Celebrities, Parties, Thrills, Chills and Spills

I'm home.

It was fun visiting Austin, although what I mostly saw was the inside of the world's largest convention center. And it never failed, no matter which end I was at, I needed to be at the other end.

I left Austin late Wednesday (just as the music festival was gearing up, not that I minded missing MICHAEL STIPE! RICHARD THOMPSON! BILLY EFFING BRAGG!), which left time for one quick run, a morning movie, a drive to the hippie-dippie part of town, and brunch.

The first celebrity (not counting Dooce):
(Bex getting hit on by a Microsoft guy at the Microsoft party.)

Yes, Bex was my first celebrity meet-up, looking terrific as usual. She was there working, as was I, so we had limited time together, but met up most nights to trip the light fantastic.

More celebrities:
(R-L: Billionaire Mark Cuban interviews billionaire Michael Eisner about his new venture, Vuguru.)

Vuguru is some kind of internet-video thing that produces shows that no one (well, no one outside of that room) has ever heard of, like Prom Queen, and the soon-to-be-launched All-for-Nots, which I think is a show about a real band, called, curiously, the All-for-Nots.

Later that night, I went to the All-for-Nots coming out party:
(L-R: An all-for-not dude, maybe an all-for-not chick, and Michael Eisner.)

After hanging around for 1 1/2 hours, chatting with some lovely people, I left before the All-for-Nots made their appearance, because, well, I was bored silly. (Kind of like you are at this point.) Oh, and it was raining. And we were in a tent.

Wednesday morning dawned with blue skies and temps in the 50sF. I was determined to run in Austin before I left, so drove down to the River, which in Austin is called a Lake, and ran on a lovely bike and hike trail:



Where, halfway through my 3-mile run, I fell.

Sigh.

Time for a movie! I saw the premiere of "Throw Down Your Heart," about "banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo and record an album." I like Bela Fleck. Plus? It was the closest screening. (I give it a thumbs up.)

After that, I drove to S. Congress Street, which my new Austin friends (shown here at the famous "All-for-Not" party)


had assured me was the place to see and be seen.

I headed for brunch:

(A cheery welcome sign)

(World famous Magnolia Cafe. Yum, french toast and eggs!)

The perfect way to end my visit.

Now if only someone would explain this statue to me (I didn't have time to get out of the car to look):



And I leave you with this, a SXSW street scene:


Now I am off to learn how to change a tire—a bike tire, stay with me here—courtesy this guy.

Still in Austin

Where I'm at the Interactive portion of the SXSW conference,and MY HOTEL has not had WI-FI in my room until tonight, my last night. THANKS, WYNDHAM GARDEN!

The weather has been crap since I got here...temps have hovering around 38F-45F. I might as well be home! The weather turned today, and became lovely, sunny, 70sF. And I was still inside ALL DAY LONG.

I planned my long run for Monday morning and a kindly Austin runner sent me a 13-mile out-and-back (thank you Facebook!) I duly awoke and dressed at 6:15 a.m., went down to the lobby (realizing when I got there that I had no money, or ID on me, cuz I'm clever that way), but it didn't matter, because it was raining cats and dogs. I ended up in the Wyndham's "fitness center"— a kind of cool glass house out by the pool, containing one treadmill, one recumbent bike, and one stairstepper. It was kind of like being outside in the rain without getting wet. So I cranked out six point something miles in an hour and change, watching the thunderstorm through the glass.

And that's my report on my first week of triathlon training! And my report on SXSW! No, just kidding, that's still to come. (Foretaste: I went to a party with Michael Eisner tonight. No really.)

Meanwhile, let me milk my two seconds of Dooce fame some more. And if, by chance, you don't happen to already be a Dooce fanatic, click here to learn more.

Click to enlarge to read her witty comment!! (PLUS SHE SAID SHE REALLY LIKED MY SCARF!)

And Away We Go!

I can't possibly leave the post below as the last thing before I take off for SXSW Interactive. I mean, what if something HORRIBLE happened, like I decided to MOVE to Texas—permanently???? Would I want that last post to be my legacy???

Plus, I'll be hobbing and nobbing with all sorts of VIPs. What if one of them googles me (God forbid)?

And I do happen to know for sure one BIG SECRET celebrity I'll definitely be meeting.

Runner Susan, I promise if I meet Dooce (Saturday, March 8th, she'll be at the Halcyon Coffee Shop, 218 W 4th Street, Austin, Texas 11 AM - 1 PM, unfortunately I get in at TWO; WHY IS LIFE SO UNFAIR????), I'll give her a big wet one for you.

I've brought 57 outfits for 4 days. Weather report says 38F Saturday morning, 70F later in the week, so I'm pretty much doomed. Of course, the whole event takes place in the Austin Convention Center, where the air conditioning is no doubt set at sub-zero.

MANY thanks to all the SICK PEOPLE at WORK (you know who you are) who dragged themselves in ...cuz I am now SICK AGAIN. I am sucking down this fizzy Airborne drink, even though it has been scientifically discredited. Desperate times, etc.

There's even a SXSW runners' group on facebook, so I'm hopeful I'll get my 13-miler in. Someone told me there's a route with peacocks at the end. I'm totally down with the peacocks.

With that, I leave you with this: instructions for my next sport: