Obligatory SXSW Day One Post

Highlights of the day were Jeffrey Zeldman’s opening remarks and a panel entitled “How to Bluff Your Way in CSS“, as presented by Jeremy Keith and Andy Budd. But of course things really start to roll after sunset.

I had no evening plans at all, and was fully expecting to spend it in my hotel room watching free HBO. But I needed to eat, so I figured I’d take a stroll and try to find myself a gnosh, and who knows, maybe even run into someone to talk to. Somewhere along 6th street I heard a British accent behind me and turned to find none other than Mr. Budd himself. I said hi, he said hi (we had met briefly earlier in the day just after his presentation, he seemed to remember me) and a few minutes later I found myself dining with a contingent of web design luminaries. I met about half my blogroll tonight.

Using a smart gimmick I picked up from Nicole, I passed around a slip of paper upon which everyone was to write their name and website, so I got the full attendance list in the proper seating order, counter-clockwise starting on my right:

I was a tad starstruck, I must admit, but I hope I held it together. And alas, since I hadn’t planned for an eventful night, I didn’t bring my camera. That’ll learn me.