see the dust cloud disappear
We just walked in from ApacheCon. I’ll give a full report as soon as I have a chance to write it up, but here are a few quick impresisons:
I was scared absolutely shitless when I gave my talk yesterday morning, and The Voice Of Self Doubt was so loud in my ears, I had a hard time hearing my own voice. It took me a long time to shut him up so I could just talk, but when I did, and I hit my stride, I felt like I got some good points across, and I got very positive feedback from a lot of people, including two people who told me that they’d gone into my talk convinced that blogs were lame, but left equally convinced that they were a powerful tool to empower people who have something to say.
Last night, I found out that I hosed the link to ApacheCon in the previous blog entry, with the rookie move of leaving out the “http://” in the link. Brilliant thing to do the day before I go and talk to the people who make teh Intarweb exist. I lost a terrabyte terabyte (jesus, could I be more lame?) of cool points for that blunder. I gotta tell you, there’s nothing more embarrassing (and frustrating) than finding out that I hosed something on my blog, and I don’t have a chance to fix it for over 24 hours. (I’ve since decided to leave the screwed up link, just to piss off the W3C and so there’s a nice LAME mark on my permanent record.)
Last night, I played some 3-6 poker at the Mirage with a table composed exclusively of ApacheCon geeks like me, and it RULED. The Mirage is now my official Favorite Poker Room In The World (details on that in the full report post). Anne and I also discovered a fantastic Tiki Bar, in the Venetian, called “Venus.” If you’re into that sort of thing (and I’m a HUGE dork for ultra-modern lounge culture, Tiki music, and drinks that come in a bowl on fire) you should go there NOW. I heard that they’re going to close it down pretty soon.
At 2:30 this morning, they imploded a hotel across the street from us. I’m glad I knew it was coming, because the explosions and resulting collapse of said hotel would have scared me almost as much as standing in front of the con on Monday morning.
More tomorrow. My dogs want to take a walk.
Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Welcome Home.
Glad you had a Good Time.
Now get to work——>
;7)
I’m glad you’re home…I thought we lost you man*.
*In a “Luv Ya” man sorta way.
Looking forward to the rest of the report.
I find myself wondering if there is a way you can hit your stride more quickly when you speak publically? You do something I could never do, public speaking that is, so it’s curious I even think about that. I think I’m empathizing, and hoping you’ll be comfortable from the start. Portable holodeck? Maybe Guiness. I know! x-Ray glasses baby!
And as a side note, I haven’t been able to firefox your site and most others on mac os x 10.2.x because of frequent crashing with version 1.0PR. Since I download the final version 1.0, these problems seem to have finally vanished. I’m happily onclicking links without any boom boom. For other mac users out there who have also had this problem, give firefox another look.
I lost a terrabyte of cool points for that blunder.
You probably don’t want to know that you spelt “terabyte” incorrectly.
We all have blond days. Some of us more then others. And we are not human computers with built in spellcheck. So dont sweat it. Tommorow is another day, and so are the days of our lives.
Uh Oh, soap opra flash back, SORRY 🙁
Okay that made no fricken sense, just like Tara Reids Botched up boob job, and William Shatner actually getting another television show. And Wil Wheaton still has to audition for roles.
I LOVE YOU WIL! Can’t wait to hear about your new poker experience.
You were missed! Can’t wait to hear more —
Wil,
Good to see that you are back. Mistakes are why you revise, if you want. Even if you don’t, the sky won’t fall.
FG
[G] How cute are you!
you would think that living in vegas i would be aware of the things going on in this town, but i feel like an id10t for not knowing apachecon(and you) was(were?) here. then you go an talk about a cool lounge that i’ve walked past but never gone into, bringing my coolness factor down into the negative numbers. maybe i can redeem myself by telling you about the freakin frog on maryland parkway that has around 200 different beers, or the mexican restaurant on main street that has a 9 piece mariachi band on sundays.
“(jesus, could I be more lame?)”
I think Jesus would be much less hard on you than you are on yourself. 😉
You are very cool, other really cool geeks make typo’s and forget stuff too. 😀
I can’t even imagine having to address a crowd of that size.
I find the ability to change someone’s mind about *anything* utterly amazing. I’ve only seen it happen once, and my eyes still won’t fit back in my skull.
Congrats, great job, you earned it.
Glad the talk went well! It’s good you’re back though… I missed reading your updates! By the way, anything served in a flaming anything is cool in my book. You could serve me anthrax in a flaming human skull and I’d be totally geeked! :o)
“I’m a HUGE dork for ultra-modern lounge culture, Tiki music, and drinks that come in a bowl on fire.”
No way.
I thought I was the only one.
Hopefully someday we’ll run into each other at Eighteenth St. Lounge.
Rock steady, WW.
GT.
I wouldn’t fret over your mistake…mistakes happen…. can’t wait to hear how the event took place.
-Bryan
My friends a huge fan of Wil and this site, so I decided to check it out on a whim. Anywhoo, I noticed the FAQ didn’t list your package size…so Wil, enlighten us eager female web nerds.
Welcome Back!!
They imploded a hotel?
It was opposite your hotel?
You knew it was coming?
There is no quicktime video?
….. and you call yourself a Geek?
For shame!
I think that I recall that Tiki bar when I stayed at the Venetian a couple of years back. The bartenders performed this syncronized juggling act with the liquor bottles, totally crazy. I’m sad that they will be closing it down, but mostly because of a mint flavored martini server there ($7.00 dollar a pop, but what the hell, it’s Vegas baby, Vegas! And on the company dime to boot!) I had always hoped to enjoy it again on future visits. Oh well, maybe I can google the recipe.
blogs may be a powerful tool, but there are still those who don’t have something to say but have blogs anyway. mine is a perfect example.
also, we all make mistakes. don’t beat yourself up.
See what you started?
First of all, Welcome home. Glad you had a great trip. Second of all, your last trip to Vegas, and subsequent blog about it, brought about the ApacheCon game you played! OK, sure, that’s speculation. But think about it. The small yet diverse opponents you had last trip, versus the batch you played against this time, all of your stature in the geek world.
Too big a coincidence if you ‘axe’ me ($500 parrot).
And hey. Even if you start a reading on what isn’t the greatest of notes, at least you know you have a habit of bringing the audience back with you rather quickly. Every time you kick yourself on here about a lackluster beginning, you always finish with pulling it out and coming up strong in the end.
Gee, Wil. Sounds like you’re a good performer after all 🙂
A one-man show of “Dancing Barefoot/Just A Geek” would be awesome, and I’m sure it’d tour the country (hint hint East Coast). Go for it, man…
If you like lounge and tiki stuff (I thought Venus was awesome too) you should pick up PAD: the guide to ultra-living by Matt Maranian. It is worth it just for the section on chic drink garnishes!
Dan
Don’t be so hard on yourself. As both a committing developer for the Apache Software Foundation and a wannabe actor, let me tell you that you completely rock! Were I ever to enter your sphere, I would instantly fall to my knees and proclaim “we’re not worthy!” Well, maybe not… but I do think you’re cool and would love you meet you one day…
They are closing? Damn. It’s so hard to find a good Tiki bar these days…at least, within the continental United States.
Hey Wil, I was looking at your slashdot acct and wondering… why have you abandoned us sir? You don’t seem to have posted much there at all as of late… (and that would mean something about your nerdly status, no?)
Anyway, good to hear you had a good time at the con.
Also, I was trying to schedule Tamara Gorski for Linucon to get you guys to do a roundtable of the whole “Hollywood” thing, but it didn’t work out. I am no longer working for Ms. Gorski, so let me know if you need anyone to help you out! 🙂
Cheers,
Scott
You can’t say they demolished a hotel and not specify which one!! I can’t cope with this kind of burning curiousity; they should have a cream for it.
:runs off to look up what Strip hotel imploded:
They imploded a hotel?
It was opposite your hotel?
You knew it was coming?
There is no quicktime video?
….. and you call yourself a Geek?
For shame!
LOL I’m afraid he’s correct though.
(DANG why did the passcode number get so loooong?)
Have you visited the Tiki Lounge they have at the Fairmont in SanFrancisco? I never expected to find a place like that in a High Class Hotel.
Wil,
I was thinking the Voice of self doubt was now a tiny distant voice. You rock Wil and you should know that as I’m sure does TVOSD. Kick him to the curb and go kick some ass! I hope I get the opportunity someday to see you live and in person! Can’t wait for the update!!!!!!!!!
Welcome Back. It is great to finally see you posting again. Began to have withdrawals and the shakes for a few days. Good to hear you had a great time at in Vegas.
I am still wondering what hotel was demolished. But I have faith that you will tell the whole story. Can’t wait. Eagarly waiting for the BIG story of the trip. Especially the poker story. It seems you are teaching me poker as I read your site. Thanks. I hope to use the skills you taught me against my husband.
Welcome back.
Glad you’re home safely. Give the dogs scritches for me.
wil
what about Halo 2?
do you like it or don’t care?
Aw, well it wasn’t my vision, but you survived and that’s what’s important. teh Intarweb…*snickers into her hand so her father doesn’t notice* Well, Wil a terabyte of cool points…*petpet* there, there, you’ll make them up somehow…
I saw the collapse of the hotel on the news yesterday and boy I am sure glad you and Anne knew about it and are safely back, you are cooler then frost bite(heard that in a movie once), welcome back.
I’m well into the third year of my blog, and I’ve also felt that I’ve had nothing to say at times, not that stopped me from saying it, of course! I actually got the idea from Jerry Pournelle, who’s been keeping an online journal sine June 1998, and you could even make a case for his Byte Magazine columns as a primitive form of Blog – though he hates the word.
After the first year I wrote an essay on what I had learned and why I kept on doing it: I found that the option to lay issues out on a page really helped to clarify them, and I found the benefits actually filtering through into my real-world conversational skills.
Another great Blog I can recommend is that of musician Bill Nelson: he’s just had his online diaries published in book form too, as diary of a hyperdreamer – such is the quality of the writing.
Here’s to Wil and my fellow Bloggers: When I go there, I go there with you: it’s all I can do!
brian t
stereoroid.com
i don’t think “hosed” means what you think it means.
OK, so you have to let me take a crack at winning back my money after you took me down and then left. That was robbery. I ended up having to pilfer the money back from Fitz.
I’m going to check out Bay 101; I’m a total addict.
Fitz took a video of the imploding hotel. I’ll ask him to send you a link.
Venus!, i’m comming.
Hack the blog program and add a check for “www.” and add “http://” if missing. Not perfect but will catch those.
Enjoy your blog. When ya going to be in Baltimore , MD ?