You are strongly encouraged to be in attendance lest by your absence you become a regular quadrilateral.

Is this a 4-gon conclusion?

OK, I'll go back to lurking again.

Ir². I can't get there.

I has a sad.

Xopher @2:

Missing the warm yet itchy feeling of someone else's hair on our scalp, are we?

We both has sad.

abi, partly that. Also partly thinking it would be cool to be in San Francisco right now, if you receive my meaning.

Seriously...wish I could be there.

Fidelio regrets that the constraints of space, time, and personal finance render it impossible for her to acdept this elegantly-worded invitation to this exquisite and exclusive entertainment, and accepts her assignment to quadrilaterality with good grace.

I have to rearrange the kitchen anyway.

I may tear myself from my mountain fastnesses and stroll on down.

We will raise a glass to absent friends. Would that everyone who wanted to come could.

Has a second table, tucked away in a dark and dusty corner, also been booked? This would encourage the lurkers to leave the house to practice their lurking skills in the real world.

Mr. Whitmore also regrets that spatiotemporal and financial responsibilities preclude his attendance and accepts his congruence with Mr. Abbott's famous pseudonym.

Depending on work requirements, this is a thing I will do.

Oh my yes. Thank you ever so for the gilt-edged card. My life has been so complicated lately, I hadn't been following the open threads.

When Terry Karney was here last week, his response to finding out about this was WAUGH!!!

Braxis @ 9... Has a second table, tucked away in a dark and dusty corner, also been booked?

It has.

Mr Stein reports with deepest regret the failure of his most recent experimental efforts at teleportation, rendering his attendance physically and metaphysically impossible at this time. He does wish to convey his warmest if somewhat dispersed regards.

Will there by Skyping capability??

Oh well. I am on the wrong coast.

Mr. Mark Ockerbloom regrets that the rail roads have not advanced to sufficiently high velocity or low cost to permit him from travelling from the fair city of Philadelphia to the lands of the Golden Gate at the appointed time.

He sends along fond wishes to those who are able to attend.

very occasional commenter and longtime lurker will be there, actual name is Charles

I would be there, if I were not going to be here.

Come mid-August, there will be nothing preventing me from attending such events in future.

Alas, I probably won't make it. I plan to pop down to Santa Ana to take in the "Secrets of the Silk Road" exhibit before it closes and that looks like the optimum weekend. Unless I turn up a super-saver plane fare for this weekend. (Having just driven up to Oregon and back over this past weekend, I'm not up for a "daytrip" drive down to LA.)

Xopher @5:

It is indeed gloriously cool in San Francisco at the moment.

Despite having grown up on the East Coast, and dealt with my share of unbearably muggy hot summer days (as well as bitterly cold, snow-filled days, which doesn't seem fair), it's all just an indistinct hazy memory to me now, hard to imagine....

I've only posted maybe once, but I've always enjoyed the conversations here. I'll be attending!

And, uh, true to my name...anybody want any books? I've got a bunch of mystery books I'm looking to donate, so worthy readers are always appreciated. I have 5 paperback books in Lindsey Davis's Falco series, about a gumshoe in ancient Rome, 2 in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series, where Mary is a young apprentice to a retired Sherlock Holmes, a couple of Patricia Cornwell and Sue Grafton books, and others (full list available on request).

I've also got a hardcover copy of America: The Book, which involves lots of pictures and Daily Show tomfoolery.

One-time offer: I'll lug 'em to the get-together, but mailing them anywhere doesn't appeal to me. If nobody here wants 'em, they'll go to the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, but I'd rather they went to the hands of someone I know will read them, rather than a place where they might get sold.

How gracious of you to extend such a lovely invitation! I shall be delighted to attend ($deity willing & the creek don't rise).

It's quite the summer for bloggy meetups -- this Saturday in Golden Gate Park for BoingBoing enthusiasts, & the 24th for Bay Area BlogHer friends.

I am definitely a regular and orthogonal quadrilateral. Ouch.

I am resigned to my status as a regular quadrilateral. I shall be in the vastness of daYoop, ideally not suffering from hyperthermia, insufficient distance from exothermic reactions, loss of epidermal or skeletal integrity, or overingestion of alcohol or pasties. I do convey my most earnest wishes for an enjoyable evening spent in the company of friends, both met and unmet.

I, sadly, have known I can't attend since it was mentioned. I shall still be Tennessee,

I will be in New Jersey/New Jersey in the week after that, so perhaps those of us who are in the general environs of the Big Apple between 21-28 July might have our own small gathering.

I'm there on a bear.

I should be able to attend, and will be dragging along my shy/lurker sidekick.

Je serai carrément pas là.

TexAnne @ 29... Zut alors!

Serge, 30: I can't believe you and/or Pendrift didn't beat me to that one!

TexAnne: But Serge will be there.

This is so frustrating to me. So. Very. Close. But chances are I won't make it because...

As a one-car family, Evil Rob gets off work late enough to just make it IF...
Friday horrendous traffic doesn't kick in AND...
Evil Rob isn't exhausted from the week (unlikely) BECAUSE...
Gareth has become thoroughly two and needs good supervision.

Point #2 is the real killer. You can lose forty minutes to a two-mile stretch.

My actual decision will have to be last-minute, but chances are slim right now. :(

The largest part of my Waugh...

I knew abi showing up would bring people out of the woodwork.

Oooh! I can be there! Ooo! I feel like one of the cool kids! Yay!

Madeleine Robins @ 35: and unlike Abi, you can bring Emily, though that may not be a good idea.

I think I'm going to be an orthogonal shape (which needn't be a quadrilateral).

B. Durbin@33: I don't know where you live offhand, but can you make it to a BART station? BART will almost certainly be faster than driving.

Terry @26: Is there a day that would work best for you when you're in the NY/NJ area? A Gathering of Light on this coast would be lovely.

Unfortunately I won't be able to be there, but I will be at Readercon; that would seem to offer an opportunity for fellow crafters of photons to gather on this coast, where we greet the Sun each day well before those laggards of the continental occident.

Terry Karney @ 34... abi showing up would bring people out of the woodwork

As long as it's just people and not vacuum-cleaner creatures.

TexAnne @29: Argh, this is what happens when one doesn't keep up with the threads! A missed golden opportunity. That's so mean.

Pendrift... Let's not get ir-ratio-nal about this. That being said, it's nice to know I can't always be blamed for the initial injection of ghastly jeux de mots into a thread.

I will, unfortunately, not be arriving in the San Francisco area until the 30th of this month, thus rendering me unable to attend said event. Though this fills me with sadness, I wish you all the enjoyment in the world of your grain-based comestibles of the Asian sub-continent.

I am in the area but I can never get to Oakland by 6 on a Friday. I could come sometime on a weekeand, maybe, but it's probably not worth scheduling something with that as a motive, as I cannot say with certainty that I can come on any particular weekend either. But I'd love to know about events that are on weekends just in case.

JanetL @ 36 - Nah. I can't remember the last time Emily posted on ML.

Velma: I am not sure, let me talk to Merav, see if there is anything on the books which can't move; and then look at the actual calendar.

Then comes the co-ordinating.

I plan to be there. The last time I met Abi, while she herself was not a regular quadrilateral, she was in Flatland surrounded by quadrilaterals, though many other people including Teresa, Kathryn, and I think Serge, were using three spatial dimensions, as were dinosaurs and chocolates.

B. Durbin, if a ride would help, I'll be coming from Pleasanton, so anywhere East Bayish could be possible. billstewart at pobox.com 415-307-7119

Madeleine Robins @46--Oddly, most of the dogs I know prefer to be lurkers. Certainly all of ours do.

fidelio @49:

On the internet, who would know?

(Somebody had to say it...)

Christopher @ 40, a splendid idea, and to boot, a chance to rope Terry in as an occidental tourist.

Terry, we await word of your schedule with smelts on our tongues.

As I'm not going to make it over from the UK to "Breads of India" (despite both the venue and the company sounding delightful... have a great time.

As I'm not going to make it over from the UK to "Breads of India" (despite both the venue and the company sounding delightful... have a great time.

I'm been pretty much just a lurker here these days, so maybe I should just eavesdrop from the shadows for consistency, but I'd love to go. I know I can't get there till 7 or 7:30 though (have to go home to walk the giant puppy first)... you're not all going to talk so efficiently that you're gone in a hour, are you?

On logistics:

I'll be starting from Mountain View (101 x 85) and could give a ride to anyone in the nearby south bