I had intended to haul out my laptop during the event and blog LIVE AND DIRECT from the Fort Mason Center, but I just couldn't bring myself to pull out my chunky Dell Inspiron when the next guy has a sleek little Powerbook. I mean, my laptop doesn't glow. I'm just not cool enough to blog from the convention. So instead, I've opted to blog from the privacy of my hotel room.

The convention itself is at the Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center (I'll concede the US spellings of "theatre" and "centre" because we are, after all, in San Francisco), which stands at the end of a pier with a spectacular view of the bay. To the left: the Golden Gate Bridge stands shrouded in fog. To the right: the sinister form of Alcatraz. Oddly, Alcatraz looks remarkably like a badly-built island estate in SL. I bet if someone cut down on the prims on Alcatraz, we could turn up our draw distance and get rid of all the perpetual fog.

In this environment, hundreds of SLers milled about, peering at each other's nametags for familiar names. It's funny how the tiny world of SL has its celebrities -- Flipper and Jennyfur, assorted residents of varying notoriety, and of course the Linden pantheon was out in force. I think, in a way, the SLCC agenda is almost an afterthought to the pricipal activity, which is people-spotting.

I'll add more after tomorrow's sessions. Kudos to Flip and Jennyfur for pulling it all together!