Wow.

Sat down with Scott Hanselman earlier today to talk to him about an article he had been working on. Thought I was just going to be stopping for a second, but one thing led to another, and he pulled me along to the Microsoft regional director dinner, which was pretty weird. It was like going out to eat with a bunch of Wrox book covers.

I finally got to watch this whole Band on the Runtime thing, which was interesting. There are some serious nerds in that band:

Don Box is wearing an "I'm blogging this" t-shirt, which obviously wasn't the case since it would be PRETTY DARN STINKIN' HARD TO PLAY THAT BASS WHILE "BLOGGING THIS," WOULDN'T IT? EH? Yeah. That's right. I've got your number, Box.

And, although you can't see him in the picture, Carl Franklin of .NET Rocks was playing the drums, which was one of the uber cool surprises of the night. I got to meet Carl and Mark Dunn, as well as their associate Dennis Perlot. I wound up talking with Mark and Dennis for quite some time, and they're surprisingly easygoing, genuinely nice guys. I have to admit that I expected to encounter some egos, but I didn't find anything of the sort. They all seem to really believe in what they're doing, and it shows.

It was especially strange to talk to Mark since I'm so familiar with his voice but not the body that's attached to it. I think the key to not getting confused while talking to him is to look away and pretend that he's a radio. I didn't try this, but I bet it works.

So, here's a photo that I begged for (me, Dennis, Mark):

It probably sounds a little silly, groupy-ish even, to say that I "begged" for the photo, but I really am a big fan of the show. It's easy enough to get technical information from developers, but it's rather hard to get the developer behind the technical information, which is exactly what .NET Rocks delivers. I like that.

While there, I also ran into my Pacific Northwest homies, Phil Weber and Jim Blizzard. It's strange to have a nerd dinner with a couple of guys one week, and then meet them at an event in an entirely different state the next. Maybe you're all used to it, all you seasoned convention people, but I'm certainly not. When I go to foreign countries like LA, I expect to encounter freaks and transvestites and stuff like that. I don't expect to run into my friends, so that was like an added bonus.

After the dinner, Scott and I headed over to the attendee party at Universal Studios where we "bonded." I already knew him as Scott Hanselman the blogger, coder, speaker, and part time linguist/poet/comic. Over the period of several hours, I also got to know him as Scott Hanselman the husband, brother, son, and "Law and Order" fan.

We hit a few rides, but I think the best was probably the Jurassic Park ride, if only because we had to put these dorky ponchos on:

I talked with Stuart a little while ago, and he informed me that those ponchos are recycled. By "recycled" I think he meant that some foul human was wearing the poncho earlier, probably screamed during the big drop (it's one of those water roller coaster rides), got spit all over it, handed it back in at the end of the ride, someone repackaged it, and it was finally handed to me just before the ride began. I think that's disgusting - kind of like using somebody else's condom. But that's just me. Maybe you people like wearing used ponchos. I don't know. None of my business.

Next you'll be telling me that sewer water is run through enormous treatment plants and converted back into drinking water. Well, I'll have you know that I wasn't born yesterday, pal.

Anyway, it was a super day. I have more to write about, but I'm too tired to do it right now. Maybe I'll head down to the beanbag orgy room at the convention center and get that taken care of in the morning.

Until then, I bid you all good night (most of you anyway - for all I know, there are some serious assholes reading my blog).