Start spreadin' the love...
Mar 31 '06
The Bottom Line Best. Meet. Yet. No joke. I love you guys... and that's not just the cosmos talking!
Dear Everybody...
You should have been there. We had a really good time.
For Andrew and I, our weekend started on Thursday when we flew out of DFW to lovely Newark, New Jersey. Unfortunately, because of some bad planning and difficulty parking, we just barely missed the half-hour cutoff for checking in on our flight. No problem though... another flight was leaving just under 2 hours later. Unfortunately, that left us with no way to contact Caroline who was meeting us at the airport. She got to know the local bartender on a first name basis while she waited for us - I don't envy her 8 hours rattling around EWR. Not entirely our fault though - it would only have been 4 if her bus trip had taken as long as she thought it was supposed to.
I'll skip telling you about our merely adequate hotel accommodations and our less than delicious pizza - read Caroline's wrap-up for the details there. I'll also skip most of the details of our Friday sightseeing excursion except to say that the city was much nicer than I expected; the people seemed friendly, no taxis tried to run us over, and we didn't step in doggie doo - all big plusses for me. The only questionable moment was when Caroline looked like she was ready to puke on the guy in front of us in the Empire State Building elevator. She has since promised not to lie about back pain anymore. All was ok though once we got out of the squashed spaces and out into the fresh air of the observation deck. It was a clear enough day that we had an absolutely spectacular view - well worth the hour wait to get upstairs.
The real festivities, of course, happened on Saturday. The three of us took the train in to NY Penn station, met up with Mike and Tom, and we all walked the half-dozen or so blocks to Times Square and the ESPN Zone. We headed upstairs, but being about a half-hour early they weren't technically supposed to let us in the room yet. Garrett did an end-run on the rules though by having us assist with epi-doll placement and nametag organization. Between finding places to stick those little round dudes (I think we need to have an epi-doll naming contest one of these days) and trying to create some order from the chaos of over 100 nametags, I got the chance to say hi to Christal, Greg, and Andy - all of whom I had met before; and I was introduced to the newest member of the team, Tomiko, who can tell all kinds of tales that would get Garrett in trouble.
I also got to meet Lorrie Norrington - who (surprisingly) remembered both Andrew and myself from our brief introduction in the Epinions/Shopping.com break room last December. I was pretty impressed by that. Others have mentioned that she doesn't have that CEO kind of air about her. If by that they mean that she's nice, friendly, approachable, attentive, and genuinely interested in what people think, then I'd have to agree wholeheartedly. Throughout the afternoon I saw Lorrie talking with various members - sometimes talking about the site or their reviews, other times just making small talk. Andrew and I each had the chance to speak with her and I was definitely left with a good feeling about who's at the helm of this company.
As people started to filter in for the party, I was genuinely pleased to see so many people I recognized. Many of the are folks I've met before at other Meet & Greet events, so it felt like going home to my old neighborhood or something. I reacquainted with Becky, Paul, David, Caroline, George, George, Kristen, Kristina, Marytara, Mike, Mark, Nancy, Bob, Bryan, Mike, Tom, Tom, and Brian. I couldn't possibly recount all the moments that I shared with each of these members. Suffice it to say that several of them (I think they know who they are) have decisively moved from the column called acquaintance into the column called friend.
I also met a bunch of Epinionators for the first time this weekend. It was very cool to meet some of the big personalities from the site as well as a few people I'd never heard of before. The people who were new to me - some of whom I only saw from across the room, some of whom I met briefly, some of whom I got to talk to more extensively - were Ashok, Amy, Boudica, Liz, Bryan, Candice, Sarah, CODYCAT, David, Deena, Dionne, Diana, Javelina, jeavinl, Jo, Vanessa, MJ, Mike, Dorothy, Phil, Stacey, Tigger500, John, and ulysses4.
Whew. That's a lot of folks. Of course as always I have the sinking feeling that I've left someone out entirely. There was one exceptionally quiet girl sitting in a chair near the end of the buffet, but by the time I met her I was tired and hot and desperately searching for something cold to drink (I found a cosmopolitan) so I'm not at all sure I remember her name. I think in the future, Epinions should provide us with some kind of 'dance card' so we can write down the names of those we meet, however brief our encounter. With 6 staff and their guests plus about 45 members and their guests (probably about 30 extra folks who haven't been named here) it likely that somebody got lost in the shuffle... I'd just hate for anyone to feel left out.
My only real disappointment when looking back on the afternoon of good food and good talk in a very crowded room, is that I realized after the fact that nobody drew pictures on Sarah/Cascogirl's head. We had even voted on hair or no hair just so we could graffiti her scalp. I guess she'll just have to have her mom/Dorothy/oldbikerhen draw something nice and then take a picture to put on her user page.
I guess I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time with Kristina since (again) she didn't come to the afterparty. Geez woman, what's so important about treating a major allergic reaction to medication? Where are your priorities? Just kidding of course - we're all glad that you didn't do anything stupid like die. Though I am beginning to wonder if you don't actually turn into a pumpkin after dark.
Other members have already told about the antics at karaoke afterwards. It also sounds like some had loads of fun drinking beer or seeing shows, or just enjoying the city. And isn't that what these things are really all about? Meet a bunch of people who share this thing called Epinions and discover other areas where our interests overlap, or areas where we have differences but can learn from each other. In some ways Epinions is like a great social experiment - I've got genuine affection for people that I would never have met if not for this web site. And I have true and deep friendships with people whose lives are so different from mine that if we didn't have something like Epinions in common, we probably would never have taken the time to learn to like each other.
After the DC Meet & Greet, I used the term instant intimacy to describe the feelings that develop so quickly in this kind of social incubator. I still stand by that - but I know that those feelings wouldn't have developed if Epinions wasn't populated by a truly exceptional class of people.
Free drinks help too.
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Epinions.com ID:
pearannoyed
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Amy Padgett
Location: CA Dreamin' ~ TX reality
Reviews written: 197
Trusted by: 244 members
About Me:
Mean people suck.
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