Hey, Gretchen and I will be moving over the next couple of days and we will not have broadband for at least two weeks. Okay? Keep that in mind when you send stuff. Thanks. ;)

A report by the Business Record earlier today said that Timbuktuu Coffee Cafe would be closing its Grand Avenue location in West Des Moines. Charlie Bienert, the coffee shop's owner, had intended to open a location there, but pulled the plug on those plans before the store opened, he said. Bienert has a Timbuktuu kiosk in EMC Insurance Group Inc.'s building on the skywalk level that he intends to keep open, he said.

Bienert went on to say: “We just felt that Peet's was a far superior coffee. Hell, even I'd drink it. And that's saying something - because I don't like coffee all that much.”

This is quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen. Thank you, Autumn Rain Turkel. Gretchen thought it was so cool, she's considering changing the spelling of her name to match the image. Make more - I'll share 'em.

With a Peet's in hand, I'm as “happy as a little guuuuuuul.” Sorry I'm so damn passionate about my coffee, folks. It brings out the best and worst in me. The day is off to a good start, although I have yet to catch up on a zillion e-mails. By the way, if you did have the chance to come to Des Moines, please let George Partington know right away. He's a good friend of Frank's, who (I have to admit) is starting to grow on me. I love meeting new people. More to report when… I have… more to report.

Look, I'm tired of getting e-mails complaining about my complaining about Iowa. I don't live there anymore. It seems that more than a few of you were upset with my opinion of a local coffee shop. Well, sorry - but Java Joe's still sucks. If you can't deal with brute honesty, then that's your problem - not mine. Here's a tip: personal attacks don't usually help these kinds of situations. Better brewing, however, works wonders. You might consider replacing that chip on your shoulder with a smaller model. That way, you might be able to see that I also dislike some coffee shops in San Francisco as well. I'd tell you to kiss my ass, but you're apparently already familiar with the flavor.

Now you can grab Gnomie Pocket PC 2002 Themes. Too cool for words. Too nice for the Palm platform.

Hey - Gretchen and I made it home safely and everything seems to be in order. All of the house plants look like they were well humped, too. Oh, along those lines - it seems that some people are under the illusion that Gnomedex was nothing more than a wild-ass party. Well, that's exactly what it was - and you missed it. Don't miss it next year. Although, we may have to set up an “evening disclaimer” for the faint of heart in 2003. It was a time for all of us to let our hair down. Or, in Chey's case, our pants.

If last night was any indication as to how this conference is going to go, I think we're in for one helluva ride. Gretchen's Ohana trip was a raging success, the pre-registration gathering was replete with cheerful attendees (both new and old), and a couple of people stayed up half the night to get the network issues put to bed. Yeah, we're going to hit a few snags - but damn, we're gonna have a great time here in Des Moines.

I really can't describe the feeling - which is one I haven't felt since last year's gathering. It's a feeling of pride - for both the people who helped put this together, and for the people who are here just for the sake of being here. We've set the stage for something spectacular. My only hope is that the Wi-Fi connection has enough bandwidth to back it up!

Right now, I'm dialing in on a 53k connection in my room. Gretchen's out grabbing breakfast with her mom. I was up this early (5:30AM) only because I was going to be on WHO TV 13 for a spot on Gnomedex. The show was four minutes heavy, so I bowed out gracefully. You see, we had a nasty thunderstorm roll through Des Moines around 1AM; it's effectively killed the power to many local schools. Argh.

I don't understand how some of y'all get any work done when you're on the road. This is just nutty. It's not like I'm disorganized, just that I have to bring along so much gear! This morning, I finally had the opportunity to give my new GL2 a spin. I hope the footage turns out, but if it's half as professional as the way the unit operates, it'll be golden. The 20x optical zoom is absolutely awesome (emphasis on the AWE)! I may be taking that thing with me on a lot more local excursions. I've been taking plenty of pictures with my PowerShot G2, too. My hope is to have a nice (albeit short) film of her family's farm completed in a couple of weeks. It's my first true digital video project. I'll keep you apprised as to its progress. I wish I had more time to get into the nooks and crannies. I about had a $3000 accident when we walked into the barn and Gretchen pointed out the spiders dangling only a few inches away from our face. Those things were HUGE and UGLY! If I had a spine, I would have taken a few photos. But if old sci-fi movies have taught me anything, it's to not taunt arachnids with flash photography.

