A few weeks ago, I came across the nextNY site, a networking group for folks in technology and media in New York. It was started by Charlie O’Donnell, an up-and-coming executive (he just left Union Square Ventures where he’d been working to join a startup they’d funded). I was intrigued because they organized a dodgeball league, so it was clear they were a little bit less strait-laced than the typical networking group. Plus, Charlie linked to one of my posts, so that predisposes me to like him.

Anyway, nextNY had a happy hour last night at Bar 13, and I stopped by in an attempt to meet more people here in New York. It was a lot of fun – interesting folks involved in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. Unlike many others there, I wasn’t trying to pitch anything and I didn’t have an agenda, so I was able to just enjoy meeting people, and hear them talking about what excites them (much like my experience at BrainJam). Plus, I got my first taste of the Joel halo effect – after saying I worked at Fog Creek Software, most folks say “Oh, you work for Joel!”, so that was kind of neat. I had to leave early to meet up for dinner and drinks for a friend’s birthday, but I will be going to more nextNY events in the future.

The last couple weeks have been all about taking advantage of New York. I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I figured it was time to remind myself that this is NEW YORK, and I should be going out and doing fun things here. So I’ve done all sorts of things, including:

• Check out the Village Voice Siren Music Festival at Coney Island. Coney Island was even more cheesy than I imagined, but it’s cool that it’s right there on the subway. And I really liked The Cribs, and bought their CD.
• Spent an afternoon with a friend at the Met, before their admission prices go up in August.
• The Yankees game
• The New York Philharmonic concert in Central Park
• Playing ultimate frisbee over in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, including doing one awesome catch where I slipped despite my cleats and managed to lunge off of the ground to snag the disc with my left hand anyways.
• Hanging out in Greenwich Village with some friends.
• Dropping in on the Hackers On Planet Earth conference, including the excellent NLP talk by Mike Murray

So I’ve been keeping myself busy. In case you were wondering why there’s been a dearth of blogging recently.

P.S. My company, Fog Creek Software, is having an open house this evening if you’re interested in seeing where I work.