I realize that I only have two more days about which to provide an update, but Monday was a big day.
Monday
Tried to remain calm and sleep in. Didn’t work so well. Heather was up for a bunch of awards this year and given what we’ve gone through in life and for the site, I really wanted her to get some public recognition for the work she puts into dooce®. Got breakfast and cleaned up for the days events. I was trying to hold my shit together as we ran through the rain to the convention center. Heather was asked to present (and did) a few of the Bloggies and won! A bunch! I had forgotten that dooce was nominated for Best Design and as the nominees were read I was all “design sponge, design sponge” and then realized that if I ever wanted sex again I’d need to change who I was rooting for. Brain: “shit, dude you are supposed to root for your wife’s site, MORON!”
When Heather won, I really felt lucky to be a part of her world and see what great readers she has. Having been with Heather through the first craziness of dooce, and watching the site grow and Heather’s involvement with the site grow as well, made watching her receive recognition from readers really touching. There aren’t many reputable awards for bloggers and the Bloggies are the longest running and most known, so it has an air of awesomeness that is hard to articulate. I’m so thankful to all of you who voted for Heather and for those who were nominated; you are all helping move personal publishing forward. This is such a great time to be a geek.
After the awards ceremony, we tried to get lunch at Moonshine (ha! epic fail!) and ended up getting convention food and hitting the Post Secret keynote given by Frank Warren.
I have often wondered how Mr. Warren could cope with the intensity of running a project like Post Secret. The emotional and psychic toll has to be immense and only someone who is very healthy and positive could deal with the overhead. A great panel with interesting audience participation at the end (a marriage proposal!) and heartfelt sharing from a woman who’s sister is ill. After the woman spoke Warren asked if he could give her a hug.
Really incredible to see such humanity coming from the web and affirmed my earlier feelings about fans of dooce and Heather. Y’all are lovely. I can’t say it enough.
We celebrated with champagne. And then we got burgers. And nachos. Then we tried (and failed) to sit in on the Heather Gold show that was being shot at the same facility serving up the burgers. Then more parties and drinking and at about 11pm, I realized that in 5-6 hours, I’d have to get up and get to the airport. We had booked the only direct flight out of Austin to Salt Lake City. Which means one gets up far too early after several days of open bars and dancing. At 10am on Tuesday I was going to be faced with parenthood and would likely be hung over and/or exhausted if I didn’t immediately return to my hotel room. Which I did, awkwardly.
Packed. Which is a first. Usually packing is an insane rushed affair that happens 20 minutes after I’m supposed to be in a cab. I later discovered that I left my old school razor in the hotel. Grrr. So much for packing the night before.
Tuesday
Woke at 5am. Showered. Got breakfast and checked out. Made the airport with enough time to spare. No flight problems. Arrived home very tired, but very happy to see my girl and later, the dogs. Yes, even Coco.
This year was a great year at SxSW, even if it wasn’t 80°F and beautiful. It was still great to catch up with friends and meet so many talented, intelligent and driven people. Very inspiring and also a bit tiring.
I’m knackered.