Hey folks! Just to let you know, we're alive and well in Des Moines, Iowa. We had quite a busy day that got off to a very rough start. I should probably let Gretchen fill you in on all the juicy details, but here's the super short attention span version of the last twenty-four hours of my life: boarded plane in SF; tried to sleep on flight; transfered to second plane in Minneapolis; airborne for thirty minutes before discovering weather radar was shot; returned to Minneapolis; couldn't find Starbucks; waited two hours for new flight; new flight was delayed even further; finally arrived in Des Moines; Lori and Jim picked us up and took us to Wendy's; they drove us to my parents' house; my parents were gone on a weekend motorcycle ride with their club; we turn around and go directly to the Iowa State Fair; I eat three Mark & Gary chops; Gretchen skips fried pickles and goes straight to the world's biggest boar; viewed the butter cow; came home; slept for five minutes; set up plans for dinner with old friends; drove to visit my grandparents; talked with them for a while; went to the Chat Noir for supper; ate a mediocre tenderloin medallion; Jake handed me my new digital video camera, the Canon GL2; talked with Jake about Lockergnome stuff; drank some coffee; drove to Jake's place to pick up some items; was reminded that we forgot to let Lori know about our evening plans; met Jim, Lori, Brian, and Brian's wife at Java Joe's; had more coffee; came back to my place; Jake and I shuffled through a few videos for Gnomedex; Jake went home; I downloaded the day's pictures from my G2 to the still-failing laptop; logged into the blog. And that's about it.

(1) Open Outlook Express; (2) Open the Address Book; (3) Select a Contact; (4) Press the Action button; (5) Select the Send Mail option; (6) Try to minimize the resulting message window. Freaky, eh?

Oh no… I just thought of something. Where the HELL am I going to get coffee when I'm in Iowa?! I believe I can tolerate the stink-ass selection that Des Moines can offer, but what about when I go to the rural township where Gretchen grew up?! Am I doomed? Please, say it isn't so. Someone tell me that there's a place where I can go. I can't do this. I just can't. I'm afraid my mom will TRY (that's the operative word) to make coffee out of her machine at home. Ugh. I'd just as soon kiss a dead moose's butt - which would probably taste a little better. Well, y'all better be prepared to see some relatively crabby entries here in the coming days. Not to say that I turn into a grouch when I don't get the right blend, but… ARGH! This totally sucks. No good Peet's for a week. Help. Send help.

We have not yet begun to pack! I'm just a few hours away from
returning to the state of Iowa. It'll be a red-eye flight on
Friday night, although I'm not expecting to get much sleep en
route. Our Saturday is going to be a full one, too. We're hitting
the Iowa State Fair in the afternoon (primarily because Gretchen
believes its our planetary duty). I never liked going - even when
I was a kid; the carnies frighten me and the vendors have never
been all that exciting. So, why bother? The food, my friends - the
food. You can get anything edible on a stick. I used to think it
cost a small fortune for the privilege, but San Francisco has
effectively schooled me on what's pricey and what's not. “$15.00
for a hamburger? Is that all? And the pickles are free?!” We might
run into a few of you out there on the fairgrounds, too. Of
course, I expect to see you at Gnomedex
next weekend. *THAT* is your planetary duty.

“Since when?!” I normally don't talk to my computer screen, but
this morning was a special exception. Lori was the lucky recipient
of an early morning phone call. “Hey Lori,” I says. “Lori, since
when were we giving away a Pentium 4 2.53GHz with a 533MHz FSB and
512MB 266MHz DDR SDRAM at Gnomedex?!”
She tells me that someone contacted her out of the blue. “Yeah, well…
I don't think people will come to a conference just for the chance to win
this
computer. Were you aware that it also comes with Two 80GB
Ultra ATA 100 (7200 rpm) hard drives?!” Yes, she says. “And a
DVD-RW / CD-RW combo drive?” Yes, she says. “And the nVidia GeForce4
Ti 4200 graphics card?” Yes, she says. We argued for the better
part of an hour and she was finally able to convince me that
giving away this system at Gnomedex was something you'd
appreciate. Everybody, please thank Best Buy's Meredith Jurek for
providing the vpr Matrix box. You'll have the chance to thank her
in person - and possibly take it home with you - in a couple of
weeks. At least, if you're in Des Moines, Iowa for our little ol'
tech convention. It's not too late for you to pre-register, ya
know. And I wouldn't put it off until “next year” if I were you…