A great time at the 2012 Philly Geek Awards!
What an experience this was!
If the hectic frenzy leading up to the event was not crazy enough, the evening just added to the delight that was Friday August 17th for me and, I am sure, the rest of those in attendance. There were plenty of tweets surrounding the panic of getting the event together, or getting ready to go the event and shout outs of anticipation. As I scrambled to create and print special business cards to hand out and drop in the special drawing for an iPad - I was contemplating dresses and shoes. My Epson printer was revolting against the Avery stock for the cards and I ultimately printed cheesy regular-paper cards that I had to cut out without a paper-cutter (has anyone tried to do that in a hurry? I am lucky I did not draw blood and all fingers stayed intact!). Oh, a bag! I had to find my dressy bag. Some things just do not end...
Living up in the 'burbs, I decided drive so I would not have to deal with taking the train at who knows when if I decided to hit the after-party at National Mechanics. That would mean I would not be drinking much - I am a lightweight anyway. It was pretty much smooth sailing until I found myself in a veritable STOP on I-95 south up by Northeast Philly. Good thing I remembered to notice the "Keep Calm, I'm The Doctor" pin I attached to my jacket and made up time after the bottleneck by NOT driving like a "girl".
The first lucky moment of this experience was snagging up a last-minute extra ticket for the sold-out Geekadelphia event of the year two days before the red carpet. Next, I scored a prime parking space on the corner smack dab against the building. It sucked that the darn meters were only two hours (until 10PM - well after most of the museums there are normally closed) and I got there just before 6:30. Coincidentally, the PPA dude was walking up and I asked if he would be around and if he could pull some strings. No real deal made there, but he said he would watch out for my car when I explained the dilemma of when I may be able to come back out to pay for more parking... I did not not want to drive out and around and risk it, as the forecast called for rain. I was a Girl Scout, so being prepared was what I was thinking there.
The red carpet was laid out and the line to enter was forming. I met the holder of my ticket and was very impressed with the formal attire. And then I regretted not whipping out one of my gowns for the occasion. NEXT year will be a great excuse to go all out and throw in a planned visit to my favorite "primper" at her salon!
Just like any good awards event - there was a nice gift waiting for the attendees. Everyone loves a little collection of swag and gift cards! And there were sponsors at the ready with more to grab at their tables scattered around the building. Among my faves - Meme cookies from Whipped Bakeshop (And you can congratulate them on their Best Of Philly.
I have to say, and I was moved to tweet this, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is a fantastic place to host an event. Very appropriate in theme for the awards of the evening, and nicely laid out with plenty of possibilities. The food and drink were spread out so you can see the cool offerings and dioramas of the museum. Did you know there is a research library there? This was news to me even thought I have visited there at least a dozen times! You can also get a good amount of exercise there if you like to take the stairs.
Overhearing a conversation that sounded very Doctor Who - I had to stop over and meet the folks chatting. And this resulted in the only pictures of me posing for. Notice the height difference between me (the short girl on the left) and Stephen H. Segal, Chief Editor of Philadelphia Weekly and editor of Geek Wisdom (Quirk Books).
So, you can see by looking at these mega-tall Mary Jane patent platform shoes I was wearing - just how tall The Doctor-clad chap is! (That said -- it is comforting to note that there were not too many folks in the room that towered over me, mega-heels or not...)
There was a constant trickle of people arriving that bought me time to feed the PPA kiosk to be back in time for the beginning of the ceremonies. And, this allowed me to be able to meet one of the nominees as I came back to the main door. They missed the paparazzi before the doors opened, so I snapped this pic of them on the red carpet on our way in.
No orchestra, big dance numbers, or cheesy hosts. Oh, wait, I take that last one back... The hosts and presenters were appropriately and acceptedly cheesy. On the stage there was only a large screen and a screened podium that offered visuals to both inform and entertain us. The were both upstaged by the glowing award statuettes that have been thus called the "Geekys" (Award names tend to end in "Y" right? Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, ESPYs etc..). Before my smartphone (one of the only folks in the room with an Android) battery died - I was able to get a few snaps during the ceremony. (Snicker now all you wish, iPhone loyalists - look at these shots taken from my seat w/ my HTC Rezound with Beats audio and 8mp camera)...
After our Geekadelphia hosts, Eric Smith & Tim Quirino, ran through the "credits" thanking all who made the evening possible and giving shout outs to the sponsors, they also announced the name of the lucky winner of the iPad raffle courtesy of SIG... and that was ME!!! Totally unexpected, couldn't believe they called my name and I almost passed out. And to think - I almost did not even make it there! (and some may not believe it as I flew way under the radar and doubt there are any other pics of me except for the one you see above taken by E.C. Myers who also has a Droid...) More about that later...
The entire production was entertaining from the beginning. There was the silliness as promised and lots of clapping, cheering and laughing through the entire show.
One of the best acceptance speeches came from the 2012 Scientist of the Year:
(he knew the crowd would appreciate that this Drexel Dragon geek's wife has TWO doctorates!)
If the presentations were not entertaining enough, the changing images below their talking heads via the podium screen helped to keep the laughs coming.
My award to the best presenters with props go to Tony Trov and Johnny Zito of South Fellini, comics and Indie Film of the year nominees for Alpha Girls. A bit Bob Dylan-esque and quite fun (So, Johnny - why didn't you "sing" it? Okay, then we may have had a difficult time understanding you).
My favorite presentation was Kyle Cassidy's. He tweeted a link to the video of it - so here it is:
It turns out the Curalate gang was sitting right behind me, so when they won their award, I got to notice just how bright that "Geeky" was, as it glowed behind me when they returned to their seats. A bit on the hot side too - I could feel it! Good thing they found the "off" switch or they all would have been absolutely blinded by the end of the evening...
The Ceremonies were capped off by a surprise orchestrated by Jo Pincushion. We were treated to a video greeting by Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee! As we all broke out in delighted applause, we drowned out what he was saying (I am pretty sure it was not "Puny god...")
And off we all attempt to go to the official after party at National Mechanics who also treated us to some tasty nosh at the pre-ceremony cocktail hour.
As it turned out, my car was appreciated by my new friends when we opened The Academy's doors after the ceremony to find a torrential downpour looming over us. Geeks that we are, the smartphones were whipped out and the weather radar was consulted before deciding to "wait it out". It was a big, slow moving storm - so mad dash to the car it was...
Note: apparently, rain has become a tradition of sorts to this event. Well, it was only the second year - so statistically speaking... Who wants to do a calculation for this and determine the odds of this happening every year? For the full list of the 2012 nominees and those who received a Geeky - you can check it out on Geekadelphia's official page. Thanks for the fantastic time!
Well, that is my recap... Here are some more photos I took:
What an experience this was!
If the hectic frenzy leading up to the event was not crazy enough, the evening just added to the delight that was Friday August 17th for me and, I am sure, the rest of those in attendance. There were plenty of tweets surrounding the panic of getting the event together, or getting ready to go the event and shout outs of anticipation. As I scrambled to create and print special business cards to hand out and drop in the special drawing for an iPad - I was contemplating dresses and shoes. My Epson printer was revolting against the Avery stock for the cards and I ultimately printed cheesy regular-paper cards that I had to cut out without a paper-cutter (has anyone tried to do that in a hurry? I am lucky I did not draw blood and all fingers stayed intact!). Oh, a bag! I had to find my dressy bag. Some things just do not end...
Living up in the 'burbs, I decided drive so I would not have to deal with taking the train at who knows when if I decided to hit the after-party at National Mechanics. That would mean I would not be drinking much - I am a lightweight anyway. It was pretty much smooth sailing until I found myself in a veritable STOP on I-95 south up by Northeast Philly. Good thing I remembered to notice the "Keep Calm, I'm The Doctor" pin I attached to my jacket and made up time after the bottleneck by NOT driving like a "girl".
The first lucky moment of this experience was snagging up a last-minute extra ticket for the sold-out Geekadelphia event of the year two days before the red carpet. Next, I scored a prime parking space on the corner smack dab against the building. It sucked that the darn meters were only two hours (until 10PM - well after most of the museums there are normally closed) and I got there just before 6:30. Coincidentally, the PPA dude was walking up and I asked if he would be around and if he could pull some strings. No real deal made there, but he said he would watch out for my car when I explained the dilemma of when I may be able to come back out to pay for more parking... I did not not want to drive out and around and risk it, as the forecast called for rain. I was a Girl Scout, so being prepared was what I was thinking there.
The red carpet was laid out and the line to enter was forming. I met the holder of my ticket and was very impressed with the formal attire. And then I regretted not whipping out one of my gowns for the occasion. NEXT year will be a great excuse to go all out and throw in a planned visit to my favorite "primper" at her salon!
Just like any good awards event - there was a nice gift waiting for the attendees. Everyone loves a little collection of swag and gift cards! And there were sponsors at the ready with more to grab at their tables scattered around the building. Among my faves - Meme cookies from Whipped Bakeshop (And you can congratulate them on their Best Of Philly.
I have to say, and I was moved to tweet this, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is a fantastic place to host an event. Very appropriate in theme for the awards of the evening, and nicely laid out with plenty of possibilities. The food and drink were spread out so you can see the cool offerings and dioramas of the museum. Did you know there is a research library there? This was news to me even thought I have visited there at least a dozen times! You can also get a good amount of exercise there if you like to take the stairs.
Overhearing a conversation that sounded very Doctor Who - I had to stop over and meet the folks chatting. And this resulted in the only pictures of me posing for. Notice the height difference between me (the short girl on the left) and Stephen H. Segal, Chief Editor of Philadelphia Weekly and editor of Geek Wisdom (Quirk Books).
 |
| Me with Geek Wisdom's Stephen H. Segal |
 |
| See how short I am???? |
There was a constant trickle of people arriving that bought me time to feed the PPA kiosk to be back in time for the beginning of the ceremonies. And, this allowed me to be able to meet one of the nominees as I came back to the main door. They missed the paparazzi before the doors opened, so I snapped this pic of them on the red carpet on our way in.
 |
| Comic Book Writer of the Year Nominee Bryan J.L. Glass & his wife Judy |
No orchestra, big dance numbers, or cheesy hosts. Oh, wait, I take that last one back... The hosts and presenters were appropriately and acceptedly cheesy. On the stage there was only a large screen and a screened podium that offered visuals to both inform and entertain us. The were both upstaged by the glowing award statuettes that have been thus called the "Geekys" (Award names tend to end in "Y" right? Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, ESPYs etc..). Before my smartphone (one of the only folks in the room with an Android) battery died - I was able to get a few snaps during the ceremony. (Snicker now all you wish, iPhone loyalists - look at these shots taken from my seat w/ my HTC Rezound with Beats audio and 8mp camera)...
After our Geekadelphia hosts, Eric Smith & Tim Quirino, ran through the "credits" thanking all who made the evening possible and giving shout outs to the sponsors, they also announced the name of the lucky winner of the iPad raffle courtesy of SIG... and that was ME!!! Totally unexpected, couldn't believe they called my name and I almost passed out. And to think - I almost did not even make it there! (and some may not believe it as I flew way under the radar and doubt there are any other pics of me except for the one you see above taken by E.C. Myers who also has a Droid...) More about that later...
The entire production was entertaining from the beginning. There was the silliness as promised and lots of clapping, cheering and laughing through the entire show.
One of the best acceptance speeches came from the 2012 Scientist of the Year:
(he knew the crowd would appreciate that this Drexel Dragon geek's wife has TWO doctorates!)
If the presentations were not entertaining enough, the changing images below their talking heads via the podium screen helped to keep the laughs coming.
My award to the best presenters with props go to Tony Trov and Johnny Zito of South Fellini, comics and Indie Film of the year nominees for Alpha Girls. A bit Bob Dylan-esque and quite fun (So, Johnny - why didn't you "sing" it? Okay, then we may have had a difficult time understanding you).
My favorite presentation was Kyle Cassidy's. He tweeted a link to the video of it - so here it is:
It turns out the Curalate gang was sitting right behind me, so when they won their award, I got to notice just how bright that "Geeky" was, as it glowed behind me when they returned to their seats. A bit on the hot side too - I could feel it! Good thing they found the "off" switch or they all would have been absolutely blinded by the end of the evening...
The Ceremonies were capped off by a surprise orchestrated by Jo Pincushion. We were treated to a video greeting by Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee! As we all broke out in delighted applause, we drowned out what he was saying (I am pretty sure it was not "Puny god...")
And off we all attempt to go to the official after party at National Mechanics who also treated us to some tasty nosh at the pre-ceremony cocktail hour.
As it turned out, my car was appreciated by my new friends when we opened The Academy's doors after the ceremony to find a torrential downpour looming over us. Geeks that we are, the smartphones were whipped out and the weather radar was consulted before deciding to "wait it out". It was a big, slow moving storm - so mad dash to the car it was...
Note: apparently, rain has become a tradition of sorts to this event. Well, it was only the second year - so statistically speaking... Who wants to do a calculation for this and determine the odds of this happening every year? For the full list of the 2012 nominees and those who received a Geeky - you can check it out on Geekadelphia's official page. Thanks for the fantastic time!
Well, that is my recap... Here are some more photos I took:
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| Hanging out on the Red Carpet to get in... not the longest carpet - but absolutely the geekiest and coolest in Philly! |
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| Philly Geek Award Nominee, Doug Stewart (Local Annual Event of the Year: WordCampPhilly - Local WordPress Conference) Otherwise known as The Kilt-Guy (Thanks again, Doug for having an extra ticket!!!) |
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| Notice T-Rex is staring directly at me!!! |
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| Here is that research library at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (can we try to make the new name any longer???) That I never knew existed... |
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| Diorama of possums -- I played possum all night... lol. |
