I landed in Vegas last night, went directly to the Ultimate Blogger Dinner hosted by the Social Media Club (massive thanks to Chris Heuer and Kristie Welles, the founders of the SMC, for organizing the event).
Lenovo provided the space, a restaurant in the Venetian called Aquaknox and we provided the food, the drink, and the wireless. The SMC did the rest, filling the place with some great bloggers and personalities. The entire agenda is to have no agenda, avoid forcing people to stop talking and listen to some person with a microphone bloviate, and just give people a place to hang out.
Chris live streamed last night and stuck me on camera for a fun-filledten minutes, demonstrating product features I didn’t know about on an IdeaPad (must spend more time playing with product).
I had a somber day earlier with the layoffs we announced (2,500 worldwide) and am walking around today in a semi-foul funk exacerbated by a lost crown somewhere in my back molars, erg-abused knees, and homesickness over not being able to say goodbye to my daughter tomorrow when she heads back to college after the holiday break.
But that is minor compared to what some good friends and colleagues are feeling today.
CNET party: geeked out on the Red Sox with Tim Daloisio which was a good thing. In bed at 2:30. Phone rings at 4:30 am — is wife wanting to chat. Hang up. Back to bed. Ring. Colleague call. Turn off phone. Back to bed.
I spent an hour on the show floor and saw a start up called Fugoo: Cool device optimized computing thing. Otherwise, been in our lounge working on stuff, and stressing about the snow storm awaiting me back in Boston tomorrow night. Final blogger night tonight.
Anyone looking for an invite — tweet me @dchurbuck.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Chris Heuer photo Britopian