Chicken Fried Renderings…

I got a flyer in the mail from an architectural modeling company that just blew my mind. Now, I’ve done some architectural rendering in my day, but why anyone would need a rendering of this common sight is beyond me:

Yep, looks like every other exit on I-40. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the rendering, the rest of the stuff was pretty good. Perhaps I’m just jealous that I wasn’t assigned this task, the simplicity of it: all you would need is a camera and enough cash to cover your Sunrise Sampler, over-medium.

Celebrity forearm contest…

Tonight at a local sushi establishment I had my second Nashville experience. (Read about the first one here.) Oddly enough, both brushes with fame have occured in restaurants that specialize in Asian cuisine.* This particular sighting can also count double because she was with her celebrity husband. I was trying to be very subtle with the camera, the above picture was the best I could get. Some may ask, “Who Needs Pictures?” You know me.

I’ve got a ticket to the 12:01 AM Thursday, May 19th showing of Star Wars: Episode III for the first one who can identify this Celebrity.

*Update: I do remember once seeing Charley Pride at the Cracker Barrel off of Music Valley Drive. So actually only 2 of 3 brushes with fame involved chopsticks. (Still.)

**Update 2: I have it on good authority that Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney were seen together in P.F. Changs’ a few days before their wedding was announced. I so see a pattern here.

HABEMUS VICTOR: MMMikey of Who You Talkin’ At? has correctly identified the celebrity forearm as none other than Kimberly Williams. It was his innate sense of music, popular culture, and Asian cuisine that led him to the correct answer.

BlogNashville Observations…

OK, people are demanding a recount of the weekend events, so here are my observations of BlogNashville:

  • I should have taken the good camera, the view of downtown from the Belmont parking lot was pretty amazing.
  • The Curb Events Center at Belmont is a lot nicer than Mike Curb’s offices on Music Row.
  • I thought I was sitting in the back of the room where the opening cememonies would be held. It turned out to be the front of the room.
  • When Dave Winer was taking requests for the group sing-along, I turned to the people next to me and said, “Freebird.” Glenn Reynolds heard me and repeated it into his mike. He really is the human aggregator.
  • Mr. Roboto didn’t carry a computer around with him, but he was still able to respond to this post from Blake. He flipped him off from across the room.
  • Terry Heaton goes to so many conferences, he has his own nametag and lanyard. Points for style, points off for not assimilating.
  • John Cox looks like Penn Jillette.
  • The waitress at Tabouli‘s must have a degree in customer service. I asked if it was OK for us to get separate checks. She said,”No.” She actually did end up splitting the check. Into two checks. (There were 8 of us at the table. It was the most brilliant passive-aggressive move I’ve ever seen.)
  • Playing with Flickr was really fun. It’s the killer app for nerd conferences.
  • The conference topics were interesting, but I found more value in reading what other people were writing about what other people were writing about what was was actually going on in the session. WHILE I WAS IN THE SESSION. And if that didn’t work, Dan Gilmor has a really cool NASA screen saver.
  • Hammock Publishing has some of the nicest empolyees I’ve ever met. Especially the ones that share educational experiences with former first ladies.
  • My favorite part of the closing ceremonies? Bill Hobbs ceremoniously pulling the plug on the free Wi-Fi.

All in all it was a fun day.