Holy crap! Through what can only be some kind of terrible mistake I just ended up on Violet Blue's Top 10 Sexiest Geeks of 2007 list with a bunch of people who are way hotter than me for sure. That said, I hope this is finally some internet press that I really use to my advantage!

Paris was hectic and insane. It was great to see some old friends, meet some new ones, and do a bit of networking but in hindsight the majority of my time there was spent walking the streets looking for a hotel, sitting in the lobby of a hotel I wasn't staying at, or sitting in the room of the hotel I was staying at watching live video streams of the LeWeb3 conference happening down the street. I probably could have done that from Vienna, but oh well. More stamps on my passport if nothing else. I left Paris at stupid o'clock yesterday morning, flew to London, then backtracked to Berlin. Clearing customs in Berlin was the first time this entire trip that the agents have given me a second look. I guess my travel is starting to look suspicious.

Agent: You were in France this morning?
Me: Yep.
Agent: And now you just flew here from London?
Me: Yep?
Agent: Seems like a long route to take, any reason for it?
Me: That's a good question, if British Air will answer it for you I'd love to hear it.
Agent: Is this business?
Me: Nope, visiting friends.
Agent: How long are you staying in Berlin?
Me: About 48 hours.
Agent: Then you return to the US?
Me: No, to Vienna, I'm living there for the month. That flight is also via London, if you can believe that.
Agent: ..
Me: .
Agent: Have a night stay in German. *stamp*

Unfortunately there are no trains that run to the Berlin airport so I went to the taxi stand and hunted down one that was covered with stickers of all the credit cards the accept. Half hour or so later we pulled up to the flat where I'm crashing and I hand the guy my plastic. He's not thrilled. I point to the stickers and he just shakes his head no. I pay the man in cash and go on my way. The rest of the day was filled with food, coffee and friends. Both online and off. Tonight is the Creative Commons 5 year anniversary party at C-Base then then I'm back to Vienna tomorrow. Very excited about both.



Also, please welcome my partners in european chaos: sweetums & Brex

Sorry it's been a while since I updated but you know I'm in freaking Europe and I've been a little busy OK? So far Vienna has been amazing. I finally got into my flat at the Museumsquartier which is so crazy I can't even explain. A few SG Austria people have seen it and I'm sure can confirm the crazy claims. A few highlights so far:

- Meeting Astera, though "meeting" sounds weird since it seems like we've been friends for years.
- Using videochat to share bits of what I'm up to with people on the other side of the world.
- Street Art tours almost every time I walk anywhere.
- Super bad ass coffee almost every time I walk anywhere.
- People not falling asleep at my countless talks at conferences and universities about online communites.
- Vegan strudle and schnitzel at more than one place.
- Plotting with the monochrom posse.
- It hasn't been nearly as cold as everyone told me it would be.
- The Falco Stairs.
- Becoming some kind of unofficial SG ambassador to Europe, or something.

A few things that suck:

- Dog poop every fucking place you step.
- Seeing friends have to deal with drama.
- Knowing that the 1 cent Euro coins filling my pocket are probably worth about $10 US.
- Smoking still being perfectly acceptable everywhere here.
- So many coins.

Next week I'm going on a lightning trip to Paris for a tech convention, and then to Berlin for a Creative Commons party before heading back to Vienna a few days later. I was super psyched about it until the freaking French announced some kind of transit strike that starts literally THIRTY MINUTES after I land in Paris. Jerks!

As always, feel free to follow me on a more regular basis via my blog, my Flickr stream, or my Twitter feed. And if you are in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, London, or any of the surrounding areas where I might end up after New Years and want to meet up or have cool things I should check out, please let me know.

I wouldn't say "going around" as much as just I have it. See here's the thing - when I was a kid I had Scarlet Fever which chewed a perfectly strep sized hole in my immune system and Strep moved right in. Now my immune system grew up on the streets and doesn't take shit from anyone so most of the time the Strep is scared for it's life and just hangs out dormant and I forget it even lives here. But ones every 3-4 years my immune system gets preoccupied with something else, like when I decide to do Midnight Ridazz in the rain or something, and while it's looking the other way the Strep makes a break for it and attempts a coup.

When this happens I get full blown strep pretty much over night and then I go to my Dr. and pay him like $300 to look down my throat and say "yep, same shit at last time, here's the same prescription as last time, cheerio!" (my Dr. isn't really English I just used a little creative licenses to spice up an otherwise boring story) Then I take the antibiotics for a week or two and then Strep gets a beat down and goes back to the hole from whence it came. For a few years away.

As far as spreading this plague - I'm on contagious about 24 hours before my throat starts hurting and only about 24 hours after I get on the meds, but it's not easily transmissible anyway, you sort of need to stick your tongue down my throat to pick it up which no one is doing so everyone is safe. As far as I know anyway, if some nazi offers me drugged candy while I'm skipping down the lane and then drags me off into the woods and has his way with me then he's totally getting Strep and the last laugh will be mine!

I has new front page for my web sight. I loves it.

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

That's what this test says about me. I tried really hard and couldn't see her dancing in the other direction, though I'd say the description is only partially right. Via Tech Yum