Just got back from the restaurant. There were (I believe) 30 Dopers all gathered together at a fine Mexican restaurant in Huntington Beach. cadolphin and I were met by scout1222, javamaven1 and her husband JustPlainBryan, Encinitas and Jellyblue, later we were joined by DavidSimmons and his lovely wife Wilma, along with their niece and her husband. SpinyNorman andhis wife, the ever-effervescent Shayna were there, as was Rick, Dreamer and her friend Soroh, Silenus, iamthewalrus and lightingtool, YeticusRex, LVGeoGeek and her husband (would that be Mr. Geek???), Beckwall and her husband, also GIGObuster who, if I might say so, is one hell of a good artist - he spent a lot of his time at the restaurant making drawings of people, and last but certainly not least, BraheSilver.
Wonderful food was had, several beverages, adult and otherwise were consumed, a toast to the Dope, catching up on old friends and meeting new ones, and everyone think good thoughts to scout1222 as she runs a marathon tomorrow!
I’ll try to have pictures up later this evening or first thing tomorrow.
Rico, you cheat! You only live a mile or so from the restaurant. I had to drive 75 miles to get home.
SurfDope2004 was a kick. Nice people all around. Don’t mess with Rico, he’s huge! Beckwall and husband are very nice people, and I second the “GIGObuster is an artist” comment. Had a nice chat with the LVGeoGeeks, and swapped homebrewing stories with lightingtool. Lots of semi-embarrassing pictures were taken, and it was acknowledged that I won the “Loudest Hawaiian Shirt Contest” hands down. This must be done again. Was a fun night.
Well Jellyblue dropped me off safely at home and continued on her way. If she is found murdered on the side of the road, I have an alibi (I think). I had a great time, meeting the late…I mean great, Jellyblue and car pooling with her. It was good to see so many familiar faces and meet so many dopefest newbies. About half of us did our duty and donned aluminum foil hats to deflect the 1920’s Style Death Rays[sup]TM[/sup] and I believe Rico will have lots of embarrassing photos to share. Many thanks to the afore mentioned Rico and his aquatic better half cadolphin. Oh, and here’s a shout-out to my favorite marathoner Scout1222! Go baby go!
I had to drive 370 miles to Phoenix, just made it back, can’t complaint though, I was glad too meet all you guys!
:o I will scan and send you (and the others) the sketches as soon as possible, I will also update my website soon, there are lots of new material I made during the first year of college that I have to post there.
The Palm Springs contingent is home! We had a great time meeting all of you. Special thanks to our host and hostess for picking out such a great place. When can we do this again? It was just fantastic to see people come from Arizona, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, San Diego, etc. - and it was so nice to see your faces and shake your hands.
So today we spent 2 hours at Huntington Beach (my face is bright red, guess sunblock and hat is always a good idea) people watching and feeling the ocean breeze. Then we headed up to USC to the Science Center for the BodyWorks exhibit. If you plan to go see it, especially on a weekend, make reservations ahead of time and you’ll bypass the 1 hour line we had to tolerate. Excellent and surprisingly large exhibit, and probably not good for really small children (or those of you who act like small children) or the weak of stomach. You just have to see it to believe it!
We had a great time! Now we need our marathon-er to check in and let us know how it went.
I had MUCH more fun at the dinner than I did in the race. There are some LONG miles in LONG Beach. Results don’t appear to be up on the website yet, but I can tell you that I finished in a personal worst of 4:46. On the plus side, I DID NOT GIVE UP. So when I told you guys that I wasn’t going to throw in the towel, I absolutely did not.
What I did do was waste time with potty stops (I’ll spare you the TMI), waste time getting a rock out of my shoe in mile one, spent time on the side of the road stretching out my aching back and legs, and at mile 25 I had to mentally will my calves to not cramp up, as they were threatening to do.
Despite all of that, it wasn’t completely horrible. It was fun to run right on the beach, the weather was ideal, and I had spurts of energy amongst all the pain. I just had to start digging deep pretty early in the race - I was feeling tired by mile 11-12, which is generally not a good sign.
I wish I could say that I blame the all-night party I attended on Saturday, but you fine folks allowed me to get back to the hotel and into bed at an extremely respectable hour.
I woke up a few times for a few minutes yesterday. I had way to much fun at the fest, I exhausted myself. But it was well worth it!
I did check for the standings Scout everytime I woke up, and it kept telling me the results weren’t posted yet. Then when I checked today, I would get a 404 error. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr I’m so glad to hear u finished! :D. I’m very proud of you that you did that. I understand you weren’t happy hitting your goal time, but I’m still proud of you finishing!
Thank you so much Encinitas for the dolphin! Thinking of the tinfoin hats was engenious. I have to say David Simmons’ family were not only the most artistic in creating their hats but dang good sports IMHO for going along with it.
It was so great spending time with the people I’ve gotten to know and look forward to seeing (speaking of that Esprix is in deep shiat for not coming 3x in a row now), but also wonderful meeting new people!. I love the food there and the atmosphere. From the feedback I heard from many people they enjoyed it too. I was worried people wouldn’t like it, but then again, when I take charge of something, I worry that people won’t like it (yes, I do know that you can’t please everyone).
Well, I’m still recovering today and must go back to you. Thank you everyone for coming!!!
Scout Don’t sweat the time, the important thing is that you finished. With all the challenges you faced in the race, just finishing requires a mental toughness that most people do not posess. As I used to tell my kids, it does not matter how many times you get knocked down, as long as you get up one more time. You proved that at LB.
Next Dopefest, your first round is on me. Rico, CAdolphin Great time, good food, good friends. What more could a doper ask for in a dinner?
I had a great time, it was so good to see everybody again.
Heh, heh, had you all worried, did I? As you can see, I was narrowly able to escape Encinitas’s homicidal tendencies - Sheesh! To be fair, I was driving so fast on the way up, she probably thought I was trying to kill her.
Actually, despite looking for the past 2 days, I just now found this thread ( :smack: )!
I can now say that I have been to my first Dopefest and it was a blast!! I’m so happy I got to meet so many of you and put some faces to all the (user)names.
Thanks so much for setting things up for us, Rico &** Cadolphin**, and for doing the pictures. And Encinitas, so long and thanks for all the tinfoil .
p.s. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you, too, Pepperlandgirl - I was looking forward to some Buffy conversation . Maybe next time…
Great pics! Thanks for posting them Rico It was cool to meet and greet new faces and I look forward to the next one so I may actually be able to talk to some of you ;).
Before I forget let me add a quick thank you to iamthewalrus. Soroh enjoyed the show
I will scan and send you (and the others) the sketches as soon as possible, I will also update my website soon, there are lots of new material I made during the first year of college that I have to post there.
To be fair, I was driving so fast on the way up, she probably thought I was trying to kill her.
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