Last night, Rose and I attended the Times Union Baseball and Bloggers event at the Restaurant in downtown Albany. The event was put on by Mike Huber, the Interactive Audience Manager for the Blogs portion of the site. Mark McGuire was the MC for the night. Mark is a sports columnist and also blogs for the Times Union. In the first two hot seats were Jordan Carleo-Evangelist and Chris Churchill. They both root for different teams, but it seems they put aside their differences when they write. Jennifer Gish was the third member in the hot seat. She is a newcomer to baseball, and admitted that she grew up watching football. I got a laugh when she said they should just get rid of the (Pittsburgh) Pirates.
Personally, I am not a sports fan in the least. I don’t know much about baseball or any other sport, but I did want to attend to see what it was all about. Just like the Media 2010: How blogs shape the new conversation blogging event a few months ago, I really enjoyed being a part of this event. It was fun, informative and great for networking with other bloggers.
Jordan and Chris exchanged a witty banter and had me laughing quite a bit. Even though I don’t know much about sports, I did enjoy listening to them interact with the audience. The audience did a great job of participating as well. Unfortunately, the game was delayed due to rain and the guys stretched it out as long as they could, but had to release us to mingle as the delay was going to be another 40 minutes or so.
Mike did an awesome job of organizing this event. Dale Miller Restaurant is a beautiful place. We were on the 13th floor (or P1 as the elevator displayed). The view of the city was quite incredible from there. I am glad it rained, because I would have been upset to have that gorgeous outdoor patio with 360 degree views of downtown and not have my camera with me. If anyone from Dale Miller reads this, I would love to have the opportunity to do some photography from that patio. The shots I could get from there would be amazing! End of shameless begging…
I had the opportunity to meet some Twitter friends and writers of blogs I read frequently while I was there. I finally got to meet Amanda Talar, who may or may not know how to flirt, but she likes motorcycles. That is OK in my book! Kari VanAlstyne was there, and so was local self-proclaimed sex symbol Kevin Marshall. I also met Mike Keane and got to chat him up about jobs and blogs. At some point he realized that I lost my mouth filter a while ago and I just let things fly. It catches people off guard sometimes. They see me dressed in Brooks Brothers slacks and a nice button down shirt, so they don’t necessarily know that I am a heavily tattooed biker. I love it.
Oh, and if anyone sees the nice lady that was taking pictures of the guests at the party, please send her my apologies. I can be a bit of a wiseass. She came up to us at the beginning of the event and asked if she could take our picture. I said, “No, you can’t take my picture. I am anonymous.” I was totally kidding, and she never took my picture. Oops. It is a bit of an inside joke. As a photographer I hate having my picture taken. Ironic, isn’t it? So, in most online sources, you wont see a picture of me. I will post a picture of my reflection in the chrome of my Harley, or wearing a helmet, but you’ll rarely see my face. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.
I really think that a motorcycle blog should be a part of the Times Union Blog section. I would be happy to contribute with perhaps a few other bloggers sharing the blog. Have your people call my people and they can do lunch together!
See ya soon!
The World Through My Lens 
