Dripping Diamonds, Melted Tubes, and Navy Blue Boxers... We Must Be in Chicago!
Nov 15 '04 (Updated Nov 18 '04)
The Bottom Line Just go.
Hi. My name is Doc and I'm addicted to Epinions. Not just writing and reading. Oh no. It's like I'm on a mission to meet everybody. After this Chicago meet, I think I'm over 100... some day I'll have to sit and add them up for sure. One thing that I've found is that the vast majority of folks on Epinions are exactly as they present themselves to be. Some may not look exactly as you imagine them, but their personalities are right on the money... and they've all been interesting and fun. What a site!
The folks at Chicago were an outright blast, every last one of them. So far, this was the most successful meet of them all, and I've been to two others. I'm 3-for-6 now. Where to begin on this one. Wow. What a night.
Well we met up with Dizzybint first since we were staying at the same hotel as Tom Barnes and I. Caroline and her friend Gene came down from Canada for this. I am so glad she did! She's just as outgoing and crazy in real life as she is in the comment sections. Awesome chick.... and Gene was great too. What a smile!
We shared a cab over to the some famous grill where we were to meet none other than Ed Grover, who was one the first people to email me when I first joined the site 2 1/2 years ago. Let me tell ya, Ed is one of the people you should all make an effort to meet too. He's smart, fun, sarcastic, and just all around one of my fave folks on Earth. We all ended up eating at Dave & Busters and then descending on the meet itself....
I think we were the first there and Garrett was the first to get assaulted by me. He was being guarded by Christal, but she just grinned and stepped aside... gave him right up she did! That's my girl, man. Christal is the bomb, truely. Randy was waiting his turn for a bear hug with his usual playful grin. Now, Randy does an awful lot for Epinions. He works real hard and has a fantastic attitude.. so I really should not give him a ration of crap, now should I? But hey, you know me. How can I resist? So here's the story....
The staff had ordered these special M&Ms in the colors to match the EpiDolls. Cute idea, eh? Well along with these they ordered some plastic tubes with the Epinions logo to hand to all of us. This is where my dear Randy comes in.... he figgers he doesn't wanna fill those tubes without washing them first... but being a guy and all he ain't washin' em by hand. Oh no. He sticks them in a dishwasher... anyone see this coming? Yeah. So like when we arrived to the meeting room, Garrett was putting out little bags of M&Ms for everyone.... Way to go Randy! WooHoo!
Ok back to the staff... got me a nice big ol' hug from DealTime Paul.. ok several. I was trying to answer a question from the Boston meet, but he had a sweater on over his button-down so.. no ladies, we still do not know if Paul has a hairy chest or not. I failed you all. Next meet.... *cackle*
Those who haven't been to a meet yet may not know who Sara is, but you should. She's the one cracking the whip up in Brisbane... and she's a riot. She's been getting a lot done since she took the helm. Some of you will happy to hear that she also agreed (firm commitment here guys) to have a Meet-n-Greet in London. Yes, you heard right. London, England. Tom and I have commited to attend that one as well.. so keep an eye out in the Member Center for an announcement as soon as that gets arranged. Alexis will be in charge of that meet since she is moving there in 2 weeks to work at the London Eps office.
Now, I had met all those folks a few times before and bug them by phone and email all the time so there was no surprises there, but wait.. who's this young good lookin guy standing there..? Rob? I never heard of a Rob! I must investigate this at once! Muwahahhaaaa. So, yeah I grabbed him and grilled him and found out rapidly I had met my match. Rob is in charge of tracking site stats and he is on his toes, guys. He can give as good as he can take and I had such a good time with him. He needs to be let out of the basement more often.. he's a wonderful crowd-worker. Now to figure out his user name..... hrmmmmm
After folks started arriving the night became a blur so this ends the chronological recital of the meet. Openroad was a nice surprise for me. He was named Sports CL earlier this summer and what a great choice that was! He's a great guy. Easy to talk too, friendly, cute as hell, and very approachable. So if ya have anything you need added to Sports, let him know. He's great to work with. His friend was very cute too... I tried to convince him to write reviews but alas, he's far too busy for the likes of us.. *sniff*
I've always liked Rex but we've butted heads a few times here and there.. one got a bit heated recently, so I was a bit scared when I saw him walk in, and I don't think he was sure how to approach me either.. it's like we still liked each other, but knew something had gone just a hair over the line in our last go-round. You know how that goes... well, I am soooo very glad he came to this. One of my best hugs of the night was from him as he was ready to leave, after a wonderful conversation. Oh I'll still argue with him, but now I'll be backing him to the hilt if anyone else dares to! Heh heh heh.
Ok this is getting long so let's start abbreviating a bit... I've known Mike and Eric for awhile now... Mike spent his last birthday tossin his cookies all over my bathroom while Eric laughed at him... so I was ecstatic to see them both hit the door. what I did not expect was Paul to be doin a strip tease to an EpiTowel in the middle of the place... well ok Kristina and I kinda egged it on and the crowd picked up on it real fast and egged him on some more and yes the man did go clear down to those sexy blue boxer shorts! Woohoo! A moment that live in infamy. I'm sure pics will be posted any day now...
I was glad to meet Bob Tomato and his wife pearannoyed after all this time, and DrFaustus as well. willowchild is just as cute as a button and nice as could be. Shelly showed up to round out the music section and dispell any b-tch rumors rather nicely, thank you very much.
Then we had the whole family with Kathy, her husband Michael, their daughter Chalathra and her husband. Talk about an Epinions family affair! All of them were super folks who I am happy to say I was reading already.
Bob is a brave man, indeed, and kept coming back to hang with us chicks smoking in the corner. He's good lookin, gals, and has a wicked-ornery grin.
And of course our returning queen of the upper-crust travel and eateries, Deborah, showed up after much cajoling from umm someone.... *whistles to herself*
I'd love to say more but my fingers are cramping up here now... so let me just repeat what others have said before me: Go to one of these. The community here is real people and you just need to come see for yourself just how real everyone is... including the staff. Folks came from all over to this one. Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and even Canada.... I fully expect to see you at the next one.....
I am not going back to check for typos.. so like, bite me Rex
*duck*
*ornery grin*
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Epinions.com ID:
drdevience
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Member: Lori Leidig
Location: Sweden
Reviews written: 647
Trusted by: 782 members
About Me:
Game over.
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