Honestly I didn’t see too much of the place. I just picked up my forty ounces of Old English:
Traded back and forth with other people on the free arcade machine. Played Donkey Kong, some Pac-man and Digdug.
Danced a little and then went home to go to sleep. It was raining pretty badly last night, but it was fun! A+++, would do again.
Jacuqi and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to San Francisco to cover Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) for Ars Technica!
We spent most of our time talking to iPhone and Mac programmers, covering Steve Jobs’ keynote address to the attendees and press, and going to the cool parties that are thrown.
Just like we did in January at MacWorld, we threw a party at Harlot on 54 Minna. We had an open bar and teamed up with Gizmodo again to throw a really awesome party.
In my opinion, it was one of the best of all week! We gave away 100 limited edition Ars Technica t-shirts, tons of Ars stickers, and Ars buttons.
People from all over the web took photos and tossed them up on Flickr; I thought I’d share my favorites here:
Thanks everyone for coming out! This isn’t the last Ars party, we hope to keep throwing them bigger and better!
Awesome video, watch it here or click through if you can’t see it:
Jacqui and I went to Club 720 last night to see Herschell and listen to him play his trumpet while some DJ’s laid down some music. Pics from Herschell:
We had a really fun time! I hear Herschell is hanging out at our apartment right now, I need to get done with work crap and get outta here!
Me and Jacqui went to Dark Room (Yelp] last night in Ukranian Village to meet up with a new friend of ours. Nilay Patel is a writer for Engadget and lives in Chicago. He invited us to Dark Room last night to watch Matt Roan lay down some awesome music.
It was one of those nights out when you’re supremely happy even though you’re cold and trying to grab a taxi. We attempted to um… convince the guys at the 24 hour McDonald’s to sell us some double cheeseburgers, but they weren’t having it because it’s drive-thru only at that hour. Since the cheeseburger option was shut down, we took our cab up to North/Damen/Milwaukee in hopes of finding nourishment in the form of Flash Taco. Unfortunately, every one else goes to Flash Taco at 2:30 in the morning. The place was packed and it looked like we’d be waiting an hour just to get a burrito.
Luckily, Underdogg—Flash Taco’s hotdoggy partner in crime—has a street vendor stand called Underdogg Express:
The only downside to waiting in this line, besides the cold, were the drunk hipsters in front of us arguing about US foreign policy. Luckily the dogs were delicious. Perfect neon relish, just like it should be:
Dogs in our belly and sleeping on the brain, we made it home. Best part about our new neighborhood? People—and a diverse mix—are everywhere at all hours of the night; I cannot reiterate how fun it is to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t go to sleep until four or five in the mornings on the weekends.
Had an excellent time out with Jacqui last night. Ran into her coming out of Cooking Fools with two big chunks of tasty looking cheese in hand. We walked to Bin Wine Cafe where we each had a wine flight, shared a cheese plate, and devoured a large order of their tempura green beans.
Once complete, we walked practically next door to Pint. We drank $4.00 Blue Moon pints for a couple of hours while laughing, talking, and generally having a good time.
Oh, I think we also ate some potato skins in there somewhere!
We started at 6pm and were done and in bed by 11pm. There’s no better way to do a Friday up right ;)
It was a great, if not busy & tiring, week in my second favorite city in the world. Here’s the week by the numbers:
We’re almost through with the second day of the Macworld expo and I’m already getting burned out. But in a
good way ;) Last night we threw our big party) and it was a huge success! Over 500 people showed up for a party we’d originally estimated to draw around 100. The place was packed and filled full of really cool people. We gave away a lot of software, Ars swag, and had tons of fun.
Unfortunately I couldn’t drink a drop because I needed to wake up so early this morning. We set the alarm for 5:55am and got in the press line around 7:30am.
We covered the keynote without a hitch, but it almost ended in disaster. My EDGE connection on my Pearl was flaking out right before the event started, but Brian Lam swooped in at the last minute with a USB Sprint dongle that got us online and running. I can’t say it enough times, Brian and his crew at Gizmodo are the coolest guys in the biz.
Once the keynote was over and all the new products were announced (Macbook air, iTunes movie rentals, Apple TV 2.0, iPhone firmware update ) we rushed over to Moscone South to get our hands on the new stuff, write reactions, take photos, and generally do the news. We’ve been holed up here and on the floor ever since, cranking out article after article.
Now we’re winding down and looking forward to relaxing at some parties tonight. We’re attending the Microsoft pre-Macworld bash party and then the Macworld bash proper. It should be a lot of fun! Looking forward to the rest of the week. I’ll try to keep everyone updated as the week continues!
So check this. Jacqui and me are leaving the frozen wasteland of Chicago and touching down in delightful San Francisco this next weekend and we’re unleashing an awesome party on the conference-goers and Ars-faithful in town:
Come early to get free schwag, meet fellow Ars and Gizmodo readers, the Landed Gentry of Mac Development™, and of course, Jacqui and me! Oh, and the drink/food tab will probably run out within an hour, so get there at 8PM!
Schwag? Ars pins, stickers, sumos, t-shirts, books!!
Quite possibly the most controlled and normal New Years Eve in a few years. We (Jacqui, Dan, Paul and I) went to a nearby restaurant to eat dinner around 9 PM. The place is called Absinthe, and it’s good that it was only a few blocks away because it was snowing and slippery last evening.
We had a four course meal which was way too much food and none of us could possibly eat it all. There was wine, and beer, and I think a Tanq & Tonic involved. Lots of fun discussions and laughs. At around 11:30 we took off to a club that plays good music. We figured it’d be a good a place as any to ring in the new year.
Berlin was packed and was characteristically Berlin. If you’ve been to Berlin, I guess you know what I’m talking about. Read the Yelp review I linked if you need more info. It was lots of fun, midnight came, lots of dancing, and no one sang Auld Lang Syne, thank goodness! We hung around and danced until about 1:30 and got the heck out. It was packed like crazy, and the coat check line was growing by the minute.
Getting a cab was difficult, but you just have to be able to be sneaky and underhanded. We were home, drinking water, and snoozing by 2am. Hope everyone out there had a fun and safe new years eve celebration too!
Oh. By the way, do the Salmon Dance:
