This memory is much more vivid for me because it happened just last year. I met Rob Farley (blog | @rob_farley) at the airport just after I arrived in Seattle. I had spoken with Rob via the phone, and through email and Twitter, but had not actually met him in person until we arrived at SeaTac.
We chatted for about 45 minutes outside the baggage claim area. And by “chatted” I mean “I couldn’t break away fast enough” but truthfully I was mesmerized by his accent which is a mixture of British and Australian that I dubbed “Britalian”. I thought I was rid of Rob after that encounter only to find that he was sitting next to me at the blogger table during the keynotes.
What I learned over the next few days was this: If you find yourself sitting next to Rob at the blogger table at a PASS Summit do not even think for a minute you will get any sort of writing done. Oh sure, you are supposed to be blogging about the event and the keynotes, but the truth is you end up talking with Rob in a kind of running commentary that would remind most folks of Statler and Waldorf.
[In fact, I hope this year perhaps Rob and I could do something like that in an official capacity. We could sit in a private booth, off to the side, and above the floor. That way we wouldn’t be disturbing the others around us, and our feed could be added to a simulcast of the keynote. I doubt anyone would watch this except for Rob and myself afterwards.]
Anyway, it was wonderful to have met Rob, just one of the many folks I get to meet at the PASS Summit.
So you’re gonna do RiffTrax on PASS Summit? Make sure to record it for future download.