Tim Dobson's Blog

A few days ago I went to the Geekup Manchester meetup. For those who don't know Geekup describes itself as

a community of web designers, web developers, and other tech-minded folk from the UK. It's a grassroots knowledge sharing and networking social for folks involved or interested in the web and technology industry.

I generally don't find time/money to go to 'Geekups' what with my other commitments but the idea had been to meet up with a few people from DFEY as I had been told some other people whom I thought might be interested in the things we are interested might be coming along... In the end those plans fell through but I went along anyway for some fun.

As I understand, Geekup Manchester used to meet in the Rain Bar off Oxford Road but recently have moved to Revolution on Deansgate Locks. It's a nice location, though I did find the bar a bit 'up itself' but I guess that is a matter of personal taste... Geekup gets a back function room all to itself which, crucially, is a bit quieter and includes plug sockets.

I arrived at about quarter past six and thought it allegedly kicks off at six I had forgotten that in Geekup language this means... first people start to arrive shortly after six... Nevertheless I hopped on the laptop and found the Revolution's free wifi which is some horrible system which could "just work" but instead requires you to give them your "name" and "email" and "mobile number" before it lets your MAC address do anything. Needless to say I didn't give it real information and I was relieved to find out it didn't block SSH so I hopped onto IRC.

Soon afterwards, Ian Forrester of BBC Backstage fame turned up (among other people), brandishing his tiny video camera in one hand and a blinding light in the other threatening to interview anyone who would talk to him!

I had a good chat with Ian about various things including my position on free software and his (mixed) opinions of the Free Software Foundation, the fun got started when he started criticising someone else's opinion on something, so I pulled them up on Jabber and we all had a good laugh.

I had brought my Openmoko Neo Freerunner with me to the event and it was a constant source of interest, partly because the ideological implications and partly because it can play Doom using the accelerometers for input.

Ian managed to persuade me to do an interview on camera for BBC Backstage about the Freerunner after I mentioned I had recently taken part in a talk about it at Manchester Free Software. Ian asked me several questions about it, including the standard "does it really work as a phone?", throughout the interview I hadn't really found my feet properly so when, at the end, he asked if there was anything else I wanted to say, I talked for probably twice as long as I had prior to that. In a possible attempt to somewhat distract me, Cat Ashton did a commando roll onto the floor while I was being interviewed, in my line of sight and started to taking paparazzi photos from floor level, it was funny but a bit distracting when you are trying to talk cohesively about something.

Dan Hardiker of Adaptavist where one can only really believe how bizarre it is when you play it. If you ever get a chance to play Werewolf, I strongly recompensed you do. It is a very funny game where every move you make and every thing you say will decide how long you stay in the game. To say it is like "a reality TV show where the audience votes off someone each round only less tacky" would be a misrepresentation but it is definitely not a game should think your behaviour and personality don't matter about.

Eventually, I had to make a run for it for my train. Sprinting from Deansgate Locks to Piccadilly Station is not something I wish to repeat frequently, especially after a few beers.

Deansgate to Oxford road I could handle, but after that it was becoming tough to keep the speed and by the time I reached Princess Street, I was walking/limping with cramp. I managed to jog the last few steps into the station reminding myself that if I missed the train having given it so much effort I would be even more upset, when I reached the platform I was told, in fact, it was a replacement bus service... Jogging out to the front of station, utterly exhausted is probably one of the most painful things I have done this year. Eventually, I got the bus and was able to end a brilliant night without having problems getting home.

See you at the BBC Backstage Christmas Party, supported by Manchester Free Software and Geekup and likely to be attended by several people from DFEY!

Photos of Geekup Manchester 2008 © Cat Ashton
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