What I wouldn't go through to meet you people...
Sep 15 '05
The Bottom Line Thanks to Epinions for everything. I had a great time, despite missing 2/3 of it.
I was very excited when Garrett emailed me to tell me about the Seattle Meet & Greet. As I hadn't been to the discussion boards in a while, he emailed to ask if I was still interested, since I had expressed interest in the original thread about where to hold the next one. I thought that was extremely nice of him. I talked it over very briefly with my wife and decided that a day trip to Seattle would be very nice.
Once we found out my wife couldn't come along, she suggested the bus to save on gas and parking money. You can find out how *that* part of the trip went here (though most of you have probably already read that). So, I will make that part short, and just say that I ended up getting to the bus station (which was only four blocks from Gordon Biersch) around 3:00 pm. Wanting to get to there as soon as possible, I raced out the door to the bus station, pulled out the map I had printed, and promptly turned the wrong direction. Thankfully, I only went about half a block before realizing my mistake and turning back. As I was having problems coordinating the map in my hands (printed out from Google) and the streets I was actually on (this was more my problem then Google's, though, just to be fair), I ended up finding my way there mostly by Braille (oh, and noticing the huge Barnes & Noble sign down the street once I finally made it to the street it was on). Gordon Biersch is on the fourth floor of Pacific Place, and once I finally got inside the mall (and it's a beautiful mall), I began going up the never-ending series of escalators, noticing the elevators on the other side as soon as I got to the third level. Timely, eh?
But I digress. Once I saw the big Gordon Biersch sign, I went in and asked the guy at the counter where the Epinions get-together was, and he led me to the back. There, the first Epinions sight I saw was Christal's warm, smiling face welcoming me. Considering how late I was, and how everybody had already formed into their groups, chatting away, it would have been a bit intimidating walking into that, but Christal really made it easy. So thank you, Christal. She showed me where the nametags were, including the quite a few others who hadn't shown up (which, to me, is a sad thing that I hope doesn't inhibit Epinions from choosing Seattle for a future M&G). I also noticed that Dr. Steph, whose name tag was still there, had my picture on it. OOOOPS! Thankfully, so did mine, so all was good as far as I was concerned. Christal then showed me where the eats were, flagged down the waitress to get my beer order, and basically was very nice (and beautiful too, but we won't go there).
So I had my pizza and had my beer, and I was looking for a place to sit. There was a free seat over next to where Garrett and Jkafer were discussing something Epinions-related, so I sat down there. Also next to me were two other wonderful guys (and I'm terribly sorry, but I've completely forgotten your names!!! Please tell me in the comments field if you see this), and we started talking about Vancouver. I was slowly beginning to relax (I'm horrible in groups meetings where I don't really know anybody) by this time. We had a great conversation, and then Garrett called us all together to make some announcements.
None of them were really noteworthy (they were good, but they weren't "We have to go on the site and tell everybody about them!" announcements), which included the fact that Ebay loves us (is that going to be a catch-phrase from this M&G?). They handed out the wonderful Seattle M&G mugs and told everybody to take some Epidolls (I took two). I then managed to corner Garrett to talk about the books database (and he didn't look too scared). I now understand it a lot better, and why there are so many problems. Now if he could just wave his magic wand and fix the damn thing!
Then, Lisa_J came over and said hi, and we chatted for a bit as well. She's just as cute and bubbly as she is on the site, so it's nice to see that there are some real people out there. (I kid, I kid…I know I'm the only unreal one out there). She also managed to get the one picture of me that appears to be out there (and which reminds me that I really need to go back on that diet). Finally, ChrisJarmick came over and we talked about a few different things, some reviews related and some non-site stuff. He was a great guy, and I wish I could have gone to his poetry reading, but my bus was leaving at 6:15. About that point, the whole thing was breaking up, and everybody was saying goodbye.
Oh, I did get to meet knotheadusc as well! Can't forget that. She looked so cute in her Turkish wrap (didn't know it was Turkish at the time, though), but she did look extremely tired. She and her husband left around 3:45 or so, and stopped to say hello before doing so. We didn't have much time to talk, but it was a pleasure meeting them both.
After everybody left, I headed down to Barnes & Noble to get a magazine that I usually have trouble finding up in Vancouver, but they didn't have it. So I was looking for a book for the bus ride home (I had almost finished my book as we reached Seattle, mainly because of that long, horrible wait at the border). I couldn't find anything, and realized that I had better get something to eat, so I raced upstairs and found the Mexican place next to Gordon Biersch and felt the craving for good Mexican food. I also needed another beer (it was one of those days). I had a Mac & Jack's and two of the best enchiladas I've had in a long time. If you're in Pacific Place, I can't recommend the place enough. I think it was just called "Mexico," but I could be mistaken.
Anyway, after dinner (and one last stop at Barnes & Noble, where the only book I found that I was interested in was horribly overpriced) I headed back to the bus station, and left Seattle behind me. No reading material, and the battery on my mp3 player died about 45 minutes out, so no tuneage. Thankfully, it was getting dark, so I was able to snooze a bit. The border was civilized, taking only 30 minutes, and I got home around 10:30. Abbreviated as it was, it was a wonderful day, and I'm so glad I came down. It was great meeting everybody, and I had a lot of fun. If you get a chance to go to one of these things, you have to go. It's a great time, and how can you say no to free food and booze? Oh, and the company's good, too.
I hope the lack of turnout doesn't keep them from coming back to Seattle. In the meantime, I would love to do an informal get-together in Vancouver sometime. If anybody wants to, let me know.
Thanks, Epinions!!!
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Epinions.com ID:
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 in Books |
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Member: David Roy
Location: Vancouver, BC
Reviews written: 723
Trusted by: 218 members
About Me:Thinking of taking Greyhound? Be careful:
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