DISCLAIMER: I would like to apologize for the use of “e-mon” on many of the the adjectives used in this post.  I am blaming M and 10hdg.  One word. Viral.  I am also skipping the spell and grammar checking.  Not enough time right now.  Maybe after SXSWi

So today we managed to have a nice sunshiney day to ride to the convention center on the bikes.  After the usual welcome to tech crew meeting, I headed back to the third floor.  For the most part things went ok.  Room 10 is still possessed by demons.    Room 8 has some mild visual problems but we were able to get by.

The afternoon sounded promising.  There was supposed to be a fake riot staged by the ARG panel in room 6.  We were also promised that the AVW guys would replace all of the sound equipment in 10.  Bad news: RIot was LAME!  Good news: NEW SOUND BOARD.  M and I took a break from the insanity to play with “rockets” in the hall (They were promotional darts by capstrat.  I may have to order some.)

At the end of the day, we cleared out the panel rooms.  I had a little trouble getting rid of the Brits in room 6.  I had to resort to an old stand by to get them out.  I told them that there was FREE BEER in the park accross the street and at several other venues.  They were a little confused so I had to spell it out.  There are companies that throw parties and they want people to have fun so they make the alcohol free.  If no one comes to drink the free beer it will go to waste.

After the Brits leave I meet up with M and the crew in the hall.  I explain the Brit thing and end up starting a new dance craze at the same time.  We head off to the Rails party to learn more about otherinbox (BTW. beer facilitates learning).   We hung out there and have not acquired enough food credits to offset the beer credits. You might say that we were dunk-e-mon. <social networking experiment> M and the crew decided that they wanted me to do the dance again.  M starts screaming “DO THE DANCE.”  (Note: this has nothing do do with the song by Justice.)She gets other people to join in.   I succumb to peer pressure.  I do the dance.</social networking experiment>  We network with some strange people and a few useful people.   We get people to do the Official SXSWi introduction <introduction> Hi, my name is X.  My product is X.  My website is X.  My Twitter is X. </introduction>.  (We got most of the people we met last night to do this.) Around 8:00 we really needed food.  We decided to head to Speakeasy.  (BTW. my phone battery craps out about now). <social networking experiment 2.0>  I decided that I should give away my drink ticket before we leave.  M and the posse said that I should give it to a dude in exchange for contact information.  Sunday and I do a lap around the bar to find a worthy dork boy.  I found one in a beat up leather jacket and hat. I tap him on the shoulder and ask him if he wants my ticket so it won’t go to waste.  He says thank you but he is actually on his way out.  My posse says that I need to do another lap and complete the assignment.  They point to a dude with nerd glasses and a BAC.  I am drunk-e-mon.  I head over to the dude.  I tell him that I am leaving but don’t want the ticket to go to waste.  I offer him the ticket and drop it on the floor like a huge nerd.  I fumble and pick up the ticket.  They had stopped handing out drink tickets by then and he didn’t have any.  I just saved hiim from paying for beer.  He said thanks and I walked off.  Mission incomplete. </social networking experiment 2.0>

At this point in time we had picked up a stalker by the name of “Faces”.  M headed back to the house to ditch the laptops and feed D (via motorcycle, thanks to a posse member).  I head off to Speakeasy with Sunday and Faces.  LAME PARTY.We were able to ditch Faces and move on to Purevolume.  LAME PARTY.  Still no food.  Sunday is sending texts for me.  I’ve managed to send a few to tell people that my phone has died and that they should text M for details.

Our last ditch effort for food was the Mashables party.  We head to Six and the line is wrapped around the Spaghetti Whorehouse.  No way we were getting in.  Thanks to the networking power of Sunday we had people in the line. Skip to the head of the class.  The rest of the posse returns from Mexico to join us in line.  This is where we met Pyramid Scheme Guy.  He wasn’t selling anything.  He was just “crowd sourcing”.  He explained that there were people behind us who wanted in to the party and we should all just rush the door.  We made him do the intro.  He was drunk-e-mon too.  He asked if we were in.  I explained that APD has a problem with minorities and that I couldn’t be a part of his plan.  I would stand aside and let the crowd go by.

A group of Drunk-e-mons heads towards the velvet ropes to tell us that there is a party next store that has no line.  We were drunk, not stupid. M hopped out of line to scout it out.  She decided to do some networking and explained to a dude that she was polling the line.  How long had he been waiting?  She explained that we were in another line and that he could join us.  M’s clever networking paid off.  After awhile the other line started moving and her new buddy let us all get in line with him.

We are in.  More beer credits.  By now M has 5 beer credits and one food credit (she had frozen food a the house), I have 2 beer credits (about to start on 3) and NO food credits.  M finds a girl with a plate and ushers me to the back.  FREE FOOD.  After 2 plates of nachos (cheese and refried beans) I am doing better.  More of our posse shows up.  M wants me to do the dance. <social networking experiment 3.0> I don’t want to. She starts canvasing the room with other posse members.  She tells them that I need encouragement. She gets more of them to shout out “DO THE DANCE.”  I ask M if I can tell the story first.  She says no.  [more screaming] I try to tell the story.  The crowd doesn’t give a fuck and continues to scream.  DO THE DANCE.  There are about 10 people now, not including my posse.  I told M she has to do it with me.  We do the dance.  Most of the people aren’t impressed.  I explain the the origin of the dance to some Canadian dudes.  We chat for a bit.  M stops by and plays wing for a bit.  She does the intro.  “Hi, my name is Emily,um, I write a blog with my best friend, it’s called climbinginskirts.com.  I’m @limorama on twitter.”  She hands him one of our moos.  He gives us business cards.  M leaves to observe from afar.  I continue chatting.  I am feeling puke-e-mon.  He runs out of booze and says that he is going to the bar.  He asks if I want anything.  I said no and head back to the couch.  </social networking experiment 3.0> M and the posse bust out the interrogation lamps.  Still feeling puke-e-mon.  I am  getting hot.  I need water.  They fetch me some and I remove my hoodie.  More harassment.  They claim that the Canadian is staring at me.  He’s watching me take off my clothes.  I am not concerned.  All I want is to drink water and not puke in public (my needs are simple).

A new member of our posse has one of those capstrat darts from the convention center.  She asks if we will shoot it at some guy.  M’s aim was off and the dart was stolen by Zappos.  I was going to give her my dart but she has already lost several.  I had a plan.  I wrote “Please return to Jen Delk” on it.  M suggested that I write my Twitter (@spinsta) on it as well.  <social experiment 4.0> M and Major Thom decided that the dart should be aimed at the Canadian dude.  Rather than lose at dart to Zappos again, Major Thom just leaves it with the Canadian. WTF?  That was mine.  They told me if I wanted it back I had to go get it.  I am drinking more water.  They are still harassing me.  M says that I should ask the guy to build me a website.  When he is done I can mock his design skills and make him cry.  The Canadians leave with my dart.  I finally go after them and they are gone.  Que cera. </end social experiment 4.0>

They come back in a little bit.  They move to the table next to the couches where we have camped out.  M is at 7 beer credits.  She is getting loud. <social experiment 5.0. They had to have heard us.  The dart is in the dudes pocket now.  I get up and go on recon.  I tell the story of why the dart has my name on it. For some reason the dude didn’t connect me as the owner of the dart (I was wearing a necklace with t a G on it. Not a J).  He and his posse had sent a Twitter message to me.  I explained about my phone being dead.  We chat some more.  Pretty cool dudes.  I explain the volunteer process. We laugh.  I give them a few tips on how to improve their SXSWi experience.  I find out he is a panelist and the other dude is his boss.  He will be on my floor tomorrow.  I get M to give them tips on where to get food on Wednesday (Home Slice.  Meatball Sub.  Eggplant pie.  Maybe Torchy’s for the fried avocavo taco or the Democrat).

We eventually part ways. It is time to get the bikes and ride to Mexico.  I was in bed by 3.  It would have been earlier but we had to give 10hdg the recap.

Cost of today: $1 (tip for free beer)

Free stuff: 1 shirt & extra crumpler case

Beer Credits: 3

Food Credits: 1