[photo by Alan Levine]

The opening night Tiki-themed dinner at Northern Voice was a loud affair but it’s always good to meet new people and re-connect with others I haven’t– despite our oh-so-social Web 2.0 world– had occasion to interact much with. Shiny new friends I finally met after connecting online through blogs and Twitters include Alan (who I’ve been following since my days of Macromedia Director more than a decade ago), Jen, and Bill. And I was fortunate enough to have a bit of time to talk with Alex Waterhouse-Hayward, a local photographer and iconoclastic blogger whose presentation here last year worked its way deep into my thoughts months later.

Since I’m supposed to be at breakfast right now, I’ll just note that it was great to see everyone I’ve seen so far– many more should be recognized and will be when I have time– and the idea of having bloggers sharing their favorite posts, poems, stories, and reasons for blogging and being at a conference like this was a great one. It leads to a paradox for me, though, that the more I share in their passion the less I feel I belong here… this is the feeling that wormed into my blogging heart last year at this very event. More on that later.