Funny note: I also followed Austin early on because we were both in Austin (the city), and I went to SxSW Interactive every year, where he'd be sketching attendees and panels for his notebooks and then sharing them. He was very nice and energetic in person! Just like you'd expect from his writing. Also, I got to meet Craig Newmark (the Craigslist guy!) a few times there--and even got him to sign a Craigslist ad that I thought was hilarious. (He was even nicer than Austin, which is saying something!) I kind of miss SxSWi, though it got huge, and then it felt more like I was walking confusedly around a giant "Mall of America" or something rather than a doable grouping of interesting lectures and panels. Maybe it's just more of a young person's event. In any case, it had great energy, even if it took as much as it gave. :)
I just looked--now the event has 25 tracks! (When I went, it was like...four, maybe five?) An epidemiological danger zone, even on its best days! LOL! <Tapping out.> Maybe I've graduated to the MOST hipster now...since I liked a very hipster event before it got so popular. 😂
Okay, also: Romper Room! I still have my little "I'm a Romper Room Doo Bee"...I don't know what you'd call it. Badge? Sort of? It folds over, instead of having a pin or anything. I used to LOVE that show when I spent my summers at my grandparents, in upstate NY.
Wait, is Romper Room regional? I thought it was everywhere in the US, although also I never thought about it much. Where that Romper Room lady came from, I mean.
Okay, I thought it was just in the NE...because I never saw it when I lived in Georgia or Louisiana (but did see Mr. Rogers)? Though, in fairness, if it came on at the same time as Little House on the Prairie, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk or Shirt Tales, it would have been only Plan B (or Plan Doo Bee, in this case). I had a VERY busy TV schedule as a kid. I basically only read and watched TV, except for at my grandparents. (Which is sad, I admit! But I loved it at the time.)
BUT here's the craziest part--I just looked it up and apparently this show was national (in that it was *available* for local stations to pick up, or not). BUT...it was also franchised?!?! So, even if you did have the show, there were apparently differing Romper Room ladies, and kids, depending where you lived--including internationally? (I would have LOVED Romper Room New Zealand, I bet!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romper_Room 🤯
Funny note: I also followed Austin early on because we were both in Austin (the city), and I went to SxSW Interactive every year, where he'd be sketching attendees and panels for his notebooks and then sharing them. He was very nice and energetic in person! Just like you'd expect from his writing. Also, I got to meet Craig Newmark (the Craigslist guy!) a few times there--and even got him to sign a Craigslist ad that I thought was hilarious. (He was even nicer than Austin, which is saying something!) I kind of miss SxSWi, though it got huge, and then it felt more like I was walking confusedly around a giant "Mall of America" or something rather than a doable grouping of interesting lectures and panels. Maybe it's just more of a young person's event. In any case, it had great energy, even if it took as much as it gave. :)
This is a description of the most pre-COVID event imaginable. Maybe it's a reasonable size again now?
I just looked--now the event has 25 tracks! (When I went, it was like...four, maybe five?) An epidemiological danger zone, even on its best days! LOL! <Tapping out.> Maybe I've graduated to the MOST hipster now...since I liked a very hipster event before it got so popular. 😂
Okay, also: Romper Room! I still have my little "I'm a Romper Room Doo Bee"...I don't know what you'd call it. Badge? Sort of? It folds over, instead of having a pin or anything. I used to LOVE that show when I spent my summers at my grandparents, in upstate NY.
Wait, is Romper Room regional? I thought it was everywhere in the US, although also I never thought about it much. Where that Romper Room lady came from, I mean.
Okay, I thought it was just in the NE...because I never saw it when I lived in Georgia or Louisiana (but did see Mr. Rogers)? Though, in fairness, if it came on at the same time as Little House on the Prairie, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk or Shirt Tales, it would have been only Plan B (or Plan Doo Bee, in this case). I had a VERY busy TV schedule as a kid. I basically only read and watched TV, except for at my grandparents. (Which is sad, I admit! But I loved it at the time.)
BUT here's the craziest part--I just looked it up and apparently this show was national (in that it was *available* for local stations to pick up, or not). BUT...it was also franchised?!?! So, even if you did have the show, there were apparently differing Romper Room ladies, and kids, depending where you lived--including internationally? (I would have LOVED Romper Room New Zealand, I bet!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romper_Room 🤯