back in office after a long week in vegas. new guy starts today which is awesome for our company. so much to review and share and do in so little time; in approx 44hrs I'll be on a plane to San Juan, PR to speak (and moderate) at the CHA internet marketing conference. crazy. I really don't know how I will get everything done before I hit the road again.

good news: my g/f is flying down for a few days while I'm in San Juan.

bad news: my g/f is moving to the other side of the country next week. boo!

so the Matt Cutts keynote was decent (@PubCon) for a standard Q&A (so it really wasn't a keynote). nothing really juicy but overall it was good to hear some of the questions to get a feel for what people are thinking. I'm in the CSS/Panel now in which half the panel didn't show up. that's disappointing.

I'm sitting here at PubCon 2007 listening to Craig Newmark's keynote.... which is more "history of craigslist" than keynote but it's nice to hear the story from the man himself. my feet are cold.

well, I'm back from South Africa and sunny Cape Town. being in the thick of work really has me yearning to be back in SoAfrica. the weather there was amazing considering it's going into winter over there. Sunday, my last day there, was strange as it was so warm and sunny as we visited the Green Point market in the morning. by the afternoon, it was windy and rainy as we departed for the airport. can't say how the weather has been since I left but I'm glad it was so nice during my short week there. And I'm digging my Soviet shoes and Aca Joe hat. back to it...

memorial day weekend hasn't been much of a weekend with my g/f out of town and a big project for work to complete. at least i was able to spend time at Capt'n Satan's place saturday night and hang with his kids for a little pokemon trading and whatnot. and i finally got to see The Proposition and The Descent. wow, Descent was genuinely scary. the parts of the movie shot in the narrow tunnels literally had me panicked. it's too bad movies like that get overlooked. i'm hoping we do a double feature with Dog Soldiers and The Descent (both by Neil Marshall). The Proposition was also really cool; Nick Cave's score was excellent. the washed out look and feel of the flick reminded me a lot of Dead Man. and also that both are westerns. ok, back to work.

hmm, haven't been around for a while. some crazy hazy changes with ole blogger.com - sigh. I have been pumping some goodness into this hotel property I've been telling everyone about: Lido Beach Resort in Sarasota, Florida. I was there last week/weekend and it was awesome as always. the last time I stayed at the hotel it was pretty much just all business (they do have some cool meeting space; we were in the Bamboo Room). but this time I actually got out to see some things and area attractions. Sarasota beach area around Lido Key definitely is a great destination for families with kids. my biz partner had his family down so we took in a few sites like Mote Aquarium and Sarasota Jungle Gardens.

Mote was really nice. the setup is really geared towards kids too. shark tank was cool since we were there during feeding time. petting the stingrays was my favorite thing. I also enjoyed watching the enormous manatees. sadly the Pelican Bird Sanctuary which is next to Mote was closed down due to lack of funding. I really wanted to visit that place too. Both nights I took the hotel shuttle to St Armand's Circle to take in the sights and stores and watch the people coming and going. the weather was gorgeous so the nights were very nice breezy next to the ocean. I'm hoping to make it back soon while the summer rates are low. they are running a summer special offer has rooms for ridiculously low rates compared to normal. if you want a great hotel in Sarasota, check out their summer hotel deal on their website. this hotel really is a hidden gem since i had never heard about it until i actually stayed there last year. now it's the only place i want to stay in Sarasota.