Here's Howard and Brad's commentary on my lovely DVF outfit today:

Is it me or do I look like some host of a children's show from the 1970s?

Ahem. Back to Sarah Browne's post. Beyond the shout out, it is an interesting one, and hopefully the link above works within FB's digital walls. If not, here's an excerpt:

"So does all this girly glam mean that voila! women have finally achieved so much equality that we can now afford to literally let it all hang out? That women no longer need to dress or behave like men? That we have choices — every permutation of chic from chictini to Hillary’s custom pantsuits to Sarah Palin’s much ballyhooed booty from Saks?"

It's a thorny issue, as I've written about before. But I'm a big believer that it should be a non-issue. The key isn't "Oh, now we're all wearing dresses." It's that women are free to wear whatever they want: jeans, dresses or VC-esque khakis and blue shirts. Sometimes--gasp!-- professional women rock different looks depending on the day. At Yahoo I wear a dress almost every day; when I was writing my book I wore jeans and a t-shirt almost every day. Paul Carr-- never missing an opportunity to mock me-- calls it the difference between SarahLacy.com and Sarah Lacy. But I think they're both me.

Sure, I dress a little girlier than your average CNBC host when I'm on camera, but that's because I think suits are unflattering. I mean, really, if someone wants to count me out because I wear a dress and not a boxy 1980s suit: Go right ahead. As far as I'm concerned, that only gives me more of an advantage. 

-Waking up at 4:30 am for an early morning flight (woof)
- Wandering aimlessly around the confusing Denver airport (two levels and four "islands" for passenger pick-up? seriously?)
- Walking in circles for 30 minutes in search of a burger joint. That was 300 feet away (left means right at 5400 feet apparently)
- Waiting on the street corner like idiots for a taxi cab that was dispatched to Denver by mistake (and accidentally clotheslining a monk with a heavy bag of books...yay karma)

Mix in some preconceived notions (which Sarah touched on here) and things were not looking so good. That is, until Matt Galligan changed our minds and stepped up to bat for a little one on one with the Sarahcuda (video after the jump)

Root Root for the Home Team from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

Sure enough, Matt was right! New Tech featured four excellent demos, and we had a fantastic meet-up afterwards with 20+ entrepreneurs, two surfboards of sushi, and some badass sake.

However, I knew I loved you Boulder when I stumbled upon the New Tech attendee of the century....

My Life As A... from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

I think they made the right call. More in my Dirt segment on TechTicker today below:

Let's set aside the lack of sleep, charmingly odd doll house we stayed in, and continuation of bizarre UGBT cab drivers for a minute. As I've said, it was our last stop on the whirlwind, and honestly career-changing, User Generated Book Tour.   I already had mixed feelings about it coming to a close, but I'll save all that for another post. And as we've detailed even more I was getting a less-than enthusiastic response to my impending arrival. Still, I knew there was something in Boulder. And I was right.

Here's the thing. Boulder has a ton to offer. The companies that presented at New Tech were pretty amazing, and the people we hung out with where smart, confident, collegial and surprisingly effortless to be around. They just, um, don't want anyone to know?

This is what puzzles me about Boulder. It's a very, very tight-knit community. While entrepreneurs from London, D.C., Memphis, Los Angeles and several other cities have complained that it is hard to develop a regular startup "crew" because the cities were so spread apart geographically, Boulder is only a cuddly 100,000 people or so. There are twice as many bikes as people, so either people have calves of steel or everyone is just a quick cycle away. The New Tech event itself was like a more earth-conscious, savvy version of a Town Hall meeting in Stars Hollow. There was something so genuine and non-poser about it. It was unlike another one I've seen.

But for whatever reason, there's a general desire to protect that unique vibe by fencing out everyone else. More on this in the next post, which features a point-counterpoint between Matt Galligan of Social Thing/AOL and me, so I won't belabor my thoughts now.

But while my gut still tells me that kind of thinking inherently limits companies in Boulder, I love that the scene is its own animal and it feels utterly different than any other stop on the tour. As I've written throughout the tour, the single most important thing is that cities play to their own strengths. In Boulder, a core strength is clearly this community, cooperative vibe. After all, one of the biggest entrepreneur success stories is Celestial Seasonings-- right down to the early days when town's folk helped the founder pick herbs from around the town to go in our teas. (Which I'm inhaling as I write, thanks to a nasty cold.)

