all hail the shag

I’m heading to SXSW (south by southwest) today to check out the conference. It’s been blowing up the last few years, especially the Interactive conference. Getting there on the tail end of things, as I had a few too many demands on on the calendar. Yes, I’m a newbie. No, I won’t be drunk the while time.

Filtrbox is co-sponsoring the CO interactive party tonight, should be a god time. Http://Colorado-interactive.com

Things I’m looking forward to checking out @sxsw…

1. Is there real dialogue on topics or just polite agreement? (note: based on the apparently awesome #specwork09 panel I missed, the answer is yes on the realness)

2. Are people talking about the future of search? What are the other emerging trends (aside from filtering and semantic intelligence).

3. New/breakout apps launching -what’s got people interested and what flops? Apparently AT&T’s cell network blows in Austin, to the point where Wired has written about it and iPhone peeps are pissed! Might make it hard for mobility apps to get the adoption they need.

What are the don’t miss panels/parties/apps/topics? Let me know.

filtrbox, startups, travel filtrbox, sxsw

The Newman family was supposed to fly to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow to join the in-laws for a sun (and Tequila) soaked Christmas. While we were busy having kids and starting a company, the rules changed and even kids now need passports to travel to Mexico. Something to do with the new WHTI, which we were not paying attention to.

I feel like a dumb-ass because this isn’t exactly news to most travelers, but we went to Mexico 3 years ago with just a birth certificate for our daughter and hadn’t been out of the country since. So on the eve of our departure we were informed that without passports for the little ones, we couldn’t fly. Even if we got a rush-job for the passports on Monday and paid the outrageous rebooking fees, the vacation would be whittled down to two days. 

No one to blame but ourselves I suppose, but we are pretty devastated over here. No trip for us, so it looks like we’ll be heading out for Chinese food and a movie on the 25th

travel mexico, passport, travel, WHTI

Sadly my vacation is coming to an end and its back to Boulder soon. In the meantime, here’s my “office” away from the real Filtrbox HQ.

After almost two years without a real break, this has been a great week of downtime and recharging. I haven’t done all that much work, and got no where on the projects I thought I’d conquer on the trip. Guess this is a good sign that I really needed the break. No, I never took the laptop to the pool…

Not too bad… That’s Lanai in the background! 

travel hawaii, maui, ocean