I wanna go to The Next Web Conference!

In my quest as a prolific blogger to become a more efficient one and get my geek juices flowing more vigourously, as I look for web conferences out of pure curiousity, I was thrilled to find one in Europe for a change!

April 3 and 4 (shucks, that's like NOW), The Next Web Conference will be held in Amsterdam. They have an orgasmic list of speakers, who are mainly incredibly talented web entrepreneurs, including:

• Garret Camp: Founder and Chief Architect of Stumble Upon!
• Erick Schonfeld:Formerly editor-at-large at Business 2.0 and currently co-editor at Techcrunch.com.
• Werner Vogels: Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Amazon.com
• Jessicah Mah: A 17 year old serial entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college.

It's an expensive conference but, in support of bloggers, they have a blogger's discount (YAAAAY) which I'm desperately trying to get, and if I do -- I'M GOING TO TAKE THE NEXT FLIGHT OUT TO AMSTERDAM!

Well, probably not. The discount is for industry bloggers, argh, but oh well -- no harm trying, eh?

All I need to do is write a post (which is this) put a badge (which you can see on this post) and email "babette"(I have no idea who that is so I'm going to email some Patrick instead).

I'm pushing my luck, but if you are a tech blogger in Europe and want 500 bucks off the conference pass, you still might be able to get it.

My story of trying to be a travel-writer...

...in case any of you are interested, I have posted my katha here.

Calling all Indian bloggers!

I 'm pretty impressed with the budding blogging scene in India. Wait a minute, is it budding? I find that hard to believe, India being the technology capital of the world and all. I don't know why but I perceive that blogging in India is relatively in its nascent stages as compared to the so called "international" scene. I think I feel that because I don't see many quality blogs, nor do I see much integration of India-based blogs on popular international pages such as Technorati, Del.icio.us., Stumble Upon, Twitter etc -- but then again, maybe I haven't been paying enough attention.

Anyhoo, there are numerous attention grabbing Indian blogs, but the two that stick out for me are a)Sepia Mutiny b) Mutiny. Fine writing, intelligent and knowledgeable insight, and witty. It's the kind of stuff I'd like to write. I'm just so all over the place at the moment I doubt I'd be able to give grounded commentary like they do, but then again, I've never tried. (Maybe I will write them and see my chances hmmm). A must read for any Indian -- do check them out if you haven't already.

On that note, I thought I'd mention the India Blogathon that begins next month. As it aims to bring together Indian bloggers from all over the world to talk about issues affecting us locally and globally, I'm quite excited to see what comes of it and have all intentions to participate.

It's a 7-day event where a certain topic will be posted every day. You can participate by leaving a comment or re-posting an entry with respect to the topic on your own blog, and the best bloggers will be identified by a jury (not yet announced). Details are a little sketchy on their website, but it's really simple, you don't need much more information.

Happy Indie blogging! :P

Bacon-Chocolate Cake

Is there something wrong with me if I find this extremely appetizing?

[Via American Madness]

Spooky Post

Two of my best friends who send me post and gifts EVERY month are Sanitas (my medical insurance) and Bancaja (my bank).

Also, since I've started writing for so many blogs, I often get emails from writers/publishers who would like to send me books (for free!) to enjoy (and of course review -- but that's my call). I send them my details and within a week I normally get a package.

Receiving expected post is great. Receiving unexpected post is AWESOME! (hint hint to all those people I religiously send postcards to). Except when it comes from a company you don't know.

Yesterday a book called "A Voyage Long And Strange'' by Tony Horwitz came knocking at my door. First I was ecstatic to receive a package; I opened it excitedly to see it was a book, I then impatiently opened the letter to see who it was from and was more annoyed than happy to see that it was from Henry Holt and Company in New York.

It's a good publishing house, the author is well known, and the book looks interesting -- BUT HOW DID THEY GET MY DETAILS? In Spain!?

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. My life is an open book. Google me and you can trace me back to my school days. However, I don't remember making my postal address in Spain public. I suppose my details were sold and I can't help but feel so vulnerable: people I don't know in NY, know exactly where I live in Spain and are sending me stuff to my doorstep.

On a positive note, it's a travel book not a free subscription to porn so I'm not too worried. Also, the book will hit the market on April 29 this year, so I'm one of the privileged lot to get my hands on it. That's pretty cool.

A reason why I love my brother...

Bro: Didi, what's that salsa song that was always played in salsa class that goes "Sexy...na...naaa...na...naaa"?

Me: Huh. Are you serious?

Bro: DIDI! how can you not know -- how many English salsa songs exist with "sexy" in the lyrics!?

Me: Urrr....a million!

Bro: Oh, Ok.

Anish, you crack me up :))) [note: this was a typed conversation!]

How long should you travel and live abroad?

I've talked about this to death with my family: answer? It's time to go back to University, as a means of getting back to a "normal" life. That's what I'm working towards (eeeeeekkkkk), let's see what I actually land up doing.

Dad, would you freak out if I decide to move to the Dominican Republic where I will open a little bar and write? OK OK relax, I am still studying for my GRE :)

This is the subject of my latest post at Vagablogging. A little discussion has started, you can check it out here.

GO AWAY FACE!

Is anyone as annoyed as I am with this face? I SEE IT EVERYWHERE ONLINE. EVERYWHERE!!

What it's like to fall in love with an assassin

This is by far the best story I have read in a while. War photo-journalist Jason P Howe travels to Colombia on a mission to document images that would narrate the country's political history bound by terrorism. He falls in love with a Colombian woman who turns out to be a cold-blooded killer.
[Excerpt]:

"The woman I had only recently begun sleeping with was a hired killer and there was a gun on my bedside table.High on a combination of the heady tropical climate, local rum, grade A cocaine and in the arms of nubile 22-year-old, fantasy and reality became blurred. It felt like I was living in a Quentin Tarantino movie."

Truth is far more interesting than fiction, it's a shame that so many stories remain untold. This one is beautifully written and the blatantness of the story gave me goose bumps. A must read.
A movie is planned and his book "Colombia Between the Lines" will be out this Spring.

Howe's photography from Colombia, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kurdistan is phenomenal too, you can see his work here.

Walking 9000-miles without money...

...is Mark Boyle's execution of the Freeconomy Movement -- a movement that is working on creating a world without money. This is the topic of my latest post at Vagablogging. Check it out here.