A few weeks ago at around 2 pm, on the first Saturday of SXSW Interactive, I got to Austin. It was a brief and hastily planned trip, and I timed my arrival to coincide with the likely wake up time of my son, who had worked his usual 11pm-7am shift ending that morning. First on our agenda, a late lunch at Chuy’s. Next up, several hours sitting in a mostly empty coffee shop just talking about life and the future and music and movies and the family. For me, it was much more than a blast.

For parets, days like this are rare. For one thing, it’s not often I get this much time with just one kid. But even more delightfully for Dad, my eldest is right now uniquely equipped for this kind of encounter. Old enough and educated enough that our talks are intellectually stimulating and challenging, and just at the point where his youth and wisdom have intersected to make me a viable mining resource.

It was a great freaking day.

Ironically, at the same time we sat down with chips and salsa at Chuy’s, John Gruber and Merlin Mann opened their “duet rant” at SXSW. I had known this session (ridiculously titled HOWTO: 149 Surprising Ways to Turbocharge Your Blog With Credibility!) was coming, and were it not for the clearly more wonderful opportunity I had in place, I might have thought this one session worth the price of SXSW admission. These guys produce some of my favorite stuff. Gruber’s Daring Fireball is THE source for Mac nerdery; it’s written with a craftsman’s care and skill. Mann’s widely varied products are often genius. One example; You Look Nice Today, with Adam Lisagor and Scott Simpson, a podcast which rarely fails to burn my nostrils with spewing Diet Coke (if your sensibilities are even slightly modest, though, stay away, as there’s nothing politically correct or safe for work about the show).

Anyway, long story short, I had my cake and now I get to eat it too. The Gruber/Mann session’s available as part of the 43 Folders podcast. Check it out, ’cause it’s a doozy.

In fact, my few gentle readers, it’s sparked in me an enthusiasm to tilt this site towards a political/spiritual/ethical obsession of my own. Stay tuned.