Things I Learned About My Dad (In Therapy) by Heather B. Armstrong


finished 02.11.09

This is a book of essays about fathers compiled and edited by Heather Armstrong (Dooce). Some stories are about being a father, some are about the writers’ fathers. All of the authors are bloggers and some people have had issue with this. That many of these stories were already mostly written on the web somewhere. I didn’t have an issue and I enjoyed the book. I read Dooce daily, but none of the other writer’s sites, so most of this was new to me. Even the essay by Jon, Heather’s husband, was new to me. Or maybe I just have a bias because I’ve met Heather when we sat on a panel together at BlogHer 2006. I also saw her speak on a few panels at SXSW last year – Content Boundaries, a 12-Step Program & Online Adulation. Or it could be that my dad’s 60th birthday is tomorrow and I’ve been thinking about him a lot in planning his party. Some of the stories are funny, some insightful, some sentimental, some all three. In any case, I think if you are a father or you have a father (or father figure) you will probably enjoy this book.

Sunday Afternoon Panels

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Heather Armstrong & Maggie Mason, SXSW, Austin, TX

After the Zuckerberg Keynote disaster, which I was so glad to have witnessed first-hand, I caught two more really great panels. The first one was “Content Boundaries, a 12-Step Program presented by Heather Armstrong (of Dooce.com) and Maggie Mason (of Mighty Girl). Their presentation went really smoothly and was really funny. They’re funny girls and they’re friends in real life, so that’s probably why it went so well. I used to read Maggie Mason’s site a looooong time ago. Like? 7 years ago? Before it had any design. And I’ve been reading Dooce for just about as long. And I’d met Heather when we were on a panel at BlogHer.. so I was interested in this panel no matter what.

One funny note: Before the panel I was sitting on a chair outside the room with my laptop plugged in, doing some work. Someone walked up and asked me where the bathroom was. I looked up and it was Maggie Mason. I was wondering if I looked official enough to work for SXSW. Then the next day I was at Finn & Porter and I came out of the bathroom and Maggie Mason was in there washing her hands. She reminded me that I should take my conference pass off because we were at a nice restaurant enjoying dinner. Me + Maggie Mason + restrooms = SXSW.

Eric Nakagawa & Ben Huh
Eric Nakagawa & Ben Huh, SXSW, Austin, TX

I Can Haz Cheezburger
I Can Haz, SXSW, Austin, TX

A second panel I saw that afternoon was called “LOLWUT? Why Do I Keep Coming Back to This Website?” Eric Nakagawa, the founder of I Can Has Cheezburger, and Ben Huh, the CEO of the site, told how the site was started, how it progressed and where they’re going. Ben wore a cheeseburger on his head, which may be an official duty for someone who is the CEO of a site called I Can Has Cheezburger. They also ordered cheeseburgers and had them delivered to the audience while the panel was going on. This panel was one of the best of the whole conference. Here are my Twitter notes:

  • in the i can haz cheezburger panel… they said that the cheezburgers are on the way.. yay! really can haz cheezburger
  • this is the funniest panel ever. my stomach hurts. also, the CEO is wearing a cheezburger on his head.
  • gobama “we can haz” is cracking me up
  • lolcats makes enough money to pay the salaries for 9 people
  • i can haz cheezburger guys are hawaiian

BlogHer Review

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Rachelle Bowden, Heather Armstrong, Arieanna Foley :: BlogHer, San Jose

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Our session crowd was so big people were standing and sitting on the floor bc there weren’t enough chairs :: BlogHer, San Jose

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BlogHer, San Jose

Back from BlogHer in San Jose and just trying to wake up! My flight didn’t get in on Sunday night until about 12:30 am on Monday. I was so tired yesterday!

I think that the conference went well. I got in late on Friday night and on Saturday ran around in circles trying to figure out where to get my registration badge. Another attendee told me to go out by the pool, where almost everything was happening, then the front desk said to go back by the pavilion, then the guy in the pavilion said to go back up by the pool. Talk about frustrating. At one point I just ran into Traci, my coworker from FeedBurner, and then luckily I saw Mena, Krissy and Kimberly from Six Apart and they were in the same situation, running around trying to find their badges. Somehow Krissy got all of our badges.

rachelle_heather.jpgOk. That’s done. Next we went to a panel that had some really good discussion about identity and obligations and how much you need to represent yourself online, whether it be your race, gender, religious beliefs, sexuality, or just your personality. How much do you reveal? Then was lunch and then my panel, “From Here to Autonomy.” For all of you who have asked already, Heather Armstrong is the same in person as she is online. For some reason I thought she’d be quieter and less outspoken, but not so much. Funny, no beating around the bush and painfully honest. I wasn’t really like “starstruck” by her, but I found it odd to be sitting next to a person whose site I’d read for many years and whose photo I’d seen online for many years. And we only got to speak for a few seconds and it was in front of like 200 people. “How are we gonna do this?” “So, when’s the sunscreen endorsement coming through?” (joking!) And then we had to start the panel. I think the session went well. I intro’d Heather and Arieanna (who writes for 17 blogs including blogs on topics she hates, like Lindsay Lohan), they spoke a little about each of their situations, and then it was about an hour of Q&A. Like every panel I’ve been on, I started out nervous and talking too fast, but ended up calm and able to even answer some questions from my experiences with rachelleb.com and Chicagoist. I just need to do it more to get over that, I think.

After the panel, Heather had a huge line of people who just wanted to shake her hand or say how her writing has inspired them or how her experiences have let them know it’s ok to not be perfect. Lots of people wanted to get their photo with her. It was pretty cool. I can imagine this happens to her at every blog-related conference she attends now.

When I we all finally got out of there, I met up with Traci who was sitting out in the sun chatting it up with other attendees. We mingled for a while then caught the CalTrain to San Francisco, where we spent the rest of the weekend. More on that later!

Photos of us on the panel: 1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4

Also, just noticed that BlogHer just announced that next year they’re having 2 conferences, one in Chicago and one in NYC.

BlogHer ’06

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In a few hours I leave for San Jose to go to the BlogHer conference. On Saturday I’ll be moderating a panel on how to make money off your blog. The panelists are Arieanna Foley and the famous Heather Armstrong, better known as Dooce. I’m a little nervous and anxious, but I think it should go well. I sort of just want to get this weekend over with so I can come home and finish packing and then move. Just so much stuff going on lately that I can’t concentrate.. then add this travel for me.. and Dallas has been travelling for work like crazy.

I am excited for this weekend because even though the Bay area is far from where I lived in San Diego, this is the first time I’m setting foot on California soil since I lived there, if you don’t count transferring through an airport on the way to Hawaii. It should be fun. On Saturday night Traci, a coworker of mine, and I are going up to San Francisco and hanging out with friends of hers. Then we fly out Sunday night. I haven’t been to SF for almost 10 years. It makes me feel really old that I can say something like that and be referencing a time in 1997 when I went for work to attend a Macromedia User Group Conference… man, I’ve been business traveling for over a decade! I’m ancient. But, to balance it out, last night I was walking with Michelle and Laura on Division Street. Laura doesn’t live in the area and Michelle lives a little farther north, by Wicker Park. I was telling them about places we go to on Division and I pointed out that my 30th birthday party was at Moonshine last year. Laura and Michelle are both several years younger than me and as we walked a beat or two went by, maybe a quarter block, and Laura said “uh.. did you say your 30th birthday? I thought you were like 24. ” W00T! Take THAT decade of business travel!