Smojo Speaks

As I write this I am sitting on a U.S. Airways flight heading towards home and Phoenix, Arizona. Today ends my time off from work and also my vacation on the east coast. The time off from work was needed badly and I am glad I got to spend some time with some great people. The highlight of my trip to the east coast was the New York City part which I really enjoyed.

I was glad that I was able to experience PodCampNYC and it was great being able to meet certain people who I’ve been following for a while in the video and blogging world. What made it even better though was having other Justin.tv users there. Originally I had planned on going to PodCamp with just one person who was coming in from Pennsylvania. I got an unexpected surprise when on the 1st day another JTV user was in attendance. The 2nd day it was like a JTV meetup with 4 other users showing up. Having all these different broadcasters together was sort of funny. Everyone had their cameras going live out to the internet and with that many streams going you had podcamp attendees jumping in front of the camera trying to get some face time. Another great thing about PodCamp was the musicians that were there with IProng. Many of them got on camera and just started playing for the viewers. The only thing bad I have to say about PodCamp was the sessions. Many of the sessions focused on education which is not something I am interested in at all. So for me personally the sessions were not the best. But I know that the majority of people who attended did enjoy the sessions.

For the middle of the trip I stayed in Connecticut visiting with my parents and a few friends. Nothing to exciting happened during my time in CT but it was great to see some old friends and have some time with my parents who I don’t talk to enough. I think I need to be nagged by someone occasionally to call them. The end of the trip was spent in Delaware where I stayed with some relatives and was able to see my grandmother. I won’t go into to much detail but my grandmother has cancer and I really wanted to see her. She has been going to chemo lately which is making her very weak. According to the doctors though she should be rid of the cancer after a few more months. Delaware once again was uneventful. Just a lot of family time which is great but at times is a little boring I must say. Once again though it was a great vacation but happy to be on my way home. Looking forward to getting back to my normal life in Arizona.

Popularity: 51% [?]

As I got ready to leave NYC on a train I give you a brief recap of my last few days and all the great people I met.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Seeing as though lots of people are talking about this I will set the record straight. No one hi-jacked any tables. The 2 users of JTV who were there at the time (myself and Anthony) were asked to move our stuff off a table for a sponsor. The sponsor offered to share part of the table with us. This sponsor was Podango. We put our stuff down and the day went on. So thanks Lee for giving us part of the table to have fun with. Below is Lee getting a little camera time to explain Podango.

Popularity: 25% [?]

PodcampNYC 2.0 is coming up next week and I am planning on attending both days. I am very happy to report that I will be broadcasting the entire weekend live at justin.tv/smojo. PodcampNYC is happening on April 25th and 26th in Brooklyn, NY at the Polytechnic University. Thanks to JTV I have a laptop and evdo card so I will be able to be totally mobile next week. Should be a lot of fun.

This podcamp looks like it will be packed with people and great sessions. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with all the social media folks. The only downside I foresee is the fact that I will need to take a train into NYC and then transfer a few times on the subway to finally make it to the university. Riding the subway isn’t really the problem but having to transfer 4 or 5 times will be annoying.

Going back to the east coast also means I will be visiting with my family. Most of my time will be spent at my parents house in CT but I will also be making trips to Delaware and Long Island to see the grandparents, aunts, uncles etc. I really can not wait to get on the plane. Very excited about the trip and also having some time off from work which makes it even better.

Popularity: 19% [?]