I'll be interested to see what develops out of Boulder over the next few years. Hopefully, some new hot shot will actually return a Silicon Valley call...

Now to that dollhouse...this video was shot before our pleasant surprise of an evening, hence the apprehension. (and Olivia's hair in progress)

In other cities we've had several events-- usually culminating in at least one 50-to-400 person bash/signing-- letting me sell books, yes, but also get a great sense of the entrepreneurial climate in the midwest, west, south, northeast and even Canada. I've met thousands of entrepreneurs from all industries and daily keep in touch with many of them. I couldn't have asked for a better tour.

But here we are in Boulder with nothing planned aside from a short cameo at the New Tech Event tonight and wild hopes of some sort of TweetUp. This is largely our fault. For a lot of reasons, outside of anyone's control, the Boulder stop has been continually pushed back from August to September to October then November to now. But I'm putting some onus on Boulder too. For all I've heard about how entrepreneurial it is here, I'm frankly hearing dead silence when I've suggested Tweetups or asked for suggested locations or even cool people to meet.

Now, some have suggested people in Boulder are just busy working hard. OK, but so are people in the 14 other cities I've gone to, right? And part of an entrepreneur's job is to be self-promotional. Here I am, a reporter with two huge platforms in Yahoo Finance and BusinessWeek wanting-- nay begging-- to meet you and hear about your company, and there are, at best, crickets chirping? This isn't an ego thing on my part-- the reason other entrepreneurs have come out has little to do with me. The UGBT has mostly served as an excuse to get like-minded people together. It's just the sharp difference in the response from Boulder and 14 other cities that's got me puzzled. Nevertheless, here I am in Boulder-- even with a nasty cold-- about to go out and hoping to be wowed.

Fortunately, the fabulous Matt Galligan of SocialThing has taken Olivia and I under his Boulder wing and we're about to hit The Med for some drinks and tapas, then New Tech and then we'll be at Hapa will Micah Baldwin and some New Tech folks, so even if you're not coming to the event, come there to say hi! I'll Twitter any change in plans. (Twitter name: Sarahcuda)

I only brought ten books -- which seems wishful thinking giving the rousing interest in my arrival! As usual, they are $20 and come signed with pretty much any inscription you want. Also in the UGBT tradition, if you show up with a pre-bought copy of the book, you get a signature and a free drink at Hapa or wherever we hit next.

So, come on, Boulder! Let's be friends!

It's been a rocky road getting to this final stop, what with some crazy unforeseen scheduling conflicts, so kudos are in order for New Tech organizers Robert Reich and Micah Baldwin. Thanks to their undying enthusiasm, Sarah will be appearing at the December Boulder Denver New Technology Meet-up on THIS Tuesday, December 2nd with books and t-shirts to sell, and pen poised to sign. (more details here)

However, Robert and Micah are probably the only two Boulder-ites (Boulder-ians?) that I can think of as we've heard nary a peep from the rest of you! Despite numerous requests for return trips to neighboring cities like Portland and Seattle, Sarah's had her reporter's eye trained on Boulder. Yet, we've had crickets chirping in return. I mean, Boulder's constantly touted as a hotbed of entrepreneurial and tech activity, right? So what gives? Where's the fire that led Sarah to select Boulder as a UGBT stop in the first place?

Here's my proposition: SarahLacy.com will be in town for one night only, and we want Boulder entrepreneurs to show Silicon Valley's top reporter what mountain men and women are really made of. If anything, it would be terrific to end the UGBT with an icy beer and a bang! So BE THERE.

Really, it's easy. Easy like a Tuesday evening. (How's that for some seventies-inspired cheese?)

Among Flipcam gems I've found today are these two clips from London, featuring two of my favorite people Robert Loch and Paul Carr. In both, the guys have to hide how nice they're actually being to me, by kinda acting like jerks. But I see through it. They love me.

Lost London Footage #1: High Tea from sarah lacy on Vimeo.
Lost London Footage #2- The Launch Party from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

Clip one:

Clip two (featuring moxie!):