Travis LaFrance
At Home in the Halls of Power

What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Blog Like This?

Considering that it was the sort of party where they hand out memory sticks as party favors, the Blogger Bash had a surprisingly high number of vamped-up women in attendance. One veteran of the dot com boom and bust interpreted this as the blogger bubble's death knell. "As soon as sane, single woman started to show up at the dot com parties," he said, "it was all over."

Travis was of course awarded a green wristband that allowed for unhindered free bar access. (I wonder why the Fleet Center didn't consider wristbands as a way to cut back on the hoi-polloi getting into the convention?) In tribute of the recently unmasked blogger, everyone was given a name tag that said "Atrios" at the door, which gave occasion for this exchange:

She-Blogger: "Who's this Atrios, anyway?"
Travis LaFrance: "If you have to ask, you'll never know."

Then I explained the joke, which immediately didn't seem all that funny. And even though she'd never heard of the guy, she-blogger was starstruck: "Well, can you point out the real Atrios? I'd like to meet him."

So then I asked what sort of blog she authored.

"It's about encounters I have in my travels. "
"Oh."
"Mostly with men."
"Ah."
"Sort of like Sex in the City."

But then when I asked for the address, she wouldn't tell. Turns out that she's kept it a secret for all the months she's been blogging.

TLF: "So you mean that nobody besides yourself has ever read your blog?"
SB: "Yes."

I suppose she's sort of like Emily Dickinson in that way. Or Kafka.