...my account of Blogtoberfest 2007.

As expected it was a lot of fun. There were a ton of people there, far too many to be able to actually have any sort of real conversation with even most of them. In addition to our illustrious host Jenny, I was able to meet a number of area bloggers for the first time including: Dana Zemack, Michael Krigsman, Jesse Baer, Andrea Mercado, and a few others whose names and/or URLs I sadly can't remember. All in all, there were actually only three bloggers that whom I had met before: Jesse Legg, Steve Garfield, and Adam Gaffin. From the sound of things most of the people there were meeting a bunch of new people as well.

The highlight of the evening was probably the raffle. Everyone who attended put their name in a hat (well, bowl) for a chance to win a number of prizes including a beautiful print of Fenway Park shot by Jenny herself. As per usual, I didn't win a thing, although both of the two people standing to my left at the time won things, as did at least two other people I had been talking to throughout the night. I'll just try and claim credit for that.

Afterwards Jesse (Legg) and I made our ways back to Somerville via TC's Lounge and the Newtowne Grill. A good night, I think, was had by all.

In other news, I think it's safe to say that it's officially starting to get almost kinda cold here. It looks like Monday will be the first day that the temperature doesn't even break 50°, although overnight temperatures appear to be remaining strictly above freezing for the foreseeable future (at least according to the weather widget in my dashboard). I did, however, actually turn on the heat today for the first time in months. The furnace hasn't actually kicked in yet as the residual heat from the day is still keeping us above the 65° I set the thermostat to, but it probably will within the next 30 minutes or so. I also bothered to take the time to figure out how to program a schedule into the thermostat. It's a much more useful feature than I thought, letting me program in 4 distinct periods for weekdays (delineated by Sleep, Wake, Leave, and Return), and 2 periods for weekends (Sleep and Wake). This actually works out rather well since despite the fact that I work from home and so will want the heat to be on during the day, I prefer a much cooler temperature than Jessi does. Thanks to the programmed in schedule the condo will only be too warm before Jessi leaves for work in the morning and after she gets home at night leaving it nice and comfortable for me during the bulk of the day.

So when I first put my computer up on Craigslist to sell I received a very interesting offer: a year of unlimited free travel on US Airways. Being a big traveller this was an extremely appealing offer on the face of it, and I let my imagination run away a bit on the possibilities. I came up with various ways of doing it, from simply hopping from city to city having fun and taking whatever flight I could get out when I was done, to a more commercialized plan of attempting to get corporate sponsorships to pay for places to stay and places to eat (and maybe even the flights as I'd much rather do this sort of thing on JetBlue than US Airways) in exchange for the marketing they'd get from me putting their branding on my blog, writing about their services, having my picture taken using their products and services &c.;

After thinking it over, I decided that the first option is just untenable. At least for right now. I have a business to run and build, and a number of opportunities on the horizon to expand that. I've got a home to take care of an a mortgage to pay. I've got bills. I've got all sorts of responsibilities that, as much as I might sometimes like to, I can't just walk away from (unless I can find a place to walk to where the IRS can't find me, that is).

The second option might very well be doable. With a good enough pitch, I could probably get sponsorship to do this sort of thing. There would be all sorts of sponsorship opportunities as well: national sponsorships from whatever airline and whatever hotel chain I can get, regional sponsorships from state tourism boards and regional chains, local sponsorships from local restaurants, attractions, and what have you. And of course I could sell advertising on the site as well. If you think of the whole venture as a year long online and physical marketing campaign for the various sponsors, it could pretty easily lead to a 6 figure income when all is said and done. So I considered that, and I considered who I could approach, and how much money I could reasonable expect to get, and what I would have to promise in return. And I decided that, while it may be doable, and I might even be able to convince the sponsors that they want me to do it rather than to just steal my idea, fund it the same way I would with sponsorships from other companies, and then just hire some actor to do it better than I ever would and only pay him a small fraction of the money because it's just a job for him, even if I could do all that I don't think it would be worth it. I'd love the opportunity to travel around the country. I'd especially love it if I was not only not paying for it, but was making a lot of money off it. But the things I'd have to do to make that money would, I think, take all the fun out of it. I like to travel on my own, and see things and do things and even write about it, but as soon as it becomes a big corporate thing there's just too much planning and negotiating and crap like that I don't want to deal with. I'd want to be spontaneous and have fun and deviate from whatever little plan I have whenever an interesting opportunity comes up, and I'd never be able to do that if I had and airline and a hotel chain and who knows who else footing the bill.

Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that the traveling idea would either be really fun but impossible, or possible and lucrative but not fun at all. So instead I sold my computer and monitor for cash and ordered a new iMac to replace them.

Expect a write-up of Blogtoberfest 2007 later today.