Hello from San Jose! Ok, I started the title of this post with something a little misleading, because even though I’m here in San Jose for Search Engine Strategies, I didn’t actually make it to the conference at all today. Instead, I got to do something EVEN BETTER!

I arrived from New Zealand in the late morning (not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed after 16 hrs in transit) but I didn’t require coffee to rev me up… I was on an adreneline rush because I got to head straight from the airport to the ‘plex (that means Googleplex for those not in the know 😉 for an exclusive “Google Webmaster Roundtable”! It was a small gathering of very smart web people hand-picked by Googlers to attend. I was honored to be one of the chosen few. We are under strict NDA to not discuss anything but generalities that are otherwise publicly available, and I of course will happily comply, so don’t check this blog anytime soon in the hopes that I will inadvertently spill any of Google’s secrets!

Then my evening was taken up by a Japanese dinner at the fabulous Hakone Gardens organized by online retailer Allan Dick of Vintage Tub and Bath. About 80 people were present, including Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Matt Cutts and Tim Mayer. The highlight of the evening for me was getting to chat extensively with futurist John Smart, the featured speaker of the event (I was fortunate enough to sit next to him during the dinner). If you really want to get thrown for a loop, read about The Singularity. Woah!