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When we went to Las Vegas for Netroots Nation over the summer, Matt and I played blackjack as much as our work allowed. A great blackjack player, Matt knows exactly when to not shake up the table and walk away — more than once he played for an extra 20-30 minutes, losing money, just so he didn’t risk messing up the mojo of our table so that I or someone else could keep the streak going. As Bill Simmons would tell you, that’s the kind of guy you go to Vegas with.
On the other hand, he also iced me. Not once, not twice — but three times during the trip. The first time he iced me, I’m not gonna lie - I got pretty upset. I’d spent most of the day fighting back a hangover, and only that evening had I began to get to where I could drink again. We were getting ready to leave, and I was finishing a run at a blackjack table. That’s when Matt taps my shoulder and says, “can you hold this?” I reach back to hold his drink while he tied his shoe…only to find it was a Smirnoff Ice. And yes I drank it. I had to. Those are the rules. In the morning, after my three hours of sleep, I awoke to find another Smirnoff under my pillow — which I somehow didn’t notice when I came to bed earlier that morning — and one in my laptop bag. Matt had placed them both there, as well. The first I tried to throw at him, but I still couldn’t move. The second I drank later, in full. But both were hysterical.
I don’t really have another friend that would Ice me. (And don’t start, please.) That’s just not the kind of friendship I have with pretty much anyone. But Matt Iced me three times on my first trip to Vegas, because he is that kind of friend — in addition to being a great blackjack partner. Matt is also the guy that got me a subscription to Wired magazine, who reads books I give him like Groundswell for fun, who taught me 49% of what I know about social media, who watched the final episode of Lost with me, who is a regular drinking buddy at Uncle Billy’s, and with whom — along with our significant(ly more attractive) others — I will be traveling to Peru once we get out of this crazy election cycle.
Matt is a pretty cool guy. Kind of a dork. He really likes the Muppets. No — I mean he really likes the Muppets. Which made it all the more awesome when I saw the Danimal vs. Animal sketch before he did. He cares a lot about his work, but after a weekend in Dallas he still manages to drive back to Austin by early Sunday morning to support a 5k Superhero run for CASA Travis. Matt, despite what he tries to let on, is a good guy — and that’s why he’s not just my twitter friend, but a friend I have who is also on Twitter.
Matt, this one is for you.
