Here's me putting OtherInbox's Mr. Spam in a headlock. This is what I wanted to do to Mr. AT&T, but he was a no-show at SXSW.

We did it! Team Newman survived the fifth and final day of South by Southwest Interactive. Not to be confused with the music portion, which starts today. Many of you emailed, Facebooked and Twittered me with great SXSW Music folks to check out…unfortunately, our geek lanyards don’t get us into those music venues. Sorry!

Anywho, Day 5 was great and included everything from getting work done, to tacos, to watching intoxicated dudes attempt to ride the mechanical bull. I managed to sneak in two SXSW panels, which is tough to pull off on the last day of any conference. I even wore red on St. Patrick’s Day in hopes of winning Gowalla’s Flip Mino HD. No, (sigh) I didn’t win.

I really enjoyed the “Non-Profits: Be the Web You Wish to See!” panel with Stanley Jones of Diligent Creative. I was quite underwhelmed by the “Surviving Scandal” panel though. I think the gal knew what she wanted to say, just couldn’t find a way to say it. Her awkward struggle with public speaking made me very sad/uncomfortable/sorry for her so I had to get up and leave.

The Media Temple closing party was fabulous though; easily the most fun party we attended during our six days here. We had free grub and LoneStar and had a great time giggling at the bull riders.

All in all, it was a great experience. Though, this was the last SXSWi trip for Team Newman for a while.

When we first attended SX three years ago, it was much more intimate (say, 3,000 folks) than the SX of today. I love to think about 13,000 geeks in once place, but I don’t enjoy what a mass o’ tech-addicted laptop lovers does to AT&T and my iPhone. And it certainly wasn’t good for our hotel internet connection either. We always try to work, blog and write while we are here. With the massive internet and iPhone failure, we simply couldn’t do any of that. And that sucks.

Of course, none of that is the fault of the SXSW organizers. We’ve no issues with the festival itself. Still, we’ll be looking for the next, slightly smaller geeky gathering for 2010. Suggestions?

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Day 4 involved a little less session time and a little more tacos/fajitas/beverages. I did attempt to go to the 11:30 session called “How to Protect Your Brand Without Being a Jerk!” but got tired of listening to the panelists argue with each other and left early.

I did manage to get a lot of work done on Day 4 though, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

The issue for Team Newman is this: AT&T was apparently caught off guard by the SXSWi geek migration to Austin, so our iPhones are useless. And, since our hotel gets its Internet service from AT&T, the wireless speed in our room is painfully slow. Therefore, if we are to get any work done we have to go to the Convention Center (sigh).

You can imagine how bitter we, the Internet-addicted, are right now.

BUT the good news is that we found a place here in Austin called Rio Grande and we loved the food there so much that we ate there twice on Day 4. The best part: they make FlackRabbit-sized mango margaritas! Adorable AND yummie!

We also went to a couple of fun parties where my hand got some fashion henna and my hubby got a cool t-shirt. Then of course there was the Gowalla party. We got there right as the doors opened and scored some free shirts and beer. AND got to meet Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (see above photo). He was quite nice and also very introverted, which surprised me a little.

All in all, Day 4 was great. I’m looking forward to Day 5, especially the “core conversation” about non-profits and web tech.

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Creepy ATMs a plenty

Even though our beloved iPhones and their data connections have been rendered virtually useless for three days because folks at AT&T can’t find a signal to save our lives, Team Newman managed to find our way around Austin, consuming many a free beverage on Day 3.

A few observations:

1. Austin = ATMs. It’s very odd, but about every 20 feet you stumble upon a creepy, if not sketchy, ATM. See photo.
2. Every restaurant serves some sort of taco.
3. Cupcakes are the official dessert of Austin.
4. This year’s SX has more non-Apple products than I’ve seen in years past. It also has more Apple-haters. And they REALLY don’t like Steve Jobs.
5. 5 p.m. sessions are well attended when it’s freakin’ cold in Texas.
6. Men at SX look at you like you are a freak if you are a woman WITHOUT pink/green/blue hair.
7. Geeks like black hooded sweatshirts.
8. Geeks like girls with blue hair.
9. I’m so happy I’m one who enjoys learning new stuff.
10. Although we are glad we are here, with so many folks live blogging and Twittering what they are learning at SXSW, you really don’t have to be here to feel like you are here. But if you don’t come to SX in person, you can’t drink the free beer. So, there’s that.
11. AT&T is royally screwed. I feel sorry for them, actually. After an unacceptable (and stupid) failure like this, these geeks are gonna be all over the Palm Pre.
12. The new Sierra Mist with grapefruit is actually pretty good with vodka.

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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.

For your viewing pleasure, the Team Newman SXSW Interactive video montage:

Seriously! We showed up at 6:58 (registration started at 7 p.m.) and we breezed through the line and secured our lanyards. We go back downstairs to find at least 500 folks standing there like dominoes looking at us like we’re walking by them wearing The Precious. And we were. SUCKERS!

I love being a dork.

After a two-hour ice/sleet/WTF-is-this-weather delay, Team Newman arrived safely in Austin this morning around 11. We moseyed to our fabulous hotel with complementary wireless, got a little work done and then headed out to have the world’s best margaritas at Cantina Laredo. Oh, yes. We know it’s a chain. We don’t care.

Then it was on to the Starbucks to pick up a match to our everyday china, and now we chill in the lobby counting down the minutes til we wait in a very long line for our SXSW Interactive lanyards (cue heavenly host angel chorus).

It feels good to get away on a mini work/play-cation. Need anything from Austin? Lotta beer here. Lotta coyboy hats. Feels a lot like Nashville, honestly. 

Oh, and thanks, Amy, for Twittering this grub suggestion. We’ll totally check it out this weekend!

Woo Hoo! Team Newman is just three days away from descending upon Austin for South by Southwest Interactive.  Although it’s not a total vacation (we’ll still be working on the road) we are ready to get out and about and learn something new… an expectation that makes me a little nervous.

See, SX has traditionally been a predominantly male, Apple product lovin’, geek haven. As attendees, we’d feast our eyes on new technologies, books and ideas that would debut there. And here’s the catch: the stuff really was new. Three years ago, Twitter launched at SX as a way for festival peeps to keep up with each other as we moseyed about Austin. It fell off the radar for a while and then suddenly, about 16 months ago, Twitter popped back up to the surface. And now CNN and MSNBC are hailing Twitter as a “new” social media site. But, you see, it’s not new. At least not to SX-goers.

Which brings me to my point about this year’s SX — there’s a lot of social media stuff on the slate and I just PRAY there is something new, something fabulous, for me to learn this year. I will just DIE if I get there and sit through six days of “How to use Twitter” or “Social Media 2.0″.  What if I get there and instead of the geek crowd it’s nothing but normal people? What if the “new” stuff is nothing more than the popular/mainstream stuff? I really think I’ll cry.

So, I’ve got this little bit of fear going on; that said, I simply can’t wait to touch down on Austin soil, stand in line for two hours to get my prized lanyard, drink free beer, meet fabulous new friends, find my online peeps, hold hands with my hubby and learn new stuff.

Oh! And I’m sure I’ll also do something completely random this year like dance at a goth bar and put temporary tattoo on my forehead just to get a free t-shirt (a la SX 2007). No worries, I’ll be blogging, taking photos and rolling video from SX so you’ll totally feel like you are there for every odd and geekish thing we do!  Stay tuned!

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So me and the hubbster are going to Bar Camp Nashville tomorrow. I’m looking forward to attending Wordpress 101, PR 2.0, New Media for Change and, of course, Make Google Your Bitch.

Bar Camp is free. There will be a plethora of Nashville Geeks, beer and Apple products. I’m excited to meet in person folks that I’ve only Twittered with up until now. This is also why I’m excited about our trip to Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive in March.

Are you attending Bar Camp? If you need more info, here’s the boilerplate:

BarCamp Nashville is an open-source gathering of technology enthusiasts who come together for one weekend to share what they know and learn what they don???t. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.