Geek Girl Dinner Sydney
Tonight was our long-awaited Geek Girl Dinner Sydney event. I met up with Issy and Tia at the new Googleplex in Pyrmont. (Not the same one I interviewed at in the CBD. Note: My double Goog-rejection was much on my mind.) The new building is gorgeous, and the emcee mentioned a couple of times how “green” it was supposed to be. We checked in and picked up our swag, then were directed out to the “verandah” for drinks. We had champagne and beer while looking out over the gorgeous Sydney skyline. We made some new friends. There was much mockery of Joomla. Then we were all directed down to the meeting room for the “lightning talks.” I got instantly recognized by misswired, who it took me a few minutes to place. (One of the perils of having a blog; being recognised by strangers. Within ten minutes had worked out that we have, like, 20 of the same friends.) Anyway, the talks. Eight different speakers gave five minute speeches about everything from Twitter to Adobe Flex to helpful command line utilities. (I’d offered to give a speech on the Australian online knitting community, but the bill was full. I think my speech would’ve been better than at least half of them.) Several of the speeches just seemed to be plugs for the chick’s business or employer. Also – there were a lot of guys there! I had no idea that it was kosher to bring partners along. I twittered and knitted throughout the speeches. Afterwards we were herded into a (very small) room for more drinks and nibblies. There was much pounding of free Google booze, and much stalking of super-cool Google coder chicks. (I covet those t-shirts with the Google logo with the female symbol as one of the o’s.) Thankfully Issy was available to drive me and Tia home. Thanks, ladies! It was a super fun night. I’m definitely up for the next one.