It's been a great few hours in Vancouver. We breezed into town last night, met some courteous drivers, had some great sushi, and slept in a five-star hotel for half of what it would normally cost in a major American city. I'm listening to Robert wax poetic on RSS at Northern Voice – a tale we've been telling in and out of conferences for several years now. I brought about 200 RSS buttons (shirt pins, that is) with me – they're sitting on the registration table for everybody to grab. A few people in the room, according to the informal RSS poll, still don't know what RSS is. The RSS shirt pins won't help, but they seem to be the only swag at the event. I hope to see random folks wearing them before the day is through. The 200-capacity room is overflowing with geeks – I'm hoping at least 50 will stay for my panel, but their attention will be split in thirds after lunch. C'est la vie, as the French Canadians say. And pirates say ArrrrrrrSS…