't shifting properly. Dad's going to try to find the part. I'm just going to stand by and laugh when his hands are way too big to get the new part on. Not really because then he'll make me do it. So, the washer is dead for the time being but I have clean clothes. It could be worse.

Oh yeah, and I'm apparently too old to receive candy on Easter now. No bunny love.

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The washing machine isn't working

I'm frustrated. Just trying to do some laundry this morning and I can't. The oldest washing machine known to man (which is in our laundry room) seems to have given up. Damn. I start the load and everything seems to be working fine. So I allow the typical 30-45 minutes to pass and I go back to switch it to the dryer. Upon opening the lid to the washer, I realize that none of the water has drained out. My clothes are just suspended in water (at least it's clean) that is up to the top of the washer. What does one do at this point? I go through the scenario in my head. Option 1: pull the clothes out and wring by hand. This seems logical but the hard part is taking them to a place with a drain. Not an easy task. Option 2: turn the dial to "spin" hoping to force the machine to a drain cycle again. Again, seems logical except that if it didn't work the first time, it's probably not going to work the second. Which means Option 1 is going to be inevitable. If only I can just put it off a few more hours until I'm more awake. The really, really horrible part of all this is the thought of being forced to go to the laundromat (something I haven't done in 5 years). I guess there's always mom and dad's washing machine, though it's not here, at least it's free.

A/V princess
I've done it. After years and years of holding ground, I have finally given up. The darkside has taken over. I went out and bought a TV. I also bought a dvd player so I can finally start catching up on all the movies I've missed out on over the past 3 years. So I'm definitely excited about the "new media" in my life. However, I'm not so excited that I've got it all hooked up yet. Isn't that weird? I'm struggling with placement of the tv in relation to the cable outlet. I think I've decided on placement (finally) but I don't have a long enough cable cord to reach the tv. I suppose I could have hooked up the dvd player already but it doesn't seem worth it if I can't watch tv too. But soon, very soon, I will be so entranced with tv and movies that you'll never see me online. I'll be able to give up the web habit and Josh can quit worrying about the "mouse tracks" on my arms. Of course, it's only going to lead to "remote control tracks" but we'll deal with that when the time comes.

*Update on the washing machine - forcing it back to "spin cycle" didn't do a thing. The clothes are still hanging suspended in a washer full of water. Crap.

Do bunnies lay eggs?
On a completely different note, it's Easter. And what I can't wait to find out is how old is too old to receive an Easter basket. When will my parents decide buying me chocolate is a waste of their resources? Hopefully not this year because I need chocolate! So tell me, what did YOU get for Easter?

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Quote of the Day

"Sorry! I'm too busy eating pie."
- Journalism Josh, via Leia

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See, the meek DO get something!

I can't go into specifics right now, but Friday at work I was offered two completely amazing opportunities. You could have knocked me out with a feather. It was such a shock after the disappointment I experienced Thursday. I'm still sitting here surprised at how quickly a situation can change. And, Summer, you're right - something better has come along (in this case it's 2 something betters)! We'll just wait and see how everything unfolds.

As is usual for Friday night, I was so tired that I just stayed home. Tired and fear of the insane rainstorm that was forecasted. It's supposed to be raining like cats and dogs right about now. Luckily it's not doing a thing. (Which is good since Tiger just woke up and won't do his thing in the rain.) So, I think I'll spend the rest of the morning waiting for the predicted flash floods while I finish up painting the dining room.

Once again in my life, I'm reminded how life brings us unexpected things. These things aren't always good but right now, I'm amazing lucky to have so much good. I must be doing something right. Right?

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The meek will inherit the earth

There's nothing quite like having your pride checked when at work. I take my work very seriously and I work really hard. I'm even prideful about it. And today I just got a slap in the face reminder that maybe I'm not as good as I think I am. A coworker was given an opportunity I really, really wanted. I'm sad that it wasn't given to me. But at the same time, it's an excellent reminder that I should be more humble and work harder.

Funny name of the day - Valdez Floyd.

It's Cameron's birthday! Happy Birthday, Blogdex Guy! Hope your birthday wish comes true.

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Today is a good hair day

Yes, I know how stupid that sounds, but it's true. I thought so when I left the house this morning. Then a coworker commented. When Gary picked me up for lunch and he said the same thing. Later this afternoon another coworker/good friend confirmed by offering up a compliment. Now I'm just glowing from the attention.

And today is Phil's birthday so I had a really nice chat with him. Happy birthday, Phil!

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Bad Dreams

I just woke myself up crying. I was having a horrible dream about being in prison. I don't remember much of it but I had been encarcerated for 7 years. A couple of friends came to pick me up and I was saying how fast the time had gone. Then I broke down crying. And I worke up crying. I finally realized it was a dream but I'm still sad.

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Right Now

Feeling slightly overwhelmed. It seems that a lot of people have been really open and honest about their feelings lately. I feel like I've been interacting with people on a much deeper level than normal. Which is amazing. Just overwhelming too.

It is forcing me to deal with my own feelings. Tough stuff. It's good though. I feel like I'm growing. And there's so much positive energy in my interactions. Nothing is negative or bad or unhappy. Just really good emotions. I'm so lucky to be experiencing these things and to have these people in my life.

Weekend Overview
Friday night was the ChimChim/Inkdeep housewarming party. The best part for me was convincing Kristen (the youngest Lucci sister) to go with us. A great time was had by all, even Kristen!
Check out the pictures.

After I got home from the party, Kevin and I got on the phone to plan his visit. The man has never bought an airline ticket online before. *gasp* Somehow after the ticket was bought we managed to find enough to talk about to stay up late, late, late. I kept expecting my mother to come in and tell me to get off the phone like she used to when I was a kid. Instead the sun started coming up on Kevin's side of the country so we got off the phone.

Saturday morning Dad came over to work on the house and had to wake me up. We immediately set to the task of tearing out the carpet in the dining room. There's not much to say about it other than it's lime green. Somehow that led into other things which led into us redoing the whole dining room this weekend. More details at Lucci House soon.

Saturday night Josh made the trek out to Arlington in search of suburban sushi. We ate at Blowfish Sushi and Grill which is quite a hip place for Arlington. And the sushi was quite good. However, less sauce was desired by us both.

Sunday I got up and started painting the dining room. Took a break to have lunch at Mom and Dad's. Then Kristen and I painted the rest of the afternoon. The walls are finished and gorgeous. Still need to do the trim and the floor. Next weekend. Kept Kevin up too late on the phone again. Glad I didn't have to get up early.

Today I finally got the oil changed on my car. I was entertained that the technician asked me to "step outside" to talk with him about my car. I felt like a student in high school being escorted out of a classroom by the principal. Really he was only trying to sell me other services like the fuel filter (which he didn't even have in stock). Then I got my taxes finished. Mom and I went out to lunch and did some furniture shopping. She's trying to decorate her office. I'm jealous, I'd just like to walk into mine without stepping on anything! Spent the rest of the afternoon resting then this evening getting stuff done here.

Random stuff
Thinking about a long distance relationship? This should convince you otherwise.
Josh linked SomaFM earlier today. It's kept me grooving all night long. I highly recommend it.

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Friday

< singsong >It's Friday!< /singsong >

Long Day

Is it over yet? I stayed out too late last night enjoying the always-excellent company of DFW Bloggers. It was nice to have a nice chill night and drink some pear cider. "Cider?" you ask. Yeah, I know, not usually my gig. But we just happened to be at a bar that doesn't serve liquor. Seems like an anomalie to me. Anyhow, really enjoyed geeking out and talking about silly web projects we should be doing. Who's on top of that meme we talked about?

Didn't want to get out of bed this morning since it's been two late nights in a row. Considered calling in "sick" and thought about all the friends who will be visiting in the coming weeks. I decided I'd rather save the time off. So I got to work slightly late. And realized that I didn't even have time to eat my breakfast (I usually eat at my desk) because I was in training. A full day of sitting in class wore me out. When I finally did get back to my desk to do some real work, I had more than I could do. So I dug myself out as much as possible and felt very good about it when I left. I like myself so much when I'm productive.

So then I came home, put my pj's on, and laid around.

Oh, and Billy's site looks great. It's good to have him back.

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St Patricks Day

St Patricks Day pics are finally available.

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Nap

Took a nap in the car at lunch. The sun finally came out and it was warm. Life is about the little things.

Talking with Kevin

Despite the rain, last night wasn't so bad. Summer called and we planned our trip. YEAH! We're going on a girl vacation. And, no, you can't come along! She and I don't get enough alone time so I'm totally looking forward to a whole weekend to ourselves. I chatted with Josh for awhile and he put up with my rather poor mood. I thought about making a cd for the cd mix of the month but couldn't get motivated. So I crawled in bed with the phone. Intended to just give Kevin a quick call to see how he's doing. We ended up talking for over 2 hours. So I stayed up too late but it was totally worth it.

Neither of us could quit talking. It's so amazing to me that we were in Lubbock at the same time experiencing very different but equally interesting things. I knew who he was and knew he was doing some cool stuff but I wasn't in the same circle. It's amazing to hear about it now. It's fun to hear his timeline and think of my own. It's good to know him now instead of then because he probably wouldn't have liked me much. Thank goodness for time and all the change it brings. Perspective is a beautiful thing.

Tonight is DFW Blogger happy hour. I'm so looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

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Rain

It's been raining all day. It's cold. It's wet. My backyard is a swamp. Tiger is scared of the lightening. All I want to do is get in bed.

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Quote of the Day

"Think of your normal emotional state as 0. When you are able to feel 10, you aren't ONLY able to feel 10, you're also able to feel -10. Do you know what I mean?"
- Dave

First?

Went out in Arlington tonight for the first time in a really, really long time. Kristen and Ragan were going plus it's St. Patrick's Day. I figured those were good enough excuses for me. Plus, not having to go to work on Monday makes it so much more appealing.

So I ran into a guy I dated in high school. Well, we sortof dated. The way I remember it, it was more of an after school make-out session or two. We had chemistry class together. He was funny and we flirted a lot. He was in a totally different social group than me which made it so much more appealing. (Like, he wants me?!) We had lots of fun and to this day I still laugh about his dad coming home early and catching us on the couch.

So tonight Chris and I were catching up on each other's lives. Of course, we did some reminiscing as well. But neither of us remember it particularly well considering we were 16 at the time. But I learned something tonight that I never knew before. I guess it wasn't something that could have been easily talked about then. Maybe he was embarrased. Mostly there wasn't a reason for it to be discussed. I was more than slightly shocked when he told me tonight.

I was his first kiss.

SXSW Pictures

SXSW pictures are finally done.

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Chainsaw

Nothing like being woken up by a chainsaw on the one day you want to sleep in.

Kevin's SXSW List

Kevin's Ten Things I Learned at South By Southwest 2002 is awesome.

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Email

"I was reading your site, and this line struck me: "I really enjoyed talking about the desire to write absolute truth in our blogs but none of us do it. Something to investigate more later."
What was the discussion about? How do you reveal absolute truth in a weblog?
You know I love the deep topics...
- tim"

Yes, Tim, I know you like the deep topics. And I do too. Which is probably why we get along so well. Anyhow, thanks for reminding me to bring this back up.

Absolute Truth
So I wasn't really trying to say that we can impart some universal, absolute truth to the masses through our weblogs. (How pretentious of me would it be to pretend I even know any absolute truth!) Rather, Cameron and I were discussing the desire to tell everyone our own, personal truth. We feel it would be nice if one could write exactly the things we think about. But we don't write those things because we're afraid of what people think about us. As everyone who has a blog knows, it was far easier to write honestly about our thoughts and feelings when we first started and didn't know our audience. As time progresses and you become aware of your audience, it's harder to write exactly what you think. Or we're afraid of hurting someone else's feelings (this would be my problem...I don't always think the nicest things). It's hard for me because the most enjoyable weblogs in my opinion are the personal and honest ones. But I already know that I can't be that.

Maybe I'm being silly for even thinking complete honesty is a good idea. Maybe none of us really want to know the truth. And there must be a reason we can think quietly in our heads instead of simply saying everything we think. Evolution played it's part, right? (In that we would all kill each other if our thoughts simply came out of our mouths before we had a chance to think about them.)

So, what do you think?

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Big Pet Peeve

People who call for support and they don't even have the software open.

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Crush

You know you have a crush when you wake up thinking about a person.
You also feel like you belong in junior high when that happens.

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Palm Reader

Be your own palm reader.

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Quote of the Day

"Weblogs are better than crack."
- Cameron

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Today

Ok, so you know that 40+ email I was complaining about? Ignore me. Jane said she had 211.

Went to dinner tonight with my work group. It was lots of fun and I ate too much. Then came home and walked the dogs. Tonight is really warm (75 degrees) and windy. Feels like tornado weather almost. The wind is kinda creepy just like in a scary movie. Luckily I live in a nice neighborhood where I don't worry too much about walking the dogs in the dark.

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Gone Forever

There's nothing like getting to work and having 40+ email to read/respond to. And then choosing to blog instead of dealing with work.

