Monday, March 12, 2007

Day one and MVPs are everywhere

My Q1, Q1 8-cell, Acer Ferrari 1000, JVC Everio HDD Camera, phones, papers, pens, mice, watches...what's a geek to do!


Day one in Seattle has been a blast. The MVP Summit has not even commenced and I've already met more new folks than I probably met all year last year. Sitting in my hotel room I was pinged by nearly everyone on my IM list; one was wishing me luck, another the best, another wanted me to tell Neil to keep podcasting! Of all of them my favorite was a blogger wanting to remain anonymous after sending me this particular link. It seems as though there is a conspiracy theory for everything isn’t there?



Tomorrow I have coffee and cake (maybe breakfast if we wake up in time) with James Kendrick, Rob Bushway, Dennis Rice and more. I will keep you posted if this occurs and will do my best to take some photos. Although some of you may not believe me, it will be our first time together – mine with them that is. It reminds me of the tale James shared recently at CES this year as it was the second time only that he and Kevin Tofel had met. Amazing.



So what did I get up to tonight? Tonight I floated around. First I went to Gameworks – an electronic gaming lounge and fun park – where I sat with all the Mobile Device MVPs. As you might guess there I was greeted by an array of Dopod, Razor, Tazor and Amazor phones (the last two are made-up). The conversations were fun and focused totally and solely on mobility; no surprise there. I even met Mauricio Freitas for the first time where I looked at his IM list o(n his phone) and saw my friend Long Zheng on there…this kid is everywhere.

After Gameworks I took a walk down the road with Nick Randolph, Australia only Mobile Developer MVP, to another Bar down 5th Avenue. This time it was to hang out with Wayne Small of the SBS User Group “International.” Now these guys are true geeks. In the bar we drank Red Beer, ate carrot sticks and Indian Samosa sticks, while chewing over Small Business Server issues. Half way through the night all the Aussies were pulled aside and informed that Wayne was celebrating his Birthday. In true geek style the team had organized a big fat cake to make its way towards the front of the room as all the Aussies started yelling, at full pitch, “Aussie, Aussie Aussie!” “Oi! Oi! Oi!”

The pub was a roar of laughter and excitement as geeks shared tales of Ethernet, Online Protocols and Service Pack mayhem. I love these guys. Tomorrow is registration day and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why are you still lugging that Ferrari around ?

I have to admit that the MVP summit would certainly make for an excellent setting to seduce a valued evangelist of the community to fill a vacancy...

Why every time I hear the word Aussie in collective form, the word beer follows ?

Sean Tan said...

Sounds like you are having fun! Would love to see all of the cool gadgets you all carry around.

The conversations sound pretty intense. You would have to know your "stuff" well! :)

Must feel less of a geek when at these gatherings. I think we all would.

Steven said...

Hugo,
Welcome (back) to the US. I'm just glad that you are in a reasonable time zone! haha.
This is exciting to watch and read. Keep us posted- especially if you get to play any pick-up basketball games. I'd just about put money on you beating any other bloggers. LOL

Steven

Anonymous said...

Surely that isn't the original Q1 you're toting. So is it the Q1P or the Q1b and why?

BTW, sorry about all the rain. We got a blast of warm wet air from Hawaii so it's both wetter and slightly warmer than usual.

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

Hi Elo!

THe reason for the Ferrari is really very stupid. I have not been using it but on my way to Redmond I got several calls from Aussies "needing" to see some Tablet first hand. So, my Q1B went out, my EO i7210 went out, my Fujitsus, my Samsungs, ASUSs, and my Sahara went out and more. So all I was left with was my generation one Q1 and this Ferrari (which I mostly brought because of screen resolution, inbuilt camera and Vista).

BTW, beer and Aussies are directly interchangeable

-- >

Hey Sean!

Life’s good mate. All the gadgets are great and expect more from us soon. With regards to conversations here you know to know one thing – if you don’t know you better keep your mouth shut! Everyone around here knows their shit and is ready to shoot you down if you say the wrong thing!

So do I feel like a geek here, no! I feel more like a little kid visiting Disney Land for the first time. :-)

-->
Hi Steven!

Blogging from the Northern Hemisphere sure has some advantages mate. The fact that all the key players are here means a lot more to me than any timing advantages. The people here are great! As far as Basketball goes I don’t believe I’ll get a chance. The weather is so cold I think it will take a lot of money for me to take my shirt off and grab an outdoor game! LOL

-->

Fan in Seattle!!! Nice to be in town,

Toting the Q1, no…carrying the Q1, yes. The answer is simple, and as explained above to ELO. The Q1 is all I had available after several folks approached about loan devices. Shame! I really wanted the Q1B more than anything as I love the screen brightness and battery life.

As an FYI tonight we’re hitting the town with the Tablet MVPs and will surely be at a pub near you! Seattle is such a beautiful town and there is no reason for us to stay in Hotel rooms all night. I’m looking forward to posting more. Thanks for following the blog mate.

Anonymous said...

Have a blast, Hugo. You're the only one I know who'd have the time and energy to offer real-time updates, so I'll be watching your blog like a hawk. ;)

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

Hey Darius! Anything other than RealTime would be just boring wouldn't it...lol.
(Wish you were here!)