CmdrTaco's Journal: A2 Party, T-Shirts, California

The Ann Arbor party seemed to go great- lots of people packed Leopold Bros place, doing battle with barflies and football fans. It was somewhat bizarre watching obvious normal bar people try to figure out what this large crowd of 'different' people were all about. We handed out a ton of t-shirts, drank much alcohol, ate nachos etc. Our party had a great number of Slashdot and SourceForge staffers... all folks who have been with Slashdot for so many years it's hard to remember Slashdot without them. I'm not exactly sure how many people eventually showed up... a lot of our RSVPs didn't show, and a lot more didn't bother sign up at all, so I think the two balanced out.

For me personally these sorts of things are always difficult. I'm not very good at crowds. I can smile for a picture, but I'm perpetually nervous when surrounded by strangers who have certain expectations of me. There's a reason I live life behind a keyboard!

Further compounding matters lately is baby induced chronic sleep deprivation. Me want REM cycles. It's always nice to get out and have a beer. Kathleen & I get only so many hours "out" together now, gotta make each one count. The party attendees were all cool... and understanding that I was pretty tired.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who showed up... I've still got the california party later this week. Hopefully my throat heals up by then. The only real problem with this location was the acoustics... I had to shout to be heard, and stick my ear in front of people to hear them (baby crying has done some amount of hopefully temporary ear damage). My throat is raaaaw from yelling. Sucking on cough drops helps.

As for other parties, boxes have been shipped. Hopefully they have arrived to most places on time, although I think they were shipped on a slowish shipping option so I'm not sure. I know some folks got shirts on friday, but I'm sure the others will arrive monday or so. Also, keep in mind that we only had 700 shirts and 2300 attendees from 136 parties with more than 5 attendees. So obviously not every party is getting a box... when we sent out the bulk mail, we had over 100 replies, and I'm sure there was nowhere near enough to fill even that.

But shirts or not, I hope your parties go well. Remember to submit videos or pictures or whatever to anniversary at slashdot dot org for your chance at the $1k ThinkGeek gift certificate grand prize.

The Eagle, Cambridge, England

[Morosoph]

I arrived 30 minutes late, and soon realised a problem: there was no chance that we'd recognise each other! So I went around the tables making a fool of myself, asking if they were the Slashdot crowd. Eventually I sat down in the rear bar with a sign saying '/.' (since by then the tables in the front rooms were full), I waited, nursing a pint, reading Nature to pass the time.

An hour later, I left. I have no idea whether people had arrived earlier, or moved pub, but still, I was disappointed :/

I hope

Re:

[Shadow Wrought]

Our idea was for a sign that said, "First Post" ;-) Luckily the bar wasn't crowded at all. I've also hear tell that after the first party there have been a couple others that my schedule has kept me from attending. This might be a meet-up renaissance.

"First Post"

[Morosoph]

Classic :-)

Baby.

[SatanicPuppy]

The crying baby thing is weird. Before I had one, the very sound was enough to make me near-homicidal...Nails on a chalkboard in the worst possible way.

13 months later...

The only thing I get from a crying baby now is, if its loud enough (my baby goes to 11), I look around to make sure it's not mine. It's like an ear/brain callus.

I kinda miss the early, sleep-dep days. Sure, you only got 4 hours a night, but those were the best four hours ever.