Tuesday, June 24, 2008

BlogMeet Goodness

Updates: first pix (and a report) at Baby Troll Blog! Head on over and leave a comment. More photos and commentary at The Breda Fallacy and Call Me Ahab. (What Breda says about wittiness of attendees and being a bit overwhelmed goes for me, too!) It turns out Frank W. James had excellent reason to miss the festivities, a much happier one than the "trying to get the crops above water" many of us were worried about. Mike (of Mike & Breda) offers interesting commentary on life sparked during the drive back and Breda has an update on the blogmeet and her trip there and back (be sure you look at her riverwalk photo. It's stunning).

My jaw muscles hurt from grinning! I expected a few folks; Breda and Mike were for-sure attendees and Turk Turon had delightfully surprised me with his vow to hop the next flight out of Turonistan; Old Grouch was almost certain to be there and we were hoping for Red and his spouse. So, counting Tam and me, eight.

...Which is what I told our waitress when we arrived at the just-opening bar. "More than six, we'd prefer you sat inside," she ruled.

So we did. There's a nice loooong bench seat fronted by small tables and chairs in a kind of an alcove along one side of the building, and I thought we might take up a quarter of it.

Then folks started showing up.
Then more.
And more.

And we filled that section of the brewpub.

All 23 of us!

Six blog-readers, commenters (including Rob K and Shermlock-- except it seems both of them are bloggers!) or lurkers, bloggers mentioned above plus Caleb, Mark Alger and SWMBO, a local and recently-retired blogger, a surprise guest, the redoubtable James R. Rummel, Jerry --and I have lost track. It was a wonderful time! If you were there and have been left out -- I am missing bloggers to whom I would very much like to link -- drop me e-mail and I'll add you (and a link, if applicable).

With 23 people at a long table, at any given time five or six conversations were going at once and people were moving around to chat with one another. It was chaotic, fun and a bit like a real-life version of blog-surfing!

Prizes: Breda won an unsual hat for showing up ('cos we all wanted to meet her and Mike!) and to help her fend off the Octopode Menace. Turk received the Rummel Award for Longest-Travelled[1], which is a drink of the winner's choice. Turk chose the Sampler: eight small glasses, each filled with a different one of the in-house brews.

My head's still spinnin'. There was much good eating (I had Steak Cheviche salad, yum!) and the last few of of us strolled down the Monon and Central Canal trails to the Turtle-Upholding sculpture, then back along Westfield Boulevard[2] for some shaved ice. (Note: do not pronounce "shaved ice" in a bad mock-Southern accent unless you are willing to giggle. Really). Tam was delighted to learn that "tiger blood" is a flavor. Ew.

It was a grand time and yes, we are planning another. See you there?

(Photos will follow -- I'm relying on the kindness of friends for them, as I left my camera at home).

PS: You know, us gunnie-gals are a good-lookin' lot! --And the fellers are easy on the eyes, too.
_________________________
1. Note this award is solely at the discretion of the committee-of-one who awards it.
2. Here's a Riparian intersection: It looks like a nice, square-ish four-way intersecton. It's not. Westfield Blvd. enters Southbound and departs Westbound; Winthrop Ave. enters Northbound and quits. The Eastbound street, I'm not even sure it has a name (Google thinks it's Westfield Blvd, too!) but it should probably be 63rd Street if it does. Does that seem right to you? Old Grouch illustrates it!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great time was had by all!! Great that it went so well.

Rob K said...

It's always great to have good beer in good company, and both were very good indeed.

Anonymous said...

Thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks again and again for hosting.

M

Jerry in Texas said...

Roberta X,
I had a good time, but I didn't make it down to the other end of the table. I'm sure we'll meet again. What a crowd!

I ate at the BBQ place across the street. A friend from my high school is the owner. Small world.

Thanks for hosting all of us!

Turk Turon said...

Roberta,
So many new friends! Thanks for herding 23 cats. I had a wonderful time. Now it' back to the salt mines!

Carteach said...

Most excellent time.... enjoyed the company very much, and wonderful to place faces with names.

Pictures will be E-mailed tonight when I get home. Just sorry I didn't bring a good camera.

We were commenting on what an intelligent and friendly group of gun bloggers shows up for these things.... Well done!

Did I mention.. my instinct was to bow before Tam, the queen of gun bloggers? Funny reaction..that.

Anonymous said...

Yes, we had a wonderful time. Thanks for the invite! I emailed the photos to Tam, she should have them by now.
Cheers,
Scully

Roberta X said...

It was a pleasure to meet everyone and to have such nice conversations! The gunblogging crowd is delightfully varied and always fun.

Cartech,Tam and I agree that you look even more heroic in person. ;)

Jerry, that barbeque joint is first-rate. It was destination of the Great Scooter Expedition earlier this year.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for having the meet. My wife and I had a great time. I'm sorry I didn't get down to the other end of the table to meet everyone. BTW, we were the late ones that sat on the end.

Anonymous said...

I had an emergency arise (no surprise, my life is packed wiht them) and I had to deal with it. And it pisses me off I couldn't be there.

Turk Turon said...

You gunnie gals ARE a good-lookin' bunch.

At one point I was sitting across the table from (L-R) Scully, Roberta and Tam, with Breda one seat to my left.

Grrrr! (trying to do that tongue-rolling growl on the web, without success.)

Anonymous said...

"I was sitting across the table from (L-R) Scully, Roberta and Tam, with Breda one seat to my left."

And did you notice when they started comparing knives? Like something out of Crocodile Dundee... ;-)

Turk Turon said...

I was looking down at my beer. I heard, "Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching!"

I looked up at four smiling women with knives.

I half-expected them to start singing, "When you're a Jet, You're a Jet all the way!"

red said...

(possible duplicate comment due to blogger error message)

It was good to meet everyone! Hope we get to do it again and get to chat with everyone.

Roberta X said...

Oh, we shall indeed do another Indy Blogmeet! The plan is to make them regular events, probably monthly.

breda said...

5.5 hours really isn't that far...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for including the spouses and for making everyone feel so welcome.Mark and I had a great time !

swmbo

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Too bad. On the day of the event I was camped up and working on a trailer in Butler PA. Only a state and a half away. Wish I could have made it.

Carteach said...

AHEM..... when is the next one?

I want another shot with a better camera... :-)

Roberta X said...

The next one is July -- we'll start working out a date shortly.