Ottawa gets it UNdone.

Who would have EVER thought I'd be mingling with marketing and communications people? What's worse... I actually loved being in their presence. What's wrong with me?!

But let's be serious here for a moment. The Untweetup: awesome. Drinks were flowing; connections were basically materializing out of thin air; and there was laughter aplenty. Going in, I hadn't a clue what to expect or how it would turn out, and to be perfectly honest, I was little nervous about it. And walking in the door to Foundation at the exact same time as Scott Stratten, Mr. Man-of-the-Hour in the flesh, was a minor coronary in itself (or SQUEEEE!!-inducing, he might say). But I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything moved along.

I walked in and immediately recognized some familiar Ottawa tweeps. And it wasn't long before I was being introduced to a couple of new ones, too. Among them were Matt Cameron (@MattKCameron) and Kyle McInnes (@KyleMcInnes).

I don't think it's really possible to properly represent just how ridiculously hilarious these two were. A couple of fast-talking, quick-witted, and clever tech bloggers--characteristics so lethal that, combined in the right quantities, the result is likely to be similar to napalm. I don't think I've laughed harder at nerdier things in my entire life, ever. From their idea of creating a completely new computer platform called, quite simply, "Awesome Shit" (no usernames, no passwords, just all awesome); to @TweetNotes, a ColesNotes type Twitter account dedicated to simplifying literary classics in 140 characters or less (Dorian meets Sibyl. Sibyl falls in love. Shallow Dorian loses interest. Dorian indulges in debauchery. Regret. Futile confession. Suicide.) If any of you noticed Scott's OH tweet about "six pounds of ketchup in the colon," Yeah. That was Matt Cameron. Also... Did you know that there is approximate $0.25 worth of gold in Goldschlagger? It's true.

When I finally got to meet Scott, I thought my knees might give out. You know, he's much taller than I imagined. And highly entertaining. He walked over to the small group I'd been hanging around the whole night, wondering what all the fuss about the "back of the bar" was. He told us all about his fun with airport security, in a manner not unlike a stand-up comedian. I asked him if there'd be any karaoke on the menu for the night because rumour had it that he could command an audience with a mean rendition of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer." He told me about his timely breakup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and said that I should probably do the same. Although I don't think I'd get any phone calls from Leafs head honchos with free invites to games.

Another highlight of the night was meeting David Hicks (@ALL_CAPS). What an agent. He complimented my "fembot" nail polish and offered me a slice of sound parenting advice, all in the same breath. After talking to him, I tweeted that I'd discovered David Hicks was actually human, quelle surprise. And then someone replied to me, "Don't be fooled by the fleshy exterior. #terminator."
Must investigate further.

So, all in all, the night was pretty prolific. I came home with a pocket full of business cards, a few new followers, and an entirely new and fond respect for Ottawa, the city and the tweeps who inhabit it. AND I managed to avoid any contact with the iPad that was floating around the room the whole time. A pretty impressive feat, if I do say so myself.

A million enormous thank-yous go to GenYOTT and Scott Stratten for organizing this event. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I can hardly wait for the UnBook tour this fall. Hopefully the weather will be a little more generous to Mr. Stratten the next time around.

Oh right, and one more thing:

The unturban was golden.