Super cool news - we're gonna be streaming some man-on-the-street styled interviews tonight! Just keep an ear on the live stream. Hear attendees, presenters, partners, and maybe even a few Independent candidates. Yep, we've got a few A-list bloggers covering the first debate on our conference floor in a few hours. Awesome!

We're less than a day away from making everything official (you know, ALL of it). A few of us have hijacked the hotel's Starbucks seating area. No T-Mobile access, so we've had to fork over a few bucks to get on the wireless network. Tried a little bit of Wi-Fu at first, but the account is apparently session-based. The good news is that the second floor will be “hot” around 3PM tomorrow afternoon - well before the evening festivities begin. I have a prediction to make: Google's gonna steal the swag show. Yahoo's got some great stuff, as does Microsoft, and PayPal is definitely in the running with their book giveaway (to the first few hundred attendees, at least). I've also got a special RSS treat up my sleeve - or on it? Watch this Feedster link for up-to-the-minute developments. If you're not at Gnomedex, you're probably not that serious about Internet publishing. *shrug*

Here's something Des Moines never did for me: front page news a few days before the event. My hat goes off to Susan Wood for her efforts with this. I may not have communicated every detail clearly, but she did a fantastic job at rallying local support for Gnomedex 4. I'm beside myself with elation; this year is going to be a great one. I didn't think it was possible, but… yeah, it is. And, we've also been given the opportunity to help a few local folks: “The South Tahoe High School Cheerleaders would be available this weekend if you would like them to help in welcoming attendees or whatever you might have a use for cheerleaders for, in exchange for a donation. They are in desperate need of new uniforms and money to help attend upcoming competitions.” Anybody interested in helping me score some cheerleaders for the event? :)

And in a few short hours, we're flying out of LAX. Instead of getting our beauty rest, we've decided to pull an all-nighter and finish a few last minute chores before blasting off. The flight should be short. I've never ridden on an plane before - only inside one. I don't know which one I'm more worried about: the airplane or the airport? We're not on United, American Airlines, or Southwest - nor are we taking JetBlue. It's Alaska Airlines this time around, with the only link that gives me easy travel information from my PDA. I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings.

Went shopping this afternoon, gearing up for Lake Tahoe. Turns out, I can fit into boys clothes - large. At least, as far as hoodies are concerned. I got a brown hoodie (with some 'Rusty' logo on the front of it), a blue hoodie (with some random brand name on the front of it), and a grey hoodie (although I've had that one for a while and it's not really stylish). Perhaps hoodies are the new flannel? Nah, nothing trumps plaid. Exept plaid hoodies.

From one of the Gnomedex participants (Neil Grifter of Defcon), here's a Hacker Handle Generator. Weigh in with your new identity! I'm Daemon Stealer.

Don't ask me how it happened, but the Gnomedex schedule capped itself with two more former TechTV show hosts today. Patrick Norton (!) will be sitting with Jim Louderback on the Digital Lifestyle panel, and Chris DiBona is going to be moderating our Security panel. Chris co-hosted TSS a few times, so I'm counting him as a former host. It all happens next week, man! I seriously can't believe who's going to be there with us… it's coming together better than I think anybody expected it to. Even Jake is making the trip - and we'll be announcing a few things there at Saturday night's banquet.

RSSAuction now outputs in both Atom and Javascript formats. So, if you're an active eBay user, and you have several auctions going on at one time, you can easily create a search (based on Seller ID) and include the generated, dynamic JavaScript code on your blog for your visitors to see. How's that for convenient?!

Star Wars will never be the same again - until Lucas releases the Star Wars Ultra Special Edition DVD pack in a couple of years, complete with reworked footage of Yoda, wherein he replaces the entire character with a Twinkie. Yep, you heard it here first, folks - good ol' George is making our favorite Jedi a hydrogenated snack cake from outer space. We found the Star Wars DVD set at Best Buy for $52 (not including tax). Instead of caving to impulse, I decided to do a price comparison when I got home. Glad I did - Star Wars Trilogy (DVD Widescreen Edition) is only $42 on Amazon.