Webhead Fiesta

From Bastrop to Beuscher through the woods.

There is a wonderful drive from Bastrop State Park to Buescher State Park, just east of Austin, Texas, the capital. The area is also known as "The Lost Pines" as the Loblolly Pines here are not found for eighty miles in any direction.  That makes this area a bit of an ecolological island.

Da Bro....

A brother by any other name....

Hello World...

Well the day of the Webhead Fiesta in San Antonio is here.  I am about to dress and drive two hours into the heart of downtown San Antonio and the fringes of technology land.  i will probably have less trouble finding downtown than exploring technology land.  The account time has been purchased for our three laptops to connect to the internet via WiFi from Houston Street Bistro Restaurant, and I have confirmed our reservations with Radniq, the Romanian manager.  I have made one last perusal of my webmail via my brothers PC and found that, sure enough, there have already been some problems with WiFi in the convention center.  I hope all of those can be ironed out and that we don;t have the same issues tonight. 

If you plan to join us virtually tonight, check the Webhead office at LearningTimes or TappedIn (Bea will be there to assist you) or look for [email protected] or Vance on Yahoo IM.  We will try to be on all three.  If Bob Zwick makes it to the meeting, he may set up a room in TalkingCommunities so you may want to continue to monitor this blog or we will make periodic announcements about it's URL while we are online tonight. 

Gone to San Antone...

So I am on my way San Antonio.  I have waited for a long time for today.  But first, there is part of the journey that I need to tell a bit about.

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Waiting at the Houston Street Restaurant Bistro...

The Houston Street Restaurant Bistro (though in winter the tables are pulled in, it is the last business on the right of this photo) is right next to the restored Majestic Theater on Houston Street, in San Antonio.  It is right across the street from the old Menger Hotel.  General Robert E. Lee rode his horse into the lobby here.  General Grant was known to tip a few at the Menger Bar.  General Eisenhower did some of his best thinking in the gardens of the Menger.  Sarah Bernhardt, Lilly Langtry and Mae West all frequented the victorian rooms of the Menger.  Teddy Roosevelt recruited Rough Riders for the Spanish-American War here in the heavily wooded bar here.  It has a national historic landmark designation and from certain rooms, you can look down into the Alamo.  The whole area reeks with Texas and national history.

Dave Winet arrives to save the day...

It's now about 5:30 PM, and Dave Winet arrives.  Not only is Dave here for the celebration, but he has brought a lap top so we will have an opportunity to check out the SBC FreedomLink WiFi connection that I have set up.

Dave runs the English For Internet web-site, and is a real "hoot" to talk to.  We talk about everything from Skype to Old-style Universities.  A really interesting fellow.

Vance and fellow Webheads are finishing up the TESOL presentations and will soon be arriving.

Meanwhile....out on the internet prairie...

While we were waiting for more Webheads to arrive, Barbara Dieu was busy organizing folks in Learning Times and elsewhere to join the Fiesta on-line.  Bee has been kind enough to share a few webshots of what her screen looked like while we so many on-line.

Webheads in the Bistro and others online
Originally uploaded by bee1.

Here you can see Bee, Aaron and Dave Winet tuning up their machines.

Appetizers, Main Courses and....

It's 7:00 PM in San Antonio, Texas and down on Houston Street there is a big party going on.  All at once, the front door of the Houston Streen Restaurant Bistro opens, and in walk all these people, meeting and greeting each other.   People who I have known and loved for a couple of years are finally before me in the flesh.  I can touch their hands, I can hug them, I can feel their presence.  The experience is wonderful. 

Just Desserts and Extreme Texas Makeovers...

So after everyone was full to the brim...good food, wine, chatter and friendship...it was time for dessert.  I felt determined to serve  up some special Texas style dessert that all would remember in the years to come.

So I proceeded to giver everyone present a special "hug" and "kisses" (I guess you will just have to ask about those - cause I have no pictures as evidence) and then for that special "fare-thee-well", I presented all those present with an Extreme Texas Make-over.  I think it gave them all a sort of "Fiesta" glow to take home with them.  (I heard later, that some of them had trouble going through the airport this way....but hey, it was worth it...)

Probably, the best example of what a good makeover can do for you was Vance.

But Vance was not the only one, that was well suited to the amazing Texas Extreme Makeover.  There were others:

Sweet Goodbyes...

It has been hard for me to describe all the wonderful feelings that this event brought to me.  The opportunity to reach out and really touch those voices and spirits I have so often encountered on the internet, was a special pleasure in itself.  To get to share several hours of my life with them was absolutely wonderful.  I won't forget this night.  And it's not just the exploration of the technology brought to that little space on Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas.  It's much greater than even that.  It represents a reaching out from one side of the globe to the other, of hands eager to share in learning.  It respresents the construction of something new....something better than the old...something that WebHeads are only now beginning to scratch the surface of.