Blogher

Blogher knocked me flat. I have been asleep for thirty of the last forty-eight hours. If I’d been allowed to drink, I probably would have slipped into a coma.

This year’s Blogher was a lot like SxSW, but with better shoes and a shameful dearth of free booze. Also, an inhumanly long line for the bathroom between sessions. This is how I discovered that the public men’s rooms were blissfully empty, with stall after stall of sparkly clean toilets.

The overabundance of hip moms made me feel smug. There wasn’t a pair of sweatpants or an unpedicured toe for miles. And if you find yourself “calling Ralph on the big white phone” in the bathroom of a greasy spoon, no one will make you feel more dignified than five other women who’ve been through the morning sickness routine.

My panel went better than I ever could have expected, thanks to an amazing group of speakers who really knew their stuff. Again, many thanks to Marnie MacLean, Gayla Trail, Andrea Scher, and Pim Techamuanvivit. I’ll post a podcast as soon as it’s up.

Blogher

It’s July, and that means Blogher in San Jose. Are you coming? If so, I’m moderating a panel on Saturday, July 29. It’s called “Is the Next Martha Stewart a Blogger?” and I’ll be talking to designer Andrea Scher of Superhero Designs, gardener and author Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl, foodie Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, and knitter Marnie MacLean of MarnieMacLean.com. If you’ll be there, come introduce yourself and join in the conversation.

Shiny and New

Look everybody, it’s a new design! I’m so excited, I even pulled from my precious store of exclamation points. I realized a few weeks ago, that I haven’t touched the design since 2001. Apparently, I fear change.

As you can see, the new site has photos, and comments (on occasion), and a recent photo of me in which I’m not wearing the glasses that I sat on in 2002. It also has ads, which I hope will not annoy you, and which will definitely not annoy you if you use an RSS reader. Many thanks to Thor of Rubyred Labs, who spent much more time on the redesign than he should have, because he’s committed that way.

I hope you like it, because I love it. If you don’t like it, I suspect you’ll have the decency to pretend that you do. You’re good to me like that.

Glaaaaar

I have been asleep for two days. That is, except for the five minutes I spent gasping in terror when my nose-phlegm met my lung-phlegm, thereby creating a perfect storm of suffocation.

But, anyway, how are you?

I’d hoped to give you more up-to-the-moment reports from SxSW, but because I was dulled by a potent mix of Dayquil and Bloody Marys, I didn’t do much. Among the things I didn’t do:

– I did not charm Jason Kottke into sarcastically calling his fiancï¿½e Yoko.

– I did not start an intriguing new photo project.

– I did not play air guitar to Aerosmith power ballads.

– I did not give the Threadless guys noogies.

– When I waited an hour for a thimble of box-Chardonnay at the Frog Design Party, whilst the show-choir-duet band played TV show theme songs, I did not punch the lead singer in the teeth.

But only because I lacked the energy, my friends. Never the will.

Next year, I plan to wear a pink cowboy hat and hot pants, and swig tequila from the bottle while I dance flamenco on the bar with Ben Trott. Ben looks awesome in hot pants.

SxSW Coordinates

Are you going to SxSW? Hey, me too!

If you’re not busy waking up in an unfamiliar hotel room, you should come say hi. I’m moderating a panel with the guys from Threadless at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. And who doesn’t love to engage in friendly conversation about user-driven business models?

Blogher

At Blogher, I did what I do at every other conference. I skipped every session my friends weren’t presenting and used the down time to seal shiny-new friendships with liquor. These are the women I met whose labor stories have convinced me to stop having sex immediately:

Mrs. Kennedy of Fussy

Melissa of Suburban Bliss

Jen of Jen and Tonic

Alice of Finslippy

Tracey of Sweetney

Amanda of Mandajuice

I’ve never met a wittier, more engaging group of women. It was like stepping into a sitcom, and when you add Heather to that mix everyone is shooting tequila out their noses in no time. (That burns by the way. Ow.)

Bryan and I have been talking about baby timing for a while now, and my biggest concern — aside from the possibility of ending up with stitches in unmentionable places — was that we be completely settled somewhere first. I want to have a strong support group that can talk me down when I’d rather scratch out my own eyes than watch another episode of Boobah.

The connection these girls have with each other made me realize that I can have that kind of support system wherever I go. They have each other’s backs, and though I’m just beginning to get to know them, I hope that one day they’ll have mine too.

(Photos)

Superior Schwag

After blogging for more than three years, I finally made some T-shirts. I made them mostly because I wanted one for myself and figured you might want one too. They’re risque, but you’re no milquetoast. So, without further ado…

Maybe you run like a girl, throw like a girl, catch like a girl. But there’s one more thing you do like a girl, and no one’s complaining about that.

In the Running

Hey! I got nominated for a Bloggie for best tagline. I found out when I read it on Josh’s website. Anyway, a big thank you to whoever nominated me. Sally forth, my tens and tens of readers; vote like people who enjoy my tagline! I heart winning things.

Easy Linking

One of the jguru.com guys just launched a new blog-like tool called Peerscope. It’s a lot like Backflip, but cleaner and more group oriented. You pull a button onto your browser toolbar and you can post right from the site you want to link. Neat.

Hey, Thanks

Evan has taken a lot of shit over the years for keeping Blogger alive on his own after the original Pyras had, quite reasonably, given up hope. In fact, he’s still taking some shit from people who really should have risen above by now. I’d just like to take this opportunity to say thanks, Ev. You done good. No matter how nasty things got, you were right to keep going. I owe a lot to Blogger, and I’m glad you didn’t let it die. Here’s to regular paychecks, paid vacation, and all the bandwidth your little heart desires. Wishing you and yours a long and healthy corporate life in your new partnership with Google.