Ehh…thats like, literally less than a half mile from where I sit typing this. My office is right across 360 and down a few hundred yards.
I cant make the get together, but wow…what a coincidence that is!
-SS 
SkySlash. Still too in love to hang with us? 
Let me know if these turn out OK. If your email program needs text only I can change the invitation for you.
It looks like I need updated email addresses for Balance & Palmyra, if y’all want invitations.
Jim
Jim, I can’t speak for Palmyra, but the address in my profile works fine.
So, I made a couple of typos. You really do have to include all the letters not just most of them. I did look at them several times.
Sorry, I resent them to both of y’all with the correct addresses.
Jim
Great job on the invites, Jim!
Jim, are you getting any RSVP’s yet?
Thanks, Zy.
Chef, Meephead and Zyada said they were coming, otherwise I haven’t had any responses. I don’t know if that means no one’s interested or they are just going to show up.
I would prefer that everyone would respond here, so anyone that needs to know can have a head count.
Jim
Well, this time I know the time, date and location. However, it is with a heavy heart that I must say I will be unable to attend.
I was going to post here right after I emailed Jim.
Honest.
I’m coming, See y’all tomorrow!
I’ll be there, guys.
Good morning!
Wow. I finally get to get on my puter and check this thread for myself. Well, maidenunicorn and I that is. Thank you so very much, Falcon, my dear friend, for doing this for us. hugs Thank you Cheffie for calling me and letting us know what’s up. <Even if you did forget to call us and tell us that it was definite for 11am. :p>
It was so awesome seeing Zyada again, and meeting IRL Jim, Balance, Chef Troy, and Psiekier. Oh, and the food was good too. 
I do have one request to make of Balance, the official scribe for the group.
Please, please, please, sweetie, honeypie, you’re such a handsome guy <and you smell good too! What is that cologne called?>, I love ya, you know I do. So does Maidenunicorn. Be gentle in your official report to the rest of the TM’s. And, if you should happen to forget some of the little details that slipped out… that would be great. I’d get down on one knee and beg, but… that might be misconstrued by some. :eek:
And/or make them jealous.
NOT.
I’m so sorry that I missed seeing Purplebear. She is such a sweetie and was so kind to make time to visit me when I was in San Antonio. Now that she was here, I stood her up. 
Purplebear, can I make it up to you? I feel really bad.
Wow, this sank fast! I’m sorry I didn’t post notes yesterday–it was Hell Desk again. I was on one call from 7:30-12:30, and then had to clear out the cases that had piled up. I hate tech support jobs.
10:45–I arrive at the Holiday Inn, fully aware that I have no idea what Purplebear and Maidenunicorn look like. (I tried to check their pictures, but my connection died irretrievably on the People Pages.)
10:50–The Godfather of Soul (psiekier’s new name for JimB) arrives. He doesn’t know what they look like either.
11:00–psiekier arrives. He’s starving and wants to claim a table at once. Chef Troy and Chef Jr arrive–Jr immediately asks if I brought my flashfinger powders. I made excuses, and he wandered off to try to get his head stuck in some ornamental bars. psiekier notes that he recently saw a kid get trapped in a railing at a mall (his ears wouldn’t fit back through the bars). Pete thought it was jaws-of-life time, but the kid managed to escape (thanks to the flexibility of ear tissue).
Everyone’s getting hungry–Cheffie outlines his plan of attack. Image of the day: Cheffie perched on the end of the salad bar, preparing to dive. Chef calls purplebear and maidenunicorn–they’ll be down “soon”.
11:15–purplebear, maidenunicorn, and Zyada arrive. Debate over the proper pronunciation of “psiekier” springs forth from the introductions. He still doesn’t much like “pee-seeker”; that’s what he gets for picking an unimaginative username.
Is anyone else going to show up?
11:25–If someone does, they’ll just have to come find us in the restaurant. It’s past time to eat! We troop inside, get a table (actually, two round tables kind of shoved together), and launch an assault on the buffet. <chewing noises>
Why is purplebear in town? Somehow I missed the answer even though I was sitting directly across from here (having slyly insinuated myself into a seat at the ladies’ table ;)).
Chef Troy disapproves of the Eggs Benedict–“the eggs should have a liquid, golden center…not a hockey puck.” It’s generally agreed that you can’t get good EB on a breakfast buffet, although Cheffie recalls an exception.
Esprix’s BSA thread is discussed–apparently, we were all making bets with ourselves about whether it would wind up in GD or the Pit the minute we saw the title and OP.
psiekier relates “Predator” flashbacks experienced during an Anthro class (the prof was talking about predation). Jim suggests (not for the first time) that psiekier spends too much time watching movies. Zyada saw “Predator 2”, but not the original. I comment, to general agreement, that the best scene in P2 is the trophy room scene (with the Giger Alien head on the wall). psiekier and I briefly discuss the “Aliens vs. Predator” games.
The pronunciation of “psiekier” again; psiekier notes that a friend of his (a Babylon 5 fan) sight-read it as “Psi Corps”. purplebear decides to settle the pronunciation question fairly: "Pete, it’s your name. How do you pronounce it?’
psiekier: “Pete…duh!”
maidenunicorn: “You really walked into that one.”
psiekier deflects further discussion by commenting on maidenunicorn’s username “I though unicorns were male–that’s why they went for the young maidens.” This led to the inevitable comments on the horniness of unicorns, and psiekier’s “guess” that we were discussing one of the most common plotlines in alt.furryfans.erotica, or whatever the relevant newsgroup might be. I wouldn’t know. What? No, of course I never posted to those cartoon polls over in IMHO!
11:40–Commentary on my note-taking; purplebear and I both have tiny handwriting. Zyada still marvels at my habit of turning a few square inches of notes into pages of post.
psiekier goes for his 4th plate, inspiring a discussion of metabolisms and black holes. Zyada and I kvetch about the unfairness of anyone eating like psiekier does remaining so thin.
Zyada complains about Goldfinger’s–after her last performance, they wouldn’t seat her or feed her until all of the performers were done. She really wanted a Brandy Alexander.
psiekier hijacks: “The drink, or the girl?”
Zyada: “I’m about as into girls as Esprix.”
Chef: “There goes one of my great hopes for the parties–Zyada and Grace making out.”
purplebear and maidenunicorn discovered the Cosmopolitan (drink) on this trip. This brings up the article and thread on martinis. psiekier repeats a comment from the thread (from manhattan, I think) “An improperly chilled martini tastes like lighter fluid.” I wondered aloud about the distinction between lighter fluid an a “properly chilled martini”–they all taste like lighter fluid to me.
Our martini discussion wandered to chocolate liqueurs via Tuxedoes (think chocolate martini). Zyada doesn’t like Godiva’s liqueur; she has another brand (the name of which I missed) that she uses to make her Brandy Alexanders. psiekier got the giggles again.
Chef notes that we really should have our next Dopefest at a restaurant. (OK, Chef, you can quit dropping bricks…I mean, hints.) Some suggestions are bandied about, but we all know that we won’t decide until the thread starts.
12:00–psiekier has to leave. He’s late for some Salvation Army volunteer work at the mall.
Chef Troy takes psiekier’s seat to flirt with purplebear and Zyada. [Blackmail material withheld by Chronicler for future use.]
purplebear threatens violence to her husband if he doesn’t make it home for their anniversary. (Are you reading this, man? I’d make it home if I were you!) Chef Troy offers to write a mash note to purplebear on Mr. Bear’s behalf.
The waitress came around, offering coffee. Chef Jr, who has been rambunctioning all over the place, tells her that he doesn’t need any. The waitress considers this rather obvious. The idea of Chef Jr with a megadose of caffeine is alarming–humans shouldn’t break the sound barrier on foot.
Interlude for Aggie jokes. purplebear and maidenunicorn show off pics–purplebear’s daughter is cute; the makeup job makes it hard to believe she’s only 15. purplebear should probably invest in a baseball bat. Well, at least the kid gets it honestly
purplebear admits to (well, actually “brags of”) writing anonymous notes to guys in one of the bars/restaurants they visited. At least one of the notes containing favorable comments on the guy’s tush. His response to the waitress who delivered it was apparently along the lines of “Please…just tell me it wasn’t a guy.”
Striking similarities and mistaken identities–maidenunicorn once mistook a new woman at church for purplebear. The resemblance was apparently quite striking. I noted that the resemblance doesn’t have to be terribly close to cause cases of mistaken identity. My brother is blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, and eight years my senior; I have dark hair, hazel eyes, and ruddy/tan skin. Nevertheless, people who know both of us quite well often mistake one for the other. Strangers assume we’re twins–sometimes they add our father into the batch and call us triplets. I’ve never understood it, but plainly appearance isn’t the only factor.
12:30–Chef Troy notes, “Church must have let out; suddenly this place is Geriatric Central.”
purplebear thinks I’m deprived because my only trip out of the country was to a US airbase in Greenland. She lists some of the many(!) places she’s visited. I noted that virtually all of those trips would involve air travel, and resigned myself to seeing them only on TV.
Wearing the same outfit to Dopefests: Chef Troy claims to have thought that my dragon t-shirt was tattoed on. I pointed out that I wore some different (though still all-black) garb to the Hawkwood gathering.
Chef Troy: “Oh yeah, you dressed like a ninja.”
Bah. I don’t dress like a ninja…at least not since someone commented that I looked like Chris Farley in one of my IFGS outfits (the poor fool promptly got thoroughly thrashed with a nerfsaber).
purplebear: “You look much better than Chris Farley.” (Thanks! Er…I think…)
Chef Troy: “Well, yeah, now he does.” 
12:45–Nicknames, and the rude games children often play with them, are discussed. Tr…I mean, purplebear threatened unspecified but extreme damage if I revealed hers. I think Zyada probably had it rougher, though–her childhood nickname rhymed with more potentially rude things.
Jim’s encounter with the raccoon is mentioned, with explanations for purplebear an maidenunicorn.
Blackmail pix entered the discussion–maidenunicorn recounts severely embarrassing lurker by emailing one to him at work.
purplebear and maidenunicorn complain that no guys talked to them when they went to Cowboy’s.
Chef Troy: “You forgot your lariat.”
purplebear is challenging for Grace’s “Most Piercing Laugh” title. maidenunicorn tells us about a weird, disgusting “spitting porn” movie someone once showed her. Yuck. purplebear demonstrates a pretty good Marvin the Martian impression, but claims that she’s not in top form.
Chef Troy can make anything sound dirty. I should probably let it stand at that.
12:50–Some guy from Cairo keeps emailing maidenunicorn. He mailed her at least one pic that suggested either surgical or digital enhancement. Chef says most people have no idea how to escalate things properly–he offers to demonstrate the proper form.
1:00–The party’s breaking up. Here endeth the notes, although it takes a while to disperse (as always)–the larger the group of Dopers, the more complex the “hug everybody” logistics become. Right, Zyada? I hate to think how long it took everyone to say goodbye at the Vegas gathering.
Did I manage to leave out the right bits, purplebear? (Note, everyone: The Chronicler is subject to flattery and/or bribery.) FTR, I wasn’t wearing cologne, exactly–it was a drop of desert sage oil.
…But I must correct you on one point. You wrote:
I actually said, “suddenly it’s Geriatric Park in here.”
surely you can see how much funnier that is.
looks around
hears crickets
Ooo, mentioned not once, but twice at a Dopefest nowhere near where I am currently or will shortly be living. Fabulous.
Of course, I dare not think what you discussed but didn’t mention in that post… :eek:
Esprix
WTR the discussion on Eggs Benedict, you also must have missed my mentioning that up in Missouri I ran across the barbaric practice of serving EB, not with hollandaise sauce, but with that gloppy yellow cheese sauce like that found on ballpark nachos. I dubbed them “Eggs Benedict Arnold.”
I missed that–I think the conversations diverged a little at that point. I try to stick to what I hear clearly, “Geriatric Park” notwithstanding.
Esprix: Don’t worry, no one called you a one-trick pony. As for what else we called you…well, you’ll just have to trust me.
But alas…I was not present so the rar factor isnt as well…rarrrr!
=Þ
-SS