Well OF COURSE there would be a Fame flash mob in Nashvegas now that I no longer live there! (sigh). So very sad I was not a part of this FABULOUS impromptu display of jazz hands at the Nashville Farmer’s Market. Well done, Circle Players!

Be sure to watch it all the way through to view maximum tourist confusion:

Related articles by Zemanta

• I got to join a “flash mob” yesterday in Paris, as a tribute to Michael Jackson (americablog.com)
• Michael Jackson – ‘Beat it’ Flash Mob (stustake.com)
• Flashmob – Frozen Grand Central (stustake.com)

When I was a kid, Michael Jackson was my absolute reason for getting out of bed each morning. So blinded by love was I that I never once realized that the belt and shirt he’s wearing in The Way You Make Me Feel makes him look like Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.  I just thought he was, well, BAD. The good bad, you know.

I believed in his Badness so much that I proudly sported my convictions on a button, which I wore to school every.single day. (see picture – mine was JUST LIKE THAT).

I also remember my grampa being not-so-very supportive of my declaration of intent to marry MJ. I was quite serious. Mom was very sweet about it though: “If you still feel that way when you get older, we’ll talk about it.” Thanks, momma!

(sigh)

I’m quite jealous of my actual hubby for getting to see him live — twice. But as I mine YouTube for live MJ performances, I feel like I’m there. Especially when I see this one, which I remember watching, mouth gaping, as if it were yesterday:

Say what you will about how odd this lady is (not to mention how completely mortified her teenage daughter was) as she jogs through BWI Thurgood Marshall airport; she’s got great calves:

I was stuck in the airport for about five hours; she jogged around the people mover for two of them. She even jogged in place at Aunt Annie’s Pretzels while the cashier fetched her a handful of napkins for her glistening brow.

Odd, I tell you. Odd. I mean, I’m all about multitasking, but this was a bit too much. And hilarious.

In other news, I’m positively loving DC.

Although I won’t be going into detail on this blog about my gig, I will say that I’m blessed. It’s an honor to have this opportunity, and the warm welcome was the icing on the cake. I spent the first week there on my own; came home for some family time this weekend. And of course, Mere’s AMAZING wedding. (Congrats, Mere!) I return to Our Nation’s Capital this afternoon.

Dave moves up this Thursday – yay! He’ll bring up the poodle and the wireless router; two very important items in my life that I’m barely making it through the day without.

Oh! And you harassed asked, we listened: Picalicious is back, baby! The photo-a-day goodness is here!  Now you can check out photos of my Amtrak train hitting a deer, my sadness over the fact that there is no Fat Tire in DC, and of course, pictures of cool cars that Dave keeps seeing without me.

As always, I appreciate all the emails, phone calls, texts, Facebook wall posts, Tweets and snail mail you’ve sent my way; your support and encouragement has made this adventure possible – and so much fun!

Holy (tiny) cow. This commercial made me cry, I laughed so hard. Watch it right NOW.

Team Newman and the fabulous T.T. made the one block journey to the center of Nashvegas last night for the Earth Hour Nashville festivities. And it rocked. I was particularly obsessed with the Jack’s BBQ sign, since his neon flying pigs have not ceased to fly in the decades since they were erected.

Check out some video below; lotta “Woo Hoo!” courtesy of yours truly. For all the making fun of Woo-ers that I do on a daily basis, my Woo-to-tape-ratio is rather high on this one:

And just for the record, Merchants never did go dark. Nor did Nashville Gifts. (sigh). But it was still a really cool thing to witness. For one hour, Broadway was dark and cozy; it also felt a bit like Halloween/New Years Eve. Lots of folks running around kissing each other and yelling “One hour, no power! Wooooooooo!”

Oh, and congrats to MP&F for pulling off such a fabulous, well-publicized and meaningful event. I can’t think of the last time the Nashville business community rallied around a cause like this — and so creatively!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jo Dee Messina Goes Dark (idiomag.com)
• Shutdown: Lights Out For Worldwide Switch Off (news.sky.com)
• Earth Hour Saturday 28 March 8.30pm – Your light switch is your vote (via FriendFeed) (earthhour.org)
• Earth Hour Events This Saturday (chicagoist.com)

Okay, I know I expressed a bit of concern about whether SXSW would be this big I Heart Twitter! fest or if I would actually learn something new. No worries! I attended three fabulous panels and a keynote address on Day 2. In all honesty, the speakers most certainly did teach/encourage/motivate/challenge me, so if I had to go home today I would feel like I got my money’s worth.

I very much enjoyed hearing from Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh, his keynote address was packed out and even spilled into three simulcast rooms. The great news about Tony is that he’s relatively young, extremely successful and absolutely understands that THE BEST way to have productive, customer service-oriented, on-message employees is to create a culture that fosters those things.

If you want your customers to be WOWed, as Hsieh does, then you’ve gotta take great care to hire employees who enjoy WOWing folks. And, “fire quickly” those who do not. Nice the hear that Zappos’s priority is creating and maintaining that culture. “If we hire for the culture fit,” Hsieh said, “the rest just takes care of itself.” He also said that Zappos considers money spent on WOWing customers and training and motivating employees as marketing dollars. It’s billiant, in my opinion.

The panel on Internet privacy was also fabulous. It wasn’t so much that I learned new stuff, you already know how I feel about the importance of knowing your online self. It’s was really just nice to have my obsession validated by really smart folks who are just as freaked out as I am about how little the average person cares about what personal information of theirs is floating around on the Web.

Anyway, there were so many great nuggets of geekdom crowding their way into my head that I thought I might explode a little. You can see my schedule over there…except for that Obama/Dean one. I skipped that to hang with hubby. And that’s okay because the keynote for Day 3 is the same Obama Web-ness, so it’s all good. The topics and converstaions spurred many blog ideas for me, so look for those in the coming days!

In the meantime I’ll leave you with this video of Dave stripping down at the trade show to get a cool t-shirt. We do what we have to do, friends:

Check us out! We had a blast on day 1 and never even had to wait in a line for four hours like these poor folks:

Team Newman browsed the Austin Convention Center, picked up our tote bags o’ goodness, attended a session and even got a little work done on the side. We also chilled with Scott, Dave and Michelle.

The weather here is nasty, rainy and freakin’ cold. BUT that didn’t stop us from learning new stuff, making friends with strangers and drinking free beer.

Chris Brogan wearing a Poken, looking manly

Oh! And we got to meet Chris Brogan, who is, in the geek world, kind of a big deal. Brogan was wearing one of those Poken things that I had previously told Ashley I thought would fail because dudes (who typically serve as geek trend-setters) would not wear them. Guess I called that one wrong. Anyway, Chris Brogran wears a Poken AND claims to sport furry underwear. Just thought I’d share.

In other news, we miss Joe Flood and really, really wish he was here to people watch with us.

Tomorrow, we attend lots o’ sessions and count the number of Manhattan Portage bags and Jesus beards we see. Fun!

In the meantime, we sleep! Sure, it’s early. But after you’ve had been and a cheese burger like this you really do need a good nap.