I didn't listen to any Tears for Fears during my road trip. *gasp* This is highly unusual behavior for me as Tears for Fears is the best driving music ever. So I made up for it and listened to it this morning on the way to work instead of listening to the news (it's a little too early to jump right back in to the same schedule everyday).

It feels like I've been gone forever. Things have changed while I was gone! The trees in the front yard are blooming and the sun is coming up earlier than before. Plus I counted 3 new billboards on the way to work this morning. Changes. I super excited about the days getting longer. Pretty soon I won't be leaving work while it's still dark.

SXSW Day 5

Yesterday was the last day in a series of great days. Having celebrated my birthday the night before, I slept in as late as possible. I didn't want to kill myself and rush to the conference so I didn't. I actually pulled Josh away from the conference so we could have lunch. It had turned into a perfect day here in Austin - the sun was warm but there was a cool breeze. Everyone wanted to be outside. We ate lunch on a patio.

Then I went back to the conference and heard "P2P Journalism: Weblogs and Collaborative Media." The panel included Meg Hourihan, Rusty Foster (who I was very impressed with and plan on reading), Doc Searls (who had to say this about the panel), and Cameron Marlow. It was certainly interesting to hear people talking about the possibility of blogs negating the need for journalism. However, this isn't an idea I'm particularly fond of. I like blogs for the personal aspect, for the way it's written by one person and I know something about that person based on their writing. I'm not particularly interested in reading blogs that only tell me the news...but I'm not too interested in reading the news at all. All in all, it was a fascinating discussion. Cameron made a good point when someone brought up the cliquishness of blogging (and the way that everyone links everyone else so it becomes a circle); he said that the way we interact in blogs is the same as we interact in our social lives. Amen.

The last conference related thing was the keynote which featured Bruce Sterling and Cory Doctorow. They discussed the topic "The Death of Scarcity" which isn't something I've thought a lot about. Basically the idea is, can products like Napster make the music industry go away because all music becomes free? And if it does, what happens? These men were fascinating. And quite entertaining. It makes a lot of sense why they are so well known - they both have the personality and minds for it.

Ended up leaving the conference to enjoy the beautiful weather later that afternoon. Kevin Smokler, Tim Thompson, and I went to Hula Hut. We just sat around and had the best low-key conversation. It was exactly what I look for in conversations with other people. I just want to connect for a few moments and I got lucky enough to leave feeling like I have two new friends.

Came back to Cindy's and laid around trying to find the energy to go to dinner. It had been a long day, I didn't have enough sleep and was dragging. But dinner helped a ton and I made it to Gingerman where it seemed a majority of people were hanging out. I got to meet Peter (whose panel I heard yesterday). I had to stifle a laugh when he asked me if I wanted to pursue a career in web design - it was certainly the first time someone's asked that recently! I also met Cam but I can't remember what we talked about other than NY City. There was a Kottke sighting but alas, I didn't get introduced.

The highlight of the night was getting to sit and talk with Cameron, of Blogdex fame. We had started a conversation earlier in the day that we finally got a chance to finish. It was nice to get away from the crowd and have a conversation that wasn't completely small talk. Cameron is really, really smart (duh, he goes to MIT) but he can have a normal conversation. We get along surprisingly well and I'm glad to say I have a new friend. [I really enjoyed talking about the desire to write absolute truth in our blogs but none of us do it. Something to investigate more later.] We lost track of time, everyone else had left the bar, and suddenly we realized it was midnight. He had to catch an early flight (hope you got home safely and without too much trauma) and I was exhausted, so we parted ways. For me, having a real, valuable conversation was the perfect wrap up for a really nice week.

Ran some errands around Austin today before heading home. Bumped into Dave and Jeremey just after lunch. It was a cool chance to hear someone else's perspective on their trip (in person and not online). Driving home was extremely enjoyable. The weather was perfect even though I sunburned my arm by having the windows down. It should be called "driver's burn" or something as just the left arm gets the sun when you're driving. Anyhow, made it back safely, now am heading off to have dinner with Mom and Dad. Though I have a sneaky suspicion that Dad doesn't really want to see me, he just wants to see my new camera.

SXSW Day 4

I still can't believe how fast everything has gone. I still feel like I just got here. Yesterday was, of course, my birthday. It turned out to be a really, really great one. Karen and Kristen called in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. Mom and Dad called in the evening. Kevin, too, called. Then Autumn called and then Summer called! I also got email and everyone I saw yesterday wished me a happy birthday. It was indeed happy! Everyone, thank you.

So I got up early as usual yesterday and headed off downtown for breakfast. Then over to the convention center. Hit a discussion called "When Worlds Collide" by Peter Merholz. It was all about other fields that feed into design and interactivity which then in turn make better design or usability. (Which is a word I'm so sick of hearing...actually, I'm going to make a list of words I don't want to hear after the conference.) Anyhow, Peter did a great job leading the discussion and getting people going. It was such a great idea for him to surf the web to bring up a page about various topics the conversation turned to. What a great way to teach school! Lead a discussion and keep bringing up web pages to support/reinforce ideas. The main thing I took out of the discussion, since I'm not a full time designer, was a ton of interesting books. Emergence: The connected lives of ants, brains, cities and software, Computer as Theatre, and Language of New Media are a few that I wrote down. I also want to do some more reading about Maeda, who is a designer and professor I believe. Oh, and I also want to check out Jeff Gates's site - he was in the panel and I'm curious what else he does.

Hmm, I didn't really do much else in the way of conference stuff after that. I sat in a couple more but wasn't too focused. I don't know if I was just tired or lazy or what. Since this is my vacation, I'm not sweating it too much. And I got away by going to lunch with Josh at PF Changs. Everything was perfect. Came back to Cindy's for a nap in the early evening. It was over far too quickly and suddenly Cindy and I were rushing off to 20x2.

20x2 was, in my opinion, a complete success. Wonderful, wonderful artists performed. Congratulations, Kevin and Jeff for putting on such a great show! I know you guys worked hard. Oh, so this is when I finally got to meet Jeff in person! Cool stuff. I also got to meet Mike and ran into an old friend from Lubbock, Dexter. Talk about worlds colliding. I love all the connections we make in life and how they always connect to something else.

So I wore my beautiful, new, sparkly, EricaLucci.com t-shirt. (There will probably be pictures at some point but my battery was low on my camera last night so they won't be my pictures.) It caused quite the ruckus I was looking for. Fun stuff. However, I didn't anticipate leaving the blogger group and being in other public places with my url sparkling across my chest. The bartender at Speakeasy asked about it. So, if you bothered to look it up, hi, bartender! But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

20x2 was great but I'm not sure it's something I could go into. Just 20 artists all speaking for 2 minutes on the same topic. The question this year is "What is real?" I loved that there was so much media brought into the presentations. Afterwards, I got to hang out and talk with a lot of people. Eventually we all migrated down to Jazz for the DFW Blogs happy hour. I think this was a total success. It was awesome to get so many bloggers together with drinks in our hands. I had a great time talking with everyone. But I did end up sneaking off a little early.

Ok, here's the story for anyone that's wondering...so, if you're not, skip to the end of the paragraph. I started talking with S, who requested his name not be posted and I'm complying. I started talking to S because he went to high school with another friend of mine. We got along wonderfully and couldn't quit talking. He needed to go see a friend play at another bar. I got invited along and it sounded like a great idea. We had so much fun. S is a wonderful guy even though I hardly know him. It was one of those situations where neither of us could quit smiling nor talking. So in a complete unexpected change of plans, I ended up hanging out with a perfect stranger rather than with all the bloggers. I can honestly say that wasn't what I expected but it made for a wonderful birthday night.

Now, again, I'm up too early and need to start my day. Hope everyone had fun last night. I'm looking forward to hearing someone else's perspective and pictures of the happy hour.

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SXSW Day 3

I would like to interrupt yesterday's SXSW post to point out today is my 25th birthday. Thank you everyone for the notes and phone calls! I am having a great day!

SXSW Day 3
The first panel yesterday about independant content was fabulous. Jeffrey Zelman moderated a discussion about creating independent content with Derek Powazek, Josh Davis, and Gabe Keen. It was so fascinating to hear all the different backgrounds that everyone has come from. I'm amazed at how many artists have migrated over to the web medium. The joke is that everyone came over to make money because we all know there isn't any money in art. I think there is a lot of truth to that but I also think that artists are very creative and excellent problem solvers which makes us good in the business world to a certain extent. Anyhow, they made some great points about independant content. Great quotes included self publishing is like "waving your dick in the air" (Powazek) and it's "cheaper than golf" (Davis). But you know what? We don't need a reason or an excuse. We're just doing it. Overall, I was very impressed with Zeldman, being such a well-known guy, I didn't expect too much. He did an excellent job narrating and keeping the discussion going. I am highly impressed.

Then I saw a presentation by Steve Mann, who the movie, Cyborg, is about. Haven't seen the movie yet and probably won't have an opportunity but the guy is fascinating. He's mixing technology with life and is then making social commentary and art about it. He's well known for this wearable computers and wore one for a couple years. Professor Mann was doing live stream video from this eyetap, a wearable computer that is something like sunglasses, I believe. The weird part is I didn't get to see him at all, all we saw was what he sees through his eyes. I was most highly entertained by his use of marker and paper to illustrate points when his work is so immersed in technology. Just shows, that if there isn't a problem with a current medium, don't try to make a better one.

Then I had lunch with a bunch of bloggers, of course. I wish I could remember everyone I met, but I failed to write it all down. Kevin and I had a lengthy conversation so he sticks out in my mind. He runs a site called Central Booking and lives in San Francisco. Also met Aneil and Jason whose sites might come later (when I find them again).

After lunch heard another panel about independant content. I went to this one specifically because Evan was on it. I wasn't too impressed with the topic "Building Buzz with Independant Content." Basically the discussion revolved around how to promote your site and "be popular." Not really something I'm particularly interested in. But I did get to meet Evan afterwards and I got a picture with him specifically for Karen. He seems like a nice guy if not a little socially ackward as we all are when talking to complete strangers. Actually, a lot of people have been like that at this conference. I shouldn't have thought that a lot of web geeks would be socially active. Everyone (in general) communicates better on the web than they do in person. Duh.

Then I headed back to Cindy's apartment to take a break before the evening's events. Cindy spent last night in San Antonio with friends so I got hear about her trip. I caught her up on all of my events. And we talked a lot about blogs. She's fascinated and wants to do more investigation. I'm hoping we have another convert! Yes, Cindy, make a blog!

Last night I hit Fray Cafe for a very short while. There was a lot of confusion as at the same venue there was a SXSW movie being shown. So there were lots and lots of people. And there weren't really enough seats either. And it started late. But enough complaining. I'm sure it was great after the initial slow start. I just didn't stay around to see. Amanda, Dave, and I went to La Zona Rosa to see Ben Folds. That was an activity in of itself. The line for will call tickets was absurd. But we did make it in before he went on. I think Ben Folds' show was the best I've ever seen. Honestly. It was just him and his piano. He was on and excited and at the same time relaxed. I didn't leave the venue with ringing ears. The whole experience was almost like sitting in the living room with Ben and hearing him play. Very intimate. Hearing him sing some of his songs brought tears to my eyes. The best was the crowd singing along. I can't imagine how that must make him feel. Total complete affirmation of your work by having hundreds of people sing your lyrics with you. It was such a great show and I went back to Cindy's with a completely warm heart. I can't think of a concert that has made me feel like that ever.

Didn't stay out too late last night so I woke up around 8am. Sometimes being an adult sucks. I decided to get up and I treated myself to a birthday breakfast at Las Manitas. Then I came over to the convention center for another day full of technology. I'm really looking forward tonight's activities of 20x2 and the DFW Blogs happy hour. Wish you were here!

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SXSW Day 2

Yesterday the best thing that happened to me was meeting Blogdex creator, Cameron. The worst thing that happened to me yesterday was missing KickBall.

I slept in late, goofed off around Cindy's house before heading down to the convention center. I registered and got my badge. Sat in on a panel about wearable technology called "Nowear and Everywhere." It was definitely geared towards designers but the whole subject fascinates me. I love technology and want to incoorporate it into life my more. It's hard to believe just a couple years ago I didn't want to get a cell phone because I thought they were prissy. I had no idea who much a cell phone would change my life and keep me connected! So now I want a cell phone that is on my wrist or is a piece of jewelry so I don't have to carry around such a big thing. And you know, it's not really THAT big! I really enjoyed Francine Gemperle's presentation which was an overview of wearable technology. I hadn't thought about things like scuba gear or eyeball implants as being wearable technology. Great presentation.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed Elliott Hsu and Greg Holderfield from Herbst LAZar Bell Inc in Chicago. The presentation started off rough in that the Ibook didn't work well with the Dell projector. Elliot handled it quite well, "It seems like everytime you come to a technology conference, the technology doesn't work." They work as industrial designers and showed us some conceptual pieces their group worked on stricktly as in house projects. They were fascinating. From a backpack which holds a student's flat panel monitor and computer which also connects him to his teacher and parents to a skirt whose length can be changed electronically. Their vision for these pieces was that products didn't have to be hard, cold, molded plastic. My favorite is the shirt with sleeves that can expand and contract based on your body temperature.

After being tempted with all these amazing products that don't exist yet and even if they do exist will be too expensive for me, I headed off to meet Josh and some people for lunch. Lunch was when I figured out Kickball was Saturday and not Sunday. Silly me. We had lunch with Jane, Jessica, Jish, Cameron (who has a blog in addition to Blogdex but I just can't remember what it is now), and Kristin (to who I was like you're booboolina! oh my gosh, that is so cool!). It was a great lunch getting to talk to everyone and hearing about jobs and blogs.

Then we headed back to the conference where I ran into a bunch of the DFW Bloggers. The last panel of the day was "Simplicity in Interface Design" by Ernest Kim and Jason Fried of 37signals.com. They made their point about good and bad design through a game show which was really quite entertaining. I commend their presentation creativity!

After the presentation, I could have headed off to a party but I was really too tired. So Josh and I took a nap before heading off to any parties. We showed up too late to the first one. But the second one totally made up for it. "Electricity and Me" at the Gallery Lombardi was an incredible art show. Most of it was interactive art which is my favorite kind and it all had something to do with technology. I got some great pictures (which I'll post when I get home). I had so much fun, playing and watching and listening. It was truely a mulitsensory experience in art. I commend all the artists in that show!

Instead of heading off to a bar and staying out too late, Josh and I decided to get ice cream and call it a night early. So I took him to the oh-so-famous Amy's Ice Cream. Good stuff! So around 11:30pm, I got back to Cindy's and surfed a little bit before bed. It's fun to see the pages of all the people I've met. I only wish I had more time to do it!

Speaking of which, I've got to get going today. Panels start in about an hour and a half. I still need to download pictures from my camera to my laptop for safe keeping. Then I need to grab a cup of coffee and head off to the convention center. Tonight is Fray Cafe and I might catch Ben Folds at La Zona Rosa.

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SXSW Day 1

The drive to Austin yesterday wasn't bad until I actually got into town. Then traffic got bad. But it's completely expected for this town. Hung out with Journalism Josh for about 80 minuites. I know the specific time frame because I was charging the battery to my new camera. Yes, I broke down and bought a digital camera. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet nor read the manual. But that's one of the things to do while I'm on vacation. Anyhow, back to yesterday...

So then Cindy called and we met for dinner. Cindy is a friend that I met through Autumn. She is one of the most incredible women I know and it was certainly instantaneous friendship as soon as we met. She's so cool that she's letting me crash at her place for the week. We met at Romeo's which is some of the best Italian in Austin from our experience. It was a great chance to catch up with each other.

After dinner we headed off to Iron Cactus for "Breaking Bread with Brad." I was kinda out of the loop on that one and didn't connect that it was dinner. I know, I know...breaking bread should have clued me in. I just wasn't on top of my game yesterday. So Cindy and I sat at the bar for a few drinks while a huge group of people had dinner. Throughout dinner plenty of people came by the bar to talk. And after dinner we did mingle with everyone. The highlight was meeting Mena who I was really looking forward to being here. And of course it was great to meet Brad, who is so nice and made everyone feel welcome.

Eventually we moved migrated towards Polyesters where everyone was discussing doing karaoke. I went along for the walk and was not at all disappointed when plans changed. Everyone went over to B-side where an official sxsw party was happening. Dave and I decided to skip it and found a table at Fado, an Irish bar just down the street. It was good to get away from the group since I was tired. Plus I hadn't really talked to Dave in weeks, which meant we had plenty to catch up on. Around 12:30, I headed back to Cindy's and went to bed. Just woke up a few minutes ago with a headache which reminds me that I probably shouldn't make habit of drinking as much as I did last night.

Now I'm off to check my schedule, get ready, run a few errands, and head off to the conference. Oh yeah, and here are the other people I met yesterday. Rebecca Blood, Jish, Sarah, Kevin.

Oh, and Jon called! Looking forward to seeing him and catching up later this week. He's apparently playing with a new band, Abra Moore. They're opening for Six Pence None the Richer tonight but I can't remember where. Very exciting for him. AND he has a girlfriend. Too bad for me but I'm super happy for him. And for her for that matter.

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SXSW here I come!

The weekend has begun. Actually, the week. I can't believe I don't have to be back at work for another 7 days. Hell yeah. Life is good. Well, it'll be even better just as soon as I pack my crap and get going. Too tired tonight to do much. But in the morning, it's going to be a different story! I'm SO excited.

Today's highlight was lunch with Gary. Hadn't seen him in forever so it was good to catch up. Oh, and once again the food at Rockfish rocked.

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Night With Grandma

Spent the night with Grandma last night as my parents were away and she doesn't like being alone. We started talking about the news and she brought up the new mayor in Dallas. Now I don't completely know what's going on but a new mayor was elected recently. Apparently there's now a lot of issues she will have to deal with. (Naturally, she's the mayor.) So in this discussion, which was mostly me listening since I know so little about the situation, my grandmother says, "I just don't think that's a job for women." She continued to say that she understands why a woman would want the job but that "there are some places women shouldn't go" and as mayor you'd have to go there.

Now, my grandmother is 90 years old. It makes sense that someone her age would believe that. However, it really caught me by surprise. I simply don't know anyone else who feels the same way about women's "place." I think that's good. It means the world has changed a lot in the past 90 years.

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Quote of the Day

"One question, is it mandatory on Geocities cites to require a midi file?"
- Gary

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SXSW DFWBlogs HH

Did I mention it's on my birthday? Lucky me - two excuses to drink too much!

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Oh my gosh, I was out on a work night

Last night I went to Ridglea Theater to see the Dismemberment Plan and Death Cab for Cutie. Journalism Josh can be blamed for corrupting my sleep schedule. Actually, yesterday was such a crappy day at work (everyone in my department but me and 2 other people called in sick yesterday) that I decided I deserved a night to go out. And I'm so glad I did. Both bands were great.

I think the best part of the show for me was to see how happy all the musicians were. Everyone was smiling and grooving. They looked genuinely pleased to be there. Just like the audience was.

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Page Design

New Design, yeah!

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Overheard in the office

"Company X does NOT get any favors."
Heh heh.

Quote of the Day

"I'm tired of dreaming. I'm into doing at the moment."
- Tim, who is thinking of taking this as his own

And where did you come from?

I came across a text file on my computer tonight. This normally isn't a big deal except that this text file is one I don't recognize. I don't claim to know every single file on my machine but I'm some what neurotic about knowing where I put things. (For example, when I was younger, I always knew when Karen would borrow clothes *without asking* because the closet was out of order.) And this text file happens to reside in a folder I just created yesterday. I know what I put in it.

The other interesting thing about this text file is it's name. Answer.txt

I was a bit disappointed when all it said inside was "Default",0957681.

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Relaxing weekend

This weekend I took it easy. Friday night I laid around and watched TV. I haven't allowed myself this luxury in quite sometime. But I was sleepy and had little energy for anything else. I was surprised with how enjoyable it was. Cable is an amazing thing. So now I've decided that I need to watch more TV. Mostly because I don't just veg out enough. Really.

Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of sleet hitting the windows. And it was cold. We got some crazy artic weather down here in Dallas! There wasn't too much snow or ice on the ground in Arlington but it was there! I believe other parts of the metroplex fared worse. Though the temperature was really the incredible part - the low was like 20 degrees! With the wind chill it felt like 10 degrees. All I have to say is in March in Texas that's just wrong.

So normally I would have stayed in bed enjoying the fact it was super cold outside and I didn't have to go anywhere. But then the tapping started. It sounded familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. Until I realized it was in the attic. Of course the coldest day of the winter would be the day a squirrel decided to get caught in our trap. So I rolled out of bed, threw some clothes on and headed into the attic. It was cold up there but not nearly as cold as it was outside. I carefully drove on the snow/ice to a park a couple miles from the house. (Maybe it wasn't far enough but what are the chances a squirrel is going to travel 2 miles back to my attic?) Then I walked with the squirrel freaking out in the cage to a wooded area where I let it go. I felt bad for letting it go in such cold weather but he just seemed happy to get out of there. Not that I blame him one bit. The wind was blowing very hard so by the time it was all over I felt like one big icicle. At the car I realized I didn't have my keys. The car wasn't locked but I wasn't going very far without the keys. So I retraced my steps across the field to the wooded area where I had let the rodent go. And to great relief, there were my keys. By the time I got home I was no longer an icicle but a full-fledged glacier.

Spent the rest of the morning doing some basic house cleaning and hanging out with the sisters. Sunday worked a redesign for the site. Coming soon. I buckled down and taught myself some new bits of design. The front isn't going to be spectacular but I know what the back end looks like!

Came to work today so that I can have Friday off for SXSW. Now that I've been having long weekends it was hard to have a normal length one.

Customer name of the day: Cookie. That one's so crazy I doubt he made it up.