Last week I hopped on a bus down to New York to participate in the last half of Internet Week. I would’ve written about it earlier but I’ve been busy doing nothing at all by the pool at my mom’s house in South Florida. Such a difficult life.
Anyway, my first evening in NYC was Thursday for the Digg Meetup. After wandering the maze that is Webster Hall, getting freaked out by hallways full of tv screens, and squeezing through the crowds at the bar, I finally managed to settle down in a cozy back room of the balcony. Overall it was a fun evening… I reunited with some friends from SXSW (Jacqui, Aubrey, Trammel, & Tom), met some new friends, chatted with a girl who used to work for Scarborough Country (she said that Joe is a womanizing ass – why am I not surprised?), ate a free Klondike bar, saw Chris Hansen ( “To Catch a Predator”), and was totally impressed by a live set from Wallpaper.
The next day (Friday) I wake up to an email saying my meeting with SciFi was cancelled so I went back to sleep. Later that evening I went to Aubrey’s and Eva’s Birthday Party at 10 Degrees, which apparently was full of all sorts of internet famous people I didn’t recognize. Ah blissful ignorance. In one conversation with Mark Trammel we discovered that he used to be an adjunct professor IN MY MAJOR (Digital Arts and Sciences) at the University of Florida while I was a student there but I never took his class so we never met. Crazy small world. Also I met a few folks from Animoto and they are friendly and awesome!
After a fancy dinner with the birthday girls on Saturday the group of us wandered over to Whiskey Ward (love that bar) and then to another bar where karaoke was just ending (thank god) and I met Brett from Mashable and some guy who works for the Treasury Dept (awesome?). Towards the end of the evening I stopped having fun as strange boys got really aggressive and it seemed like Aubrey and I looked more like tasty bits of tender meat than actual human beings. But our heroes Rick and Marshall rescued us and escorted us home safely.
Sunday was a much needed lazy day. The Webbys Sunset Cocktails event happened to be in my hotel so that was a nice easy commute. I didn’t do a whole lot of mingling because Aubrey and I found a pretty cozy spot to sit, but I did finally meet Ozzy from Lolz. We talked about our mutual friends Terrence and Gillian the whole time, lots of mutual love and affection there.
Monday I took a quick trip for a meeting at AMC and then back to the hotel to start prettying myself up for the Webby Awards. I wore a dress I borrowed from Gillian (just like every other dress I wore all weekend) and Jeffrey Campbell shoes. The event was by far the fanciest thing I’ve ever been to, I felt a bit out of place until I finally got to cheer for my clients when Green Porno was called to give their acceptance speech (“Isabella Rossellini left the building”). Highlights: Trent Reznor in a suit, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Kudrow, the Victoria’s Secret models, Martha Stewart, Arianna Huffington, Beeker, chocolate-covered strawberries. Lowlights: not being able to find my friends at IFC. BOO.
Then the After Party at Hiro Ballroom. THERE WAS DANCING AND IT WAS AWESOME. Towards the end of the night Rick and I got ambushed and ended up in Gawker, I guess because we inspired a very confused photographer. Whatever, man, I’m kinda stupidly just excited to have been in Gawker. It’s particularly entertaining because the last time I visited NYC back in February I ended up in the Village Voice for attending a “Single Bloggers” mixer. NYC loves me. I love it right back.
