It’s so wacky how our world has changed! My mom mailed me today to remind me politely that I haven’t blogged here in 10 days :-/ ..kind of like those subtle suggestions that it may be advisable to tidy your room before guests arrive when you’re a kid.

Does it mean that our relationships are any less close with friends & family if we connect with each other through facebook, IM, twitter? I may be wrong, but from what I’ve seen, I think Facebook for one should be held responsible for a huge resurgence of global love. All this reconnecting with lost buddies; getting a deeper sense of our friend’s quirky characters through their odd status messages, the groups they join/start, stream of photos from their adventures, films they love.. and for those of us who are crap at remembering birthdays, we need never fear the stony silence again!! the joy the joy :)

I’m a happy little digital native and spend a huge amount of time talking paranoid people out of the trees of terror when they’re presented with new technology. Yes, there are still people who have never heard of a blog. These self.same people denounce technology as the devil of our time and the reason for the sordid state of our planet; but haven’t been around to say hi to the next-door neighbour on the other side of the 8foot wall keeping them safely separate. [LOL - better catch myself quickly so this won't be another technology is neutral punt]

Social software and networking platforms allow us to connect with more people, anywhere in the world, in real.time to create, work, play, learn, collaborate. But once we have a relationship of shared interests, we still want to do what makes humans happiest.. Gather. Generally around a meal if possible, and inevitably intoxication is somewhere on the agenda. Even if you’re a geek.

I did a post yesterday as an anniversary of the first BarCamp in SA, where thanks to Dave we met Graham Knox ..and so began the Geekdinners, which has lead onto the 27dinners >> and flourishes around the country because even though we hang with each other online, there’s still nothing that compares to real world laughter and those 3am world.problem.solving indaba’s or that massive multimillion dollar idea sketched on a tatty napkin.

The CapeTown crew roadtripped to George a few months ago for GardenRoute Geekdinner #1 ..and Stii has laid on the fun again. The last one was marvellously memorable despite the horrible hangovers :) ..and yes the Stormhoekers will be trekking with maaaaany cases of wine. Real world real wine & really fun >> whizz to the wiki now (if you don’t know what a wiki is.. don’t worry I’m sure there’ll be something on TV, who needs free wine anyway!?)