Tag Archives: Gnomedex

Gnomedex: Des Moines, IA

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Opened up the windows on the 4Runner…cranked up the XM Radio…and headed for Des Moines and Gnomedex 3. Hundreds of geeks (and one wannabe) from all over the country descend on Des Moines for two days. Much more fun than the big computer/technology shows. Dinner with O. Kay Henderson who has great new hair cut (yeah, I know that sounds gay but I can only admire, not do it, so…). She’s interviewing John Kerry today and asked if I had any questions she wanted her to ask him. I couldn’t think of any.

May I have your autograph?

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I’m told they have these baseball “camps” where middle aged guys can pay to go hang out with real baseball players. That’s pretty much what Gnomedex was for me. Four hundred really smart, badly dressed, but very nice people (mostly guys). If they could tell by looking at me that I was not a true geek, they were too nice to mention it. We were summoned to the Des Moines Marriott by Chris Pirillo…the Lockergnome. Lockergnome is a person, a newsletter (300,000 readers), a website and an online community (called Gnomies). Chris put together an A-List of speakers that included some of the Big Names in the online world: Steve Gibson; Phillip Kaplan; Mark Thompson; Doc Searls; Evan Williams; and Leo Laporte. None of whom disappointed.

Gnomedex.

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If you don’t know, it doesn’t matter. More fanny packs than Disney World. Geeks galore and one wannabe. When TechTV star Leo Laporte showed up at the pre-conference party, I morphed into a 13 year old girl who finds herself on an elevator with the ‘N-Sync boys. A few minutes later Leo drags Megan Marrone (another TechTV star) over to meet one of her fans. You could see her mentally composing the restraining order.

Road Trip

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Spent about 18 hours behind the wheel last week (Jefferson City, MO…Des Moines, IA…Indianapols, IN…Jefferson City). Such a journey would once have been a butt-numbing drag. Having 100 channels of news, music, talk and comedy made the hours fly by. I can tell that folks are getting a little tired of hearing me rave about XM but it’s hard not to talk about this. Most common question is: How often do you lose the signal? Uh, never. Sure, if I stop under an overpass the signal goes away but that’s pretty easy to avoid. And the quality is just amazing. Like blogging, XM is just one of those things that has to be experienced. PS: The Indiana State Fair turned out to be all work and no play. PPS: Back to Des Moines on Thursday for Gnomedex.