DomainFest kicks off this afternoon with the registration, a talk of some kind and a party…
It’s hardly surprising that some of the delegates had arrived already and when you combine that with an ICANN regional meeting in Santa Monica.. Yes – you guessed it. Domain types everywhere.
Yesterday evening I met up with Freddy from EuroDns and a couple of the others who were here for DomainFest.
Since they were all a bit jetlagged they didn’t want to come to Laugh Factory last night. Jothan was there with a load of people who were attending the ICANN meeting in Santa Monica. So I finally got to meet Jothan who then introduced me to a bunch of people from ICANN, Register.com, BuyDomains.com, DotMobi and more
The comedy was hilarious
The party tomorrow night should be interesting:

The DomainSponsor party is going to be better than ever. Prepare to indulge in a night of pure 007 luxury, complete with Bond girls, freshly rolled cigars, dry martinis, and a complete casino setup, brought to you by a powerful revenue machine – the leader in domain monetization.

So now it’s time for me to get my act together and head off for another day of being a tourist

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After a night of beer I was feeling quite groggy this morning when Tino picked me up.
He got me to Warner Brothers for around 930 am, so I was able to regain my energy by gulping down a couple of coffees in Starbucks (I seem to be spending a lot of time in Starbucks… ).
The studio tour was absolutely incredible.
While I took the “short” two and half hour tour, there is also a longer one which lasts about 5 hours or so. After today I am seriously considering forking over the extra cash to take it.
Why?
Because it is amazing. I can’t think of suitable adjectives to describe it. I keep on coming up with silly words like “awesome” or “cool”, which really don’t do justice to the experience.
While I did get to see plenty during the tour the lot is huge, so going back for a longer tour would be really worth it.
If I was a Gilmore Girls fan I’d have been in 7th heaven, as we got to see them filming (albeit from a safe, off camera, distance).
The bat mobile driven by Christian Bale was probably one of the morning’s highlights, so I tried to take as many photos as possible. I only wish I had a better camera, as some of the photos came out looking pretty awful and I wasn’t able to get the right kind of views.. (note to self – buy a better camera)
What really amazed me was how passionate the staff of WB are. They seem to really love their jobs.
Needless to say I did succumb to temptation in the gift shop and am now the proud owner of several branded tshirts, keyrings etc.,
I’ve added a few of today’s photos to my Flickr stream

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Some photos I’ve taken so far .. More to be added

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Yesterday I started my day with coffee and croissants in Starbucks, courtesy of Jason from Alertsite who had sent me a Starbucks’ card before I left Ireland.
I wandered around the forecourt of the Chinese Theatre before succumbing and signing myself up for a tour of the stars’ homes.
Yes it is incredibly tacky, but I feel zero guilt
Did I see anyone famous? No. The only thing you get to see is the outside of houses of various shapes and sizes … I’ve taken a few photos, though I am beginning to regret not having invested in a better camera, as the lens on my Sony isn’t the best.
After seeing how the other half live I wandered around Hollywood Boulevard some more. The walk of fame goes on for well over a mile on both sides of the street. If you’re not careful you end up walking into people as you spend your time staring at the ground!
It’s obvious that they’re pouring money into some parts, but other areas look really rundown and dodgy.
I’m planning on going to Warner Brothers today, so my driver is picking me up from the hotel at nine. (It’s currently 730am)
I’d like to have a wander around Beverly Hills if I can get back up there. I’ve always been fascinated by overpriced shops

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I’m staying literally two minutes walk from Hollywood Boulevard.
Yesterday afternoon I was picked up at the airport by a very swish Town Car and dropped off at the hotel.
I had slept a bit on the plane, but the seats weren’t particularly comfortable, so I wasn’t feeling exactly refreshed.
In order to get my internal clock on track (there’s an 8 hour difference) I thought I’d go for a wander down Hollywood Boulevard and kill some time. Unfortunately my camera was still charging, so I didn’t take any photos last night.
First impressions? Very mixed.
The cars are all very big.
Hollywood Boulevard is jammed with tourists, but tshirts etc., seem really cheap.
Food doesn’t seem to be terribly expensive
Beer seems to be cheaper than Ireland, though it’s incredibly weak
I’ve managed to get a proper night’s sleep, so I’ll be doing some proper exploring etc., today (with a charged camera!!)
I think I’ll do all the really touristy things like tours of the stars’ homes or something equally mad

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I just made it through the US immigration thing in Dublin Airport.
It was incredibly simple and the staff were really civil. I’ve been stopped at several borders in the past, so I nearly always expect the worse (when you’ve had your bags pulled apart a few times this sense of paranoia tends to grow)
I’m now waiting to board my flight to LA…
It’s handy having wireless broadband, though it’s a pity that it’s not a bit cheaper … €5 / hour is quite high if you’re hanging around for a couple of hours (you have to check in 3.5 hours in advance)
I’ve no idea how busy this flight is going to be.. as long as I don’t end beside some nutjob I won’t care (I’ve an awkward habit of attracting the weirdos)

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Yesterday afternoon I discovered where I’d left my camera charger. After wasting several hours ripping the house asunder it transpires that I left the damned thing in Cork.
After passing through the departures area and into duty free in Dublin Airport I found my solution!
The Hahnel Ultima is a really cool little device. It’s a lot neater than the original charger that came with my Sony Cybershot T7, which I’ve always considered to be a clunky piece of plastic compared with the sleek lines of the camera it serves.

As you can see it’s quite neat. Notice the removable plate. It comes with three different ones, so you can handle different battery sizes with ease.
What’s really cool, however, is that it comes with US and Irish plugs

If you’re in the USA you can plug it straight in, while in Ireland you simply slip the adaptor over it and off you go. And for those of us who have love affairs with our cars it also boasts a car charger!!
(I think I need to get my car cigarette lighter fixed first!)
So what could have been a disaster has actually worked out surprisingly well

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Just noticed that for some really odd reason Google Adsense keeps throwing up ads targetting the gay community on my blog’s main page.
I’m perplexed

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I mentioned previously how blogs and forums (fora) are converging.
I’ve been running the excellent VBSeo mod on a couple of forums for the last few months and the SEO results have been more than satisfactory, however there’s no such thing as a free lunch
The downside is that the forum is being hit with trackbacks from splogs all the time. In the last 24 hours it got really silly, with splogs hitting it every couple of minutes. I’ve had to disable trackbacks until I can come up with a sane solution for filtering them. Yes they do go into a moderation queue, but the number of them is such that moderating that queue could become a full time job!

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I’m off to LA tomorrow morning at last!!
I’ll be heading up to Dublin this afternoon / evening, as I need to be in the airport before 8am. Since public transport in this country is so good that means that I have no choice but to drive. Fortunately the helpful members of the OPEN list were able to point me in the right direction – thanks!
I’ll be spending most of today running around like a headless chicken – as I’ve probably forgotten something really obvious.
If anyone is looking for me over the next week or so I will be checking mail etc., but you may have to wait. My personal address gets lower volumes of mail – so send it there.
I’m really looking forward to my “escape”, though I am already dreading the amount of mail I will have to download when I get back

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