Digital by Default » fowa-miami

Miami Days 4 and 5..

Jukesie — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:12:30 +0000

Yesterday (Saturday) was good fun – it started as it so often does with a hangover but after breakfast at the massive but average Jerrys Deli (I gave the FOWA table a miss as it was rammed) I was feeling much better and spent a productive morning doing nothing at the beach. A good amount of time was spent watching beach volleyball – which they a) take very seriously and b) are very good at here – like so much of South Beach though you get the impression alot of it is about being seen!

Anyway it was a good morning and after a bit of a power nap I headed off to the FOWA beach party at Nikki Beach – now a quick word about the venue: its like the set of a porno movie or at least a very sexy Nip/Tuck episode with shimmering tanned, hardbodies everywhere – what they thought of this massive geek invasion is anyones guess!

The party was alot of fun – chatted to a few of the Carsonified team and was again impressed by them – I think its cool that this little Westcountry company has this kind of US following – met and chatted to a few other folk and was amazed not only by bright they all were but by just how much they live this stuff – it really is on a different level and probably why so many start-ups are in the US. To be honest, hand on heart, I felt a little bit of a fraud in this crowd as much as I love the (social) web and all that it stands for (and the fact its opened up a good living for me!) I’m just not in the same league as alot of these people and I wish them all luck in their various projects.

I sloped off after 4 or 5 hours as I was starving and hadn’t grabbed any BBQ when it was available (eatings cheating!) so I went to a steak house and ended up drinking with a couple from Virginia and some other guys and watching College basketball..was far too drunk by the end though and struggled to get back to room and to sleep!

Miami seems crazy today – the heat and the brightness have stepped up a level – and so have the crowds. I spent a couple of hours wandering around and drinking fresh lemonade (lovely) but the ‘look at me’ culture is pretty full on today and its a little draining..I’m going to take a couple of hours off and head back out when its cooled down a bit for an early evening walk along the beach and grab some food but I think tonight will be taking advantage of this amazing room (including I found out this morning a Nintendo Wii that I can borrow anytime from the front desk!)

Miami Day 2

Jukesie — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Its 16.40 here in sunny Miami – unfortuntely my body still thinks its 21.40 and I am running out of steam rapido! However after a quick power nap I’m sure I’ll be up and about soon enough.

Trip was longer than I thought/expected – flight was almost 10 hours in the end though was pretty stress free with only the final hour dragging (though the massive row between 2 female passengers and half the cabin crew livened things up!) and the benefits of flying with Virgin were obvious again.

Getting through security in Miami was a bit slow but nowhere near as bad as JFK and about the same as Newark so no big deal – though as usual cab driver was completely befuddled by my accent! After my magical mystery tour last time I was in the US I had the sense to print out the address of the hotel this time and disaster was averted.

Hotel is beyond POSH! Not really the sort of place I feel comfortable but it has to be said the room is amazing with a 42″ LCD tv with premium cable!

Spent most of today exploring South Beach – had brekkie at the Front Porch Cafe which was lovely and spent the morning wandering along the beach and just taking it easy catching up on my reading.

This afternoon I have been to Lincoln Mall – a pedestrian area with lots of shops and cafes where I found the only real bookstore on South Beach and picked up the new Wired and another novel as I am burning through the one I brought with me. I then took a wander to Espanola Way which is full of Italian and Spanish style resturants and I found the cheesiest Italian place and ate meatball subs and drank Peroni doing my best Tony Soprano impression!

Then I wandered back to the beach and watched the beach volleyball gals for a while before heading back to my room to write this!

Going to head out again this evening for a few beers (spotted a couple of ‘proper’ bars today) but as it is FOWA proper tomorrow I will have to get up early and have my head in the game so I need to take it easy.

Miami vicegrip..

Jukesie — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:36:07 +0000

On Wednesday I am flying off to the land of Sonny Crockett, Carl Hiaasen, 2 Live Crew, the Sunglasses of Justice and Shaq. Yep I am taking a completely frivolous trip to Miami for a bit of winter sun and to attend FOWA:Miami, the latest offering from Carsonified. Admittedly as they are about 30 minutes away in Bath and run FOWA in London annually you might wonder how I am justifying this one – even to myself. Well I have one word for you: Miami! The fact is FOWA has a great looking programme with some people I’m really looking forward to seeing/listening to – Kathy Sierra, Matt Mullenweg and Kevin Rose in particular and it looks like an amazing venue but lets be honest if it was in rainy London in February I’d not be bothering – however 6 days on South Beach staying at the amazing Anglers resort will hopefully recharge me enough to see me through til the end of my secondment and the start of my adventures in freelancing!

I will be trying to blog the sessions I attend and my general impressions so hopefully it’ll all go well and its a nice thing to kick this new blog off with..