I've arrived at Wollman Hall, took some pictures, logged on the wifi. The school's wifi requires that you register with the school, but there's a Starbucks next door, and I'm able to use their wifi with no trouble (I have a Tmobile account).  

I had lunch today with Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, pictured at their offices, working on Valleywag. I'm blogging from their headquarters in Soho.  

Andrew Baron, who will be at tonight's meetup, says that this will be the best-attended NYC meetup of a certain ilk. It certainly doesn't compare with the TechCrunch party a few weeks ago, but the format here will be different. Thanks to Sanford Dickert, we have a classroom-style space: "Wollmann Lounge at the Cooper Union Engineering Building, 51 Astor Place, next to Starbucks on corner of 3rd Ave and Astor Place," according to Sanford. We will also be honored by the presence of newlywed Raines Cohen all the way from Berkeley. I'll begin with five minutes or so of random podcast-style ramble, then ask what people want to talk about. I'll pick out people at random and ask them to explain something. Likely callouts to Andrew Baron, who just announced a new venture in video podcasting, and proto-blogger Cameron Barrett, who is working on Confabb (of which I am invested). Martin Schwimmer, legal blogger, can help us understand what's what with Internet patentry. Bobby Orbach will call me Biiiiiig Daaaave (probably). We will likely sing a song, maybe two, and then at some point head out for ethnic food. 

Michael Markman observes that Edwards is calling people to "do" now, not just vote for him, but let's get stuff done now. Hey, that's what I told him to do at our meeting earlier this year. I also urged Howard Dean to do the same with the $40 million he raised. People who listen are smart. That's the hardest thing to do, judging by how few people do it.  

I love it. The lasagna wiki made Techmeme!  

Mitchell Tyrell offers a reason I didn't get a demo from Microsoft -- they don't like the coverage they get here. If that's true, and I hope it isn't (I have been known to praise them, read the archive) -- it's a slam on the integrity of everyone they sent a free computer to. Put it this way, if I got one, and I believed what Tyrell says, I'd have to return it immediately. I never want anyone to get the impression that my opinion is for sale. It surely can be influenced, if you have a good product. And I may well buy a Vista machine at some point. I have paid for all the hardware I use today. I did once get a freebie from Microsoft, they sent a guy to my house to install both a new computer and a high-speed Internet line, in 1996, when Bill G was still running the company. Back then I said lots of things he didn't like, but instead of sulking and trying to pretend I don't exist, he engaged me in debate, and we all learned something. It's possible that some of the people at Microsoft today owe their jobs to his approach.  

Lots of interesting conversation with Steve Rubel last night. One surprise is that while his blog has much higher Technorati rank than Scripting News, we have higher readership. I always assumed that with high Technorati rank came a certain amount of flow. Apparently not so. 

Good morning from the Starbucks on 42nd St across from Grand Central Station.