Ah, ‘Almanac‘ — I’ve watched the Twin Cities Public Television news and public-affairs show for ages.

I was never on the show, though, and envied my fellow journalists who were. I imagined the stars might align somehow, someday, so I could sit on that couch and submit to gentle questioning from the famed husband-and-wife hosting team, Cathy Wurzer and Erik Eskola.

This, I knew, would be an honor right up there with being a guest on Leo Laporte’s ‘This Week in Tech.’

Tonight was the night. What a great way to end the work week.

Related: ‘Without any sense of irony, Almanac hosts a panel on new media‘ (Minnov8)

When my wife and son returned from the Mall of America last weekend, they brought interesting news: A vast Microsoft retail store was opening directly across from Apple’s longtime megamall outlet.

I grabbed a Pioneer Press car and dashed over there to document the scene in pictures, which went up on a Your Tech Weblog post.

That post has ‘sploded on the interwebz this week.

It was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and it appeared on Techmeme. Leo Laporte showed it on MacBreak Weekly (scrub to the 1:20:00 mark above).

Googling ‘Microsoft Mall of America’ turned up dozens of hits. (Most of these linked to my post or identified me and/or my employer, but some of gave me no credit at all while grabbing one or more of my pictures.)

I’m even on the Geek Culture/Joy of Tech blog! (I’m a big fan of those Canadians.)

Hey, not bad for a quick bit of weekend blogging. I have to figure out some really awesome way to thank the kid and the missus.

On a recent episode of ‘This Week in Tech,’ I told (a somewhat skeptical) Leo Laporte and John Dvorak about the deep impact of social media, especially Twitter, on my personal and professional lives.

That reminded me of an old episode of ‘Eskimo Witch,’ Chuck Olsen’s dearly departed video-humor series, in which I make essentially the same points.

(Later in the video, I deny I’m part of the Russian Mafia.)

My pal Steve Borsch shot this video during the eagerly anticipated Leo Laporte portion of my Minnesota Blogger Conference session on Saturday.

I pulled in the famed tech-podcast personality via Skype to discuss the Squarespace blogging platform.

This worked out pretty well. Leo could see the audience via my MacBook Pro webcam, and the audience could see him on the projection screen. Leo’s booming, mellifluous voice carried nicely in the large room.

Thanks, Leo! Thanks Steve!

You can find lots of bloggercon photos on Flickr. Here’s the group pool.

Here are a bunch of pictures I uploaded, with the permission of the photographers: Steve Borsch, Evan Wondrasek, Dave Schlottman, Josh Braaten and Kay Loire Roseland.

http://cdn.livestream.com/grid/LSPlayer.swf?channel=theuptake&clip=pla_64f16e6f-1b12-4d6d-85d5-a05401ff33de&autoPlay=false

I had the honor of presenting at the first-ever Minnesota Blogger Conference on Saturday.

I did not realize at the time that The UpTake was recording the whole thing, which is great. In fact, a  total of six sessions are now online for all to see.

My session focused on tools to make blogging easier and more enjoyable. I packed in a lot of stuff, and included a number of guests  — some in person, some via Skype video; some planned, some impromptu — to enrich the presentation.

This post lists everything and everyone in my preso:

Blogging platforms: Posterous, Tumblr, Squarespace

Other blogging or publishing tools: Markdown, Flavors.me, Google Profile, Bit.ly Pro

Blogging software: MarsEdit, Blogo, MacJournal, Windows Live Writer

Scheduled guests: St. Paul superblogger Patrick Rhone, Posterous cofounder Garry Tan, and tech-podcasting megastar Leo Laporte (whose virtual presence, naturally, electrified the audience)

Impromptu guests (that is, folks I pulled in serendipitously because they had information of value to share with the group): Posterous evangelist Griff Wigley, Squarespace expert Josh Braaten. My pal Patrick also fits into this category because he chimed in periodically to impart his wisdom on various topics, for which I am grateful.

Posterous sites cited: Ahnuld, Ashton and Alyssa; Chevrolet and Steve Rubel; Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and Blois Olson of Tunheim Partners; Sachin’s wedding photos; Bombi(llo)

Tumblr sites cited: The Huffington Post, Life, Rolling Stone and the New York Times (hmm, shouldn’t have mentioned the last two in my preso, they’re so lame they don’t deserve links; Newsweek, though, is awesome); Minimal Mac, Twin Cities Public Television, MinnPost, Science Museum of Minnesota (here and here), Minnesota Public Radio and Utne Reader; ojezap.com

Squarespace sites cited: Imus, Natali del Conte (here and here), Clayton Morris

Avatar artists: Hire one. 

Memorable phrase: “Just e-mail shit in” (courtesy of Griff, who was describing how easily one can post pictures, videos and more on Posterous blog)

I forgot to mention: One great way I used Posterous at the Pioneer Press, but here’s a full rundown; how David Erickson, a conference moderator and Blois’ Tunheim cohort, is active on Posterous and Tumblr.