Houston Archive

Houston: I'm Talkin' to YOU

Sarah couldn't have said it better early this morning. It seems we keep looking at each other with watery eyes that say "It's just this month that's so crazy, not next month right? RIGHT?" She's quite the trooper. I just attempt to keep up with her, which undoubtedly involves a lot of focus, drive, caffeine, and alcohol.

Coincidently, that last one is very apparent, given that I came home yesterday to a giftbox of lovely martini glasses resting on the coffee table. Thus, we just want to let Erica O'Grady and Matthew Wettergreen of Caroline Collective, and the rest of the  folks in Houston know that they are not forgotten! We have some great footage on the way! It's just being tackled in a foggy, sleep-deprived, round-about manner. Kind of like the cab ride below.

Quick Disclaimer: now, we've had some wackadoodle taxi experiences on this UGBT tour. Austin? I think I groped a pedi-cabber the first night, and decided it was appropriate to recount the story to Earl, our driver the next day, who then laughed so hard he got lost in the AMD parking garage. Whoops. And there was the Memphis cabbie, who tried to kill us by going 80 mph down the quiet neighborhood street we grew up on, and then refused to help with our bags. Typical. And who can forget our Toronto taxi experience? I believe the seats were upholstered to look like Winnie the Pooh, complete with ears. And the West African driver kept shouting "MAMMA MIA" and giggling. Weird.

And yet, they all knew where they were going. Which is more than I can say for the new guy below... ah bless his heart (said through gritted teeth).

BREAKING: I Actually Like a Republican

So apparently there was some big Orange Festival-Carnival-Dance-To Do or something in Houston that anyone who is anyone goes to….the same night as my signing. Brilliant timing right?

Actually, yes. I’m always secretly happy for a small intimate crowd because you can actually have deep conversations with people. I had quite a few last night. One guy marched up, barked a few questions at me including “WHAT VCS DO YOU KNOW?” to which I blankly stared and finally asked how long he had. I mean, it’s pretty much been my job for ten years to know as many as possible. It’s a bit like asking an Eskimo to describe all the snowflakes he’s ever seen. Said guy also informed me if you had an innovative new drill bit you could start a company in Houston. Otherwise, you leave. Period. Not a single good software developer to be found in the city limits. He was there for “free babysitting” and then getting the hell out. And then he marched off. As someone who loves efficiency and bold statements, he was a man after my own heart.

Olivia and I also got personality tests that showed—among other things—we have no secrets and my husband is like candy to me: The sweetest part of my life, but it can also give me a toothache at times. Also, Olivia sees problems in life like a little chipmunk she can solve by patting them on the head. (Delusional!) I see them as a big grizzly bear on hind legs charging at me. What do I do? MACE THE BITCH! (Bad ass!) We lifecasted the “readings”….posts to come later.

But I have to say the single best conversation I had was with David Wallace, with whom I shared the event. David wrote “One Nation Under Blog” and is the former mayor of Sugar Land, Texas. He’s a Texas republican who was introduced to me by my new BFF Erica O'Grady as the man who will one day be President. Another republican Texan as President? You can understand my hesitancy to shake his hand.

But it was perfect at this moment in American history and my own life to do an event where politics and Web 2.0 were colliding. David’s book is about how Web 2.0 is determining the future of politics; my book chronicles the rise of those very technologies. He’s a politician who can’t stop thinking about the Web and its impact. I’m a tech reporter who can’t stop thinking about this upcoming election and its impact. We probably could have talked for about 45 hours, each wanting to somehow can-opener the other’s brain and just cherry-pick the contents.

From the conversations we did have, I have to say W has given Texas republicans an unnecessary bad name. David isn’t a fear-based, reactionary politician. Although terrified by the ugly side of the net-- think pedophiles lurking on MySpace and anonymous bloggers calling him a drug dealer-- as mayor David worked to understand the net and educate parents and schools how kids should be careful using it—not lobby banning it or somehow trying to regulate it. He’s also an avid Twitter user—writing his Twitters himself, not outsourcing it to a staffer. (Wait: does that mean he’s a terrorist?)

During our public chat—which is Qik’ed below—I prefaced a lot of obnoxious statements with “I’m just a crazy San Francisco liberal…” as my way of apologizing in advance for the jerky partisan statement-masquerading-as-a-question I was about to ask. (The recording stops before I go too far, sadly.) One of the things I just had to know was his opinion of McCain picking Sarah Palin as a running mate. He said he was horrified and said we could talk about it more later. We did. And I was impressed with how many issues a crazy San Francisco liberal and a Texas Republican politician could actually agree on. Perhaps the most important thing we agreed on: We both voted for Obama. Boo-ya. I left with a huge appreciation and hope that a non-Karl Rove republican party actually exists in America in larger numbers than it seems and that maybe Sarah Palin isn’t the future of the party—maybe people like David are.

I also got a copy of his book, which I’ll read and review once, um, Erica ships it because apparently I waltzed right out of Caroline Collective leaving it on the table.