Apparently, there is a new phone coming out on Friday from Apple called the iPhone. We thought it would be fun to cover the launch at the epicenter of American retail: the Mall of America, which happens to be only a few miles from Technology Evangelist headquarters.

And, why not have a bit more fun with it by bringing Justine from iJustine.tv to town for some co-coverage?

Starting Thursday afternoon (assuming airlines cooperate), I'll be hanging out in Minneapolis with Justine and a local techie, Aaron Landry. The Aaron Landry that we've interviewed before on Technology Evangelist. Aaron happens to be a neighbor of mine, but I met him through conversations on local blogs.

It turns out this Internet thing is a small small world.

At some point around 18 months ago, I mentioned to my wife that I had an "online friend" named Aaron who I thought was originally from Stillwater, Minnesota. It turns out that Aaron and my wife went to high school together a decade ago.

And it turns out that there is an Aaron and Justine connection as well. Justine won a contest on Iminlikewithyou.com held by Aaron where he sent a postcard (yes, the paper kind) to Justine. Justine showed off the card she won in this video.

I've never met Justine and I've only visited with Aaron in person around four times, including a time when we tested the Twitter scavenger hunt game, Least Dangerous Game. Yet, I'm sure we'll have fun together since we've all had a chance to get to know each other through our blogs, videos, emails, and analog postcards.

If you live in Minneapolis and have time to hang out on Thursday night, send me an email or give me a call. My contact info is on my profile page. Let's turn a few more online friends into real-world friends then see what this iPhone hype is all about.