Happy Birthday, Ginger Ninja!

What better way is there to start my blogging day than by wishing my wife Wendy (a.k.a. the Ginger Ninja), a happy birthday?

That reminds me of a story…

Three Years Ago Today

I arrived at the Hotel@MIT shortly after noon under grey skies and on-and-off rain with a stuffy head and a bit bleary from cold medication. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to grab a last-minute ticket to this conference, I thought.

The conference was the first BloggerCon, which was being held at Harvard. Tucows was moving Blogware from beta to actual ready-for-public-consumption product, so Former Boss Ross was already at the conference rubbing elbows with the blogerati. This was the first day of the conference, for which a $500 admission was charged. I was there to attend the second day, a free-of-charge event.

I spent the afternoon in my hotel room, alternating from sleeping off the cold medication to seeing what was happening on the conference’s internet chat session to noodling with the PlayStation that the Hotel@MIT included in every room. My plan was to meet up with one of the off-site dinner groups after the end-of-day cocktail party; I had signed up to join AKMA’s.

I was feeling bored, so as the cocktail hour approached, I hopped on the IRC channel and asked where and when the cocktail hour was taking place. With the location in hand, I showered, threw on a dress shirt and blazer, grabbed the accordion and made my way to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

When I first took up the accordion in 1999, I was invited to surprise my friend George on his birthday. He’d just moved to New York, so there wasn’t really anyone for him to celebrate with. The plan was for me to meet him and his girlfriend at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the World Trade Center. Even six years after the 1993 bombing attempt, everyone taking the elevators up the towers was subject to a search. The security guy, upon seeing my accordion, assumed I was with the band at Windows nd gave me a stash of drink tickets and sent me up the staff elevator, bypassing all the lines. Since then, I’ve occasionally used the accordion to “socially engineer” my way into places.

There was a man at the door of the Academy, who asked if I was a paying BloggerCon attendee. I showed him the accordion and said “Look, buddy, I’m running a little late — they wanted the entertainment to start a half hour ago. Are the organizers around?”

“Well, yes, but they’re not at the front anymore, they’re in with the crowd. They probably won’t see you come in.”

“Cool,” I said. “Where can I put my coat?”

Having gained access, I made my way into the crowd and grabbed a crab cake from one of the servers. Just after I’d finished it, I heard my name being called. I turned around, and it was AKMA. We’d never met, but we’ve seen each other’s photos, and having an accordion on your back is a big giveaway.

After a handshake and being introduced to his son, Si, AKMA decided to introduce me to some other people. “Oh, there’s Wendy,” he said, “I’ll introduce you.”

Wendy, I thought, riffling through my mental rolodex. Wendy Koslow? One of the organizers? Oh, crap. I was trying to avoid the organizers, who’d clearly know that I was gate-crashing an event for those who’d forked out $500 for admission.

There wasn’t enough time to weasel my my out, so I figured on head-on approach would work best. “Hello, Wendy,” I said, offering a handshake to the slightly tipsy redhead, who was wearing a “happy birthday” tiara. “I’m Joey.”

She’s cute, I thought.

Thankfully, she didn’t kick me out.