Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • Whew… We’re Not Evil (well, in this case)

    Slashdot issues retraction. AOL isn’t reading your IM’s. It’s only for publicly available info like message board posts. whew!!\
    See this one too.

  • I’ll Be Here

    I’m in Austin for SXSW. If you’re here and would like to play along, I’ve put a wiki up for to take notes. If you’ve posted notes, come on over and throw up a link. If you are at the conference and want a place to drop your notes – drop ’em here.\
    I’m having a ball, got a wicked sunburn playing kickball (we won), ate some great Mexican food, handed out a lot of stickers, met Jeffrey Zeldman finally, hung out with extremely cool people, and am so unbelievably happy to be here.

  • This Is Becoming A Tradition

    The Boys Are Animated

    Last year, we met the Browns at Threadgills on Thursday night before SXSW began. This year, the crowd got bigger, with the addition of Kevin Smokler, George, Tim and Neil. We had a great time!!! I got to play with the kids, we talked about all kinds of things, I installed Movable Type, Instiki and Sogudi on George’s laptop, and we laughed… a ton. Oh yeah, I think I set the new land speed record for installing and rebuilding MT – three minutes from beginning to first post posted and site rebuilt. Can you beat that?

  • For Shame

    I’m not sure what’s worse, how much I laughed at this list or how many of these have come out of my mouth in the past three years (I don’t think I’ve done any of them recently, but I’ll leave that for other people to decide – I surely don’t remember).\
    I know I’ve done 1, 6, 17 and the last one. Shame on me…

  • Driving Grandma’s Car

    I made it to Austin, and Avis was all out of Monte Carlos. That means I’ve got yet another Grandma car – the Buick Century, with it’s grandma-hand sized steering wheel, and soap-like handling. The only good thing about it is that I’m sure I can get everyone’s luggage in it next Thursday.\
    Had a lovely lunch at Moonshine, and am looking forward to going to dinner with the Browns and Mr. McNally’s posse at Threadgills.\
    I love Austin. It’s 75 degrees outside, little humidity and the sun is shining. I can’t wait to see everyone, and geek out for a week. I also remembered to bring blank cd’s, and am working on a soundtrack for this week (at least for the car).

  • The Thing I Keep Forgetting

    I keep forgetting that in a couple weeks, I’ll be thirty years old.\
    You’d think I’d remember something like that.

  • Favorites From Last Week

    I wanted to get these down before they completely got away from me. Last week was tiring, but well worth it. Boston was frickin’ freezing, but I learned a lot, actually contributed this time, and met some great people. So, here are my favorites from last week:

    • Favorite Meal: Meeting Frank Wilczak and Betsy Devine for dinner at Atasca. It was a fun evening, with good food, good conversation, and some good laughs. I’m sad that Betsy won’t be joining us for SXSW this year…
    • Second Favorite Meal: Bella Vista with the CSS WG. It started snowing while we were inside this cute little place in the North End that only took cash or American Express. I sat between Markus and Tantek, and had dueling conversations, about business travel and how to semantically markup the menu. The grilled veal was amazing, and the strachiatella was homey and rich.
    • Favorite Joke: We were doing introductions at a group meeting, went around the large table saying our names, and who we worked for. Then, we went around again so the minute taker could write down everyone’s first names. Then I suggested we go around one more time and give our initials. Ok, it was funny at the time. The runner up was, “It’s Bert, spelled C-S-S.”
    • Favorite TV Show: Top Gear!! I watched the rest of the episodes I’d downloaded, and it’s the best car show ever. It’s funny, smart and a great way to get reviews of new cars without getting bored by the minutiae. My favorite bits are the challenges: car olympics, historic people carrier (minivan) racing championship, the Ferrari vs. British Airways and Public Transport race, the 1,500 pound Porsche challenge, etc. They’re all funny, and better yet – fun. These guys love cars like little boys love cars, and it’s fabulous.
    • Favorite Moment: Coming home to shouts of “Daddy!”\
      And I’m off again on Thursday… looking forward to more favorites.

  • Downtown Boston At Night

    Downtown Boston At Night

    It’s over… the plenary is over. I’ve eaten dinner, and all I have to do now is pack up, go to sleep and then get on a plane in the morning, then I’ll be home. At least until Thursday.

  • Wicked Lava Lamp Jellyfish

    Wicked Lava Lamp Jellyfish

    Now, more jellyfish!! Did I tell you how much I liked the jellyfish exhibit? Did you know I’m still cold? I haven’t warmed up all day. I’m sitting here in sweatpants and a sweater and I’m still freezing. I’m about to go start a fire in the bathtub…

  • The New England Aquarium

    Green Jellies

    I went to the New England Aquarium this morning and had a good time dodging field trip kids of all ages, their harried chaperones, and wild strollers of death.\
    The jellyfish exhibit was awesome, and gave me a chance to play with my new mini tripod (thanks, sweetie), and some long exposures.\
    The only downer of this morning (yes, I’m at the W3C conference, but my group isn’t meeting again until tomorrow, and the group I was auditing wasn’t meeting until after lunch) was waiting for the Harbor Express boat for the trip back. I stood outside in freezing temperatures and wicked cold wind (see, catching on to this whole Boston thing) for forty-five minutes until I gave up and got a cab.\
    Boston… it’s wicked cold.