there's so much to write about san francisco and what i did there (i have pages of notes, because i'm a travel dork like that), but i may as well get writing about the worst part out of the way. so, the unfogged meetup.
just kidding! it was a gorgeous day in berkeley, at a gorgeous patio of a nice bar (jupiter, right across from the bart station) with EVEN MORE lovely internet people. i was standing at a street corner, looking a little bit lost, when josh and magpie called out to me, having recognized me from, oh, probably the fact that i plaster pictures of myself in every conceivable corner of the internet. josh and magpie: SO NICE! totally laidback and easy to talk to, and thank the lord for that, because we were the first ones there so had some time to kill. every time we thought we saw who was possibly an unfoggeder walk by (like the adorable rhymeswithmaria), josh would incorporate names of well-known commenters loudly into the conversation hopes it would work to drag them in.
i actually believe the agreed-upon plan was that if anybody was confused as to who the meetup group was, they would just storm in the bar and yell WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO? but in fact, slolernr was the only one who employed that method, except he kind of just strolled up and said it, as ogged put it well, urbanely, and everyone immediately loved him. slol was awesome. in fact becks and i just had a five-minute conversation on how great he is.
a couple of people were there that i'd already had the good fortune to meet from unfoggeDCon -- bitch and wolfson. bitch cemented hero status by putting in a really solid effort to lick ogged's face (a personal area of expertise for me), and wolfson was the charming jewfro'd man we all know and love (and he gets special props for squiring me around town elsewhere in the weekend).
i had been looking forward to meeting ogged, and since i made him say nice things about me, i guess i'll have to reciprocate. i had actually promised to say cruel and terrible things about him, but actually, ogged's pretty great. he is more like his blog persona than anyone i have ever met, except with more goggle tan. maybe a bit more reserved than i would have expected, but also skeezier, so it all balances out. but it was a pleasure.
froz was there, too. he has the best southern accent. he was the drunkest i'd seen anybody in a long while. this was a mystery to me as i'd been there for a bit over three hours and had three beers; i believed he'd been there for about half the time i had, yet seemed to drink four times the amount of beer. a math mystery.
jake was very cool - motorcycle-y, but laidback motorcycle-y, completely relaxed and nice and fun to chat with. also lovely were rhymeswithmaria and megan, and saheli, though i didn't get to chat with her much - or, sadly, Dave W and A. Chandler Moisen and googleplex reader, who nonetheless all seemed like wonderful, upstanding folks.
topics chatted about on my side:
-yglesias's book, and how you all will buy it. BUY IT!
-how kriston and i can make our vlogging not suck
-the status of the teva lady
-how everyone needs to come to DC and hang out
-with apostropher, on the phone: why i am going to steal his babies
if i'm forgetting anybody else, you can take my name in vein. but through and through it was a really nice, fun meetup, and if we ever end up having an unfoggeDCon 2.0, you clearly all must come.
Vain. Take your name in vain. I don't really understand what that means either.
Posted by: Mike J. | July 11, 2007 at 09:27 PM
sorry! i can't spell. it's the yglesias rubbing off.
Posted by: catherine | July 11, 2007 at 09:31 PM
I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me. Spell it any way you like.
Posted by: Mike J. | July 11, 2007 at 09:51 PM
Drunker than I have been in a long, long time. Math explained by starting the beer at lunch in Mill Valley, about 6 hours before arriving at Jupiter's. I clearly, however, through the fog, remember the pleasure of making your acquaintance.
Posted by: froz gobo | July 11, 2007 at 10:52 PM
Is "squire" as a verb in common use? I hadn't thought it was, but catherine doesn't seem the type to drop in antiquated terms to her conversation. Anyway, I love it.
Posted by: ben wolfson | July 12, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Skeezy? Dude, I want details.
Posted by: bitchphd | July 12, 2007 at 12:51 AM
"status of the teva lady"
what do you mean?
Posted by: ms. sandals | July 12, 2007 at 11:10 AM
Catherine, there's no need to steal my babies. Just give me the word and I'll be happy to impregnate you. I seem to have a gift for it.
Posted by: apostropher | July 12, 2007 at 11:46 AM
You're so skeezy, apo.
Posted by: ogged | July 12, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Froz, how did you manage to get drunk before the meetup AND navigate from Mill Valley to Berkeley on public transit? Did you start drinking at 11 AM and bring a flask on the bus or something?
Posted by: magpiesnest | July 12, 2007 at 01:26 PM
That's the sort of thing you learn when you grow up in the south.
This comment in response to both of the preceding ones.
Posted by: apostropher | July 12, 2007 at 02:08 PM
The problem with stealing your seed instead of your babies, Apo, is that one would then have to birth the babies. Why do that when Roberta's already done all the hard work?
I remain in awe of Froz's liver.
Posted by: magpiesnest | July 12, 2007 at 03:35 PM
...how did you...
I rode the ferry. Apo - In California they serve beer ON their public transit. It's the promised land, dude. Unfortunately the ferry had stopped running by the time I had to leave Berkeley so the trip back to MV was on GG bus. I kept asking riders where the bar was but all I got were blank stares.
Posted by: froz gobo | July 12, 2007 at 04:21 PM