Webhead Disconnected!

I am in the Business Center at the Sheraton New York, where Rita and I checked in today after one (expensive) night in a hostel on 47th Street where we were given a room so small it barely fit the bed, a sink, and us (except that there was a TV, of course--no bathroom, but a TV).

Rita could almost reach out and touch both walls at the Portland Square "Hotel"!

A group of us (including some spouses and friends) met for dinner at Pongsri Thai Restaurant, 244 West 48th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue. I made the reservation. I started last week with a reservation for ten and kept calling back every couple of days as the number rose to fifteen and then twenty and then twenty-four.... People were still adding and subtracting themselves on the day of the dinner, and several just showed up at the restaurant! No matter, because the staff were very kind and flexible. I ordered pad thai, which I like because it isn't too spicy. I was surprised that several people sitting near me had never had Thai food before; it has become very popular in the DC area recently. Here are some pictures of our party at Pongsri Thai:

Mike Coghlan and Rita Zeinstejer at Pongsri Thai

Daf


Vance Stevens and Rita


Michael, Aiden and Daf


Ronaldo Lima Jr and Carla Arena


Teresa and Rita


Rita, Tere, Mike and Daf


Graham Stanley and Carla


Webheads at Pongsri Thai

After dinner, a smaller group headed to the Heartlands Brewery, W. 43rd Street and Broadway, for a beer (in my case, a very expensive bottle of water) and more conversation and webheads style bonding. Rita and I returned to our "hotel" at about 1 a.m.

Daf, Jeff, Tere and Moira at the Heartland Brewery and Chophouse

We were up at 6 and at the EV at 7:30, where we signed on as volunteers.

Rita presented her Serendity Project at the Hardware Fair, and we both attended a mini-workshop on using corpora for teaching writing, but we were so exhausted that we conked out in the middle. We grabbed a bite to eat and then took all our stuff (which had been sitting in the EV all day) to the Sheraton and were granted an early check-in. We are sharing a beautiful spacious room with my colleague Kathleen. We were delighted to find a luxurious bathroom with a plentiful supply of soap, which the PSq did not offer!

After a nap and a shower (lovely), I went to hear Tom Leverett's presentation on writing with blogs (saw Carla there and met Margot, Tom's sister).

Tom Leverett and his sister Margot with Carla Arena

Now I am on my way to the CALL-IS business meeting (I am late). My own EV Fair presentation is tomorrow at 9:30. I think I am ready.

Local webheads: see you at 8 pm at Becco, 355 West 46th St! Other webheads: Hugs and cheers from the Big Apple!

Have a wonderful dinner!

Hi, everyone.

I can't be with you personally, but I'll be thinking of all of you as you gather for dinner at the Thai restaurant this evening.

Have a wonderful time—and enjoy being together in the Big Apple.

I'll be online during the EV sessions tomorrow.

All the best—

Dennis in Phoenix

Hello from the Big Apple!

Hi all,

I'm already in the city where I've arrived yesterday.

It was beautiful yesterday, sunny and kind of warm; however, it's cloudy today and may rain later in the day, as Graham Stanly reported earlier today via Twitter.

Wednesday may be difficult for me to join you for dinner but will confirm that whenever I hear from another group I may dine with on Wed. However, I believe we are going to meet in person casually anywhere, anyhow, and anytime during the convention before Wednesday; so, we can agree and decide on a date and time to get together.

I'm really so excited about meeting all of you in person, especially those of you we've never met in person.

Cheers!

The Weather Forecast

For those of you who are still packing your bags, I just checked the forecast for the week for new York City. Spring has not arrived there yet! Wednesday will be sunny and cool (highs in the low 50s), dropping down to the mid 30s at night. Thursday will be sunny too with highs only in the upper 40s (that's pretty chilly!), with a chance of rain in the evening so bring your umbrella! Friday and Saturday will be cloudy with temps in the low to mid 50s, with a 40 percent chance of rain on Friday. It reminds me of Seattle!

Dinner Reservation

I just made a reservation for 10 at Pongsri Thai for Wed. Apr. 2 at 7:30. I think there are going to be more people, but there are just 7 of us signed up on the Yahoo Group database! I will be able to adjust the number up or down next week, but I hope the webheads will let me know if they are coming or not!

In the meantime, no one has stepped forward to make a reservation for Thursday night, even though I know that several people (including me) are planning to eat together--somewhere. The difficulty is that once we get to New York, it may not be easy to communicate. We are staying in different hotels, not everyone has a cell phone, and not everyone will have internet access. The only thing I can think of is to post notices somewhere at the EV.

People are starting to pack their bags... I know Rita is flying to Connecticut tomorrow, and I think Ronaldo is arriving in New York for some sightseeing this weekend. TESOL is just around the corner!

Webheads in New York - Community Walk map

CommunityWalk Map - Webheads in New York - TESOL 2008

Getting ready for TESOL

While EVOnline was happening, I couldn't focus on TESOL at all. Now, suddenly it's less than 2 weeks away! I realized I had to figure out how to get there. Nobody I know is driving up from DC. It's not far, but where do you park once you get there? Nobody wants to be burdened with a car in Manhattan. They just get broken into anyway! Years ago there were exactly 4 choices to get from DC to NY: fly "the shuttle," take the train (the "Metroliner", now called "Acela"), or take the bus: Greyhound or Trailways. Now, there are many more bus choices, although Trailways has vanished. There's the Vamoose Bus which leaves from downtown Bethesda (good), the Chinatown bus which is supposed to be very cheap, and today I found out about the Bolt Bus, a new company which supposedly offers fares for as low as $1. Well, not today for April 2 they don't, but I did find one $7 fare. I must make some decisions and book the tickets. I will go up Wednesday and come back Sunday. Already, the only Bolt Bus available for the return on Sunday is too late, so I will have to take a different bus to come back.

I printed out 2 different webheads logos from the wiki, in 2 different sizes, to stick in my badge. What a great idea! This will help us webheads to recognize each other more easily if we have not already met f2f.

I am trying to think how I can borrow a laptop to take up with me, so I will be able to post to the blog while I am there.