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| | WENT ON DOWN TO 'LANTA AND HAD MYSELF A TIME | Date:Sun Oct 17 14:25:47 1999 |
| Here's the writeup on my perceptions of the Atlanta Linux Showcase. Overall it was a really fun show -- it wasn't a big one, certainly not in the same magnitude as Linux World Expo, but it had a charm all its own! I think that had something to do with the Southerners -- they're collectively some of the warmest, friendliest people I have ever met, and their sense of hospitality is remarkable. I really didn't have much chance to walk the showcase floor, primarily because I spent much of my time at the show hunched over a copy of the User Friendly book scribbling my signature. Friday was really pleasant too because I got to sit next to Eric S. Raymond at the O'Reilly booth -- he was signing his new book The Cathedral & the Bazaar (which were sold out at the show, IIRC!) and to top that off, I got to meet a whole bunch of really friendly fans. That actually started at noon that day, when I was at the UF booth for a few hours. On Saturday I spent a few hours at the UF booth again to make myself available for more signing time, as I was informed that quite a few people missed me at the ORA booth the day before. By the end of Saturday my right hand was threatening to collapse on itself. I was wondering how many weeks I'd be unable to draw cartoons. :) A really neat thing about a show the size of ALS is that a lot of 'celebrities' in the Linux community were easily accessible. Larry Augustin, CEO and President of VA Linux Systems was gabbing with the ORA folks, and of course the Slashdot boys Rob and Jeff (who's now homeless -- send good thoughts his way) were there, and Eric was his old roaming self. For once I actually had the opportunity to talk to Larry and listen to him enough to be able to include him in a strip one day. ;) Some of the most entertaining moments I experienced while at the show were (and not in any particular order): signing and drawing on a young lady's VERY taut tummy (she must do like 300 situps a day!); doing the same to, errr, a number of other body parts; hearing Rob Malda wolf whistle while I was signing body bits; see Trae McCombs (of Linux.com) cut into the line like a shameless heathen and then actually buy something (the UF book) at a trade show; and being shot at by rapid-fire Nerf weaponry. I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but the kind of lag I'm suffering right now isn't measured in milliseconds. Finally, special thanks go to Isaac-30 ("Ike") for doing such a bang-up job on the signage and team t-shirts and for helping at the booth; to Gruuk for going way above and beyond the call of duty and being the booth's anchor; to Thyla and Amberle for being the ultimate boothchyks and attracting a whole lot of male attention to the UF booth and for some pretty sharp marketing savvy; and of course to Iambe, for organizing, mothering and beating the whole thing into shape. I know I've missed mentioning a couple of other people, so please accept my apologies and believe me when I say that I don't travel well. I'll be at ALS next year, if for no other reason than to get some more of them grits and cornbread. :)
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| I HAD GRITS! AND MORE FROM THE FLOOR | Date:Fri Oct 15 21:32:48 1999 |
| For the first time in my life I had grits! And you know what, they were really quite good! Next step is to try the cornbread. The South does indeed have much appeal aside from the friendly locals. In any case, ALS is a very enjoyable show. I'm typing this with the fingers of one hand, because my other one is crippled from all of the signing I did today. I confess that I am extremely surprised at the response to the book here, and the line-ups to get my inked scrawl on the front page were both flattering and staggering. I'm told that many people were unable to make it to the show today, and that since tomorrow is Saturday, the folks who missed the expo so far will be off work and able to come by. So, in all fairness I'll make sure I'm at the UF booth between noon and 2:00PM tomorrow to sign whatever needs signing, not to mention also taking the time to kick Trae McComb's (Linux.com) butt for whatever reason I can think of. :) Either myself or Iambe will be doing a report from the floor tomorrow afternoon, so stick around!
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| [IAMBE]JUST PEACHY - NEWS FROM THE SHOW FLOOR | Date:Thu Oct 14 14:20:15 1999 |
| We made it, and it was a nearly painless experience....OK, first a customs search, no car rental ( I am sorry Ma'am, even though you have had a reservation for the past month, we have no car for you ), and a screwup with the hotel, but we are all here (36 hours awake and sore feet later - a (portion of a) bottle of Grand Marnier makes a nice substitute for Nyquil). There have been some slight changes in plans however that you should be aware of. As posted earlier, Team Dust Puppy is not travelling about Atlanta in a black Cherokee, but in a The Stay Puft Suburban (it is large, it is white, it is large {well I said that already}) so if you see us - honk, if you don't see us, we will post some pics up as soon as possible of the UberUrbanAssaultVehicle. The Atlanta Linux Showcase is a wonderful show and fun "to beat all get out". Team Dust Puppy, consisting of the hardworking heroes Thyla, Ike, Gruuk, HomeySan, Amberle and myself are having a wonderful time down at the show meeting such celebs as the dot's Rob Malda, ESR, Trae the delicious from Linux.com, Aeleen Frisch and Miguel de Icaxa. The show floor is a hive of activity and we are told that attendance will be up for tomorrow and friday. Thanks go out to Show Directors Stephen, V, and Chris for seeing that we have everything we need and more while we are down here! The hospitality in Atlanta is incredible.
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| ILLIAD WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA | Date:Thu Oct 14 00:45:13 1999 |
At this godless hour I'm tidying up the last bitlets of things to do before I hit the hay for some much needed sleep, prior, of course, to the rather longish flight to Atlanta and the Atlanta Linux Showcase. By the time I land in Atlanta it should be around midnight there, which means I'll be beating a retreat to my hotel room, but come Friday morning I'll be heading over to the showcase to do the book signings. I'm at the O'Reilly booth between (I believe) 3:00PM and 4:00PM -- check first, it's late and I'm incoherent. I should be at the User Friendly booth from 12:00 noon to 1:30PM and from 4:30PM to 5:30PM or thereabouts. I'll make sure the UF booth heroes are aware of what times I'll be there on Friday morning so you can bug them. ;)
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| "THE BOOK SHE IS HERE" SAYS MAD SCIENTIST | Date:Thu Oct 14 00:40:17 1999 |
Dr. Frank Nagy over at the Fermilab Computing Division for the US Government (man, that just sounded so X-Filesish) was one of a couple dozen people who reported receiving the UF book from Amazon.com. Par-tay! :)
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| BOOK AVAILABILITY REPORT | Date:Mon Oct 11 16:30:06 1999 |
The UF book is still warm off the publishing press but will be available for the first time in some stores this week. Last week O'Reilly shipped the entire printing of the first edition to distributors, and these distributors will likely ship the book to hundreds of bookstores by next week. But O'Reilly has also already shipped copies directly to a few dozen A-1 technical bookstores. If you live in the area, check out Softpro in Burlington or Denver, the University of Virginia Bookstore in Charlottesville, OPAMP Technical Books in Los Angeles, San Diego Technical Books, The Computer Library in Tempe or Chapter 11 in Atlanta. Or buy the book now from Amazon.com and help the Dust Puppy compete with Stephen King's latest bestseller in sales rankings ;-)
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| I'M GLAD SOMEONE TOLD ME | Date:Mon Oct 11 16:27:37 1999 |
| Jake sent in this tidbit: ...next week will mark your 100th week of UFdom, if you haven't been keeping track. As in, October 17th will be the 700th. Interestingly enough, exactly 23 months from the 1st. Has it been that long? I suppose it has, and November 17th will be the second anniversary for UF. This had better not mean I'm getting older too. :-b
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