Today's luncheon at the AstriCon conference was packed to the gills. I saw an open seat at Mark Spencer's table and some Digium folks. But the tables were so crammed close together that I couldn't figure out how to traverse the maze to their table. It didn't help that I was lugging a heavy laptop bag with iPad, laptop, and other gadgets. I probably could have made it to the table but my bag would have knocked into a few people.
I had 6 people who I have never met before recognize me from my photos I post, come up to me, and tell me they read my blog and are fans. So I'm not exactly anonymous at this show, and so I can't exactly hit and run.
Although I'm not as famous as I would like to think I am. I ran into Allison Smith "The Voice of Asterisk" in the elevator on the first day of AstriCon. She asked me, "How's the show going for you?" and I looked at her and there was something familiar about her but I have never met her face-to-face. I said, "Pretty good. What do you do for this conference?" And she responded, "I'm the voice of Asterisk!"."Ohhh!" (Acknowledging I now knew who she was.) I responded, "I'm Tom Keating. I write the VoIP & Gadgets blog." She didn't say anything in response, but the elevator doors were opening and I had to get off. Two famous people in the Asterisk space cross paths and we don't recognize each other. How funny is that?
Oh and if you think that's funny, Mark Spencer, the founder of Asterisk, the man who is worshipped at this show was standing in the registration line with an associate. Everyone knows who he is at this show. He's the Godfather of Asterisk! Though he looks too young for that title. Mark stepped forward to the registration counter, but didn't say anything. Whether Mark was waiting for eye contact or if he was trying to impress his associate by not stating his name is up for debate. The person at the reg counter, Robert Hashemian, a friend and co-worker of mine said to Mark, "Last name please?". The associate standing next to Mark Spencer laughed incredulously! That there is some funny stuff!
On a more serious note, here's a panoramic of the luncheon:
