*checks calendar*
Today is Monday, July 27. In less than three weeks, fifteen hundred Kossacks, bloggers, activists and other assorted riffraff folks will descend upon the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for Netroots Nation 2009. That means it's time to get organized.
Inspired by the lovely and talented Land of Enchantment, below you will find hotel info, ground transportation info and other assorted goodness, as well as an opportunity to arrange ride shares, hotel room shares, registration swaps, hotel swaps, etc. Between myself, LoE and any other intrepid volunteers we will be bringing you this diary at least once or twice a day between now and NN09.
HOTEL INFO:
The official conference hotels are the Westin, which is attached to the conference center via a skybridge, and the Omni William Penn Hotel, which is a couple blocks away. Unfortunately the Westin is completely booked, but rooms may still be available at the Omni.
Book at the Omni William Penn hotel located at 530 William Penn Place through this special link or call 412-281-7100 and mention the Netroots Nation convention when booking your room. The Omni is located a short walking distance from the convention center.
GROUND TRANSPORTATION:
Via donnamarie in a previous diary, the Westin does *not* have a complimentary shuttle from Pittsburgh Airport to the hotel. The best deal appears to be $19 each way with SuperShuttle, or you can take a cab for approximately $40 each way (info via Adam B).
Public transporation info is here.
Pittsburgh taxi company numbers (Program them into your cell phone now in case you need them! This information turned out to be vital in Austin.):
Checker Cab (412) 664-5600
Yellow Cab Co. of Pittsburgh (412) 321-8100
If you're the driving sort, parking at the hotel is $20/day (via donnamarie).
OTHER ANCILLARY INFO:
Also via donnamarie, the wifi situation at the hotel is exactly the opposite of last year's in Austin: wifi in your room in the hotel is free, but wifi in common areas of the hotel is $11/day.
The Netroots Nation folks are working their collective butts off finalizing the schedule. You can watch the schedule magically appear before your eyes here. Expect a full schedule with times, room numbers, etc. to be handed out in your swag bag.
Speaking of swag bags, if you're a Netroots Nation newbie here's some advice: leave some room in your luggage for the infamous Netroots Nation swag bag. This will be my third convention, and I always come home with piles of free tee shirts, buttons, keychains, condoms, bottle openers, magazines, flyers, etc., and it's all handed out in the Official Netroots Nation swag bag.
Everyone's favorite boozehound Vicki is working on putting the schedule into .xls format and will be posting it online at Google Docs. This should make it ultra-easy to plan your day at the convention. We'll spread it around for you once it's up.
The dKos Party has been announced! It's Saturday night, and features a great local ska/funk party band plus stand-up comedy from David Cross and Sam Seder! Props to dKos's party diva, Scout Finch.
FOOD INFO:
Your registration includes lunch on Saturday and there are also "heavy appetizers" (swanky food) planned for the opening reception on Thursday night. The hotel also has three restaurants: The Original Fish Market, Pizza & Panini and Penn City Grille. Across the street from the hotel is a restaurant called Tonic.
For the caffeine addicts among us, there is a coffee shop called Cool Beans a hop 'n' a skip 'n' a jump away behind the hotel.
Pittsburgh Kossacks have done something pretty awesome and set up a website with visitor information about their town, including dining options. Visit PGH Roots.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: THE FOLKS AT PGHROOTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN A COMPLIMENTARY REGISTRATION AND THEY'RE GIVING IT AWAY! SIMPLY VISIT THE PGHROOTS WEBSITE AND LEAVE A COMMENT (IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS) TELLING THEM WHY YOU SHOULD GET IT. A WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED AUGUST 3RD.
OBLIGATORY PLUG:
If you can't make it to Pittsburgh, you can still experience the panels and discussions via SecondLife. We'll be bringing you streaming audio and video from as much of the convention as we can, as well as special online-only panels and discussions, musical performances and parties! It's not geeky, it's not technical, it's not weird...I promise. Visit the NNSL website for more information (or ask me--I am co-director of communications for NNSL).
ANOTHER IMPORTANT PLUG:
Last year the amazing crew from Mojo Friday put together a fundraiser called Netroots For The Troops and put together 300 care packages to send to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They're at it again, and they could use your support.
That's it! Who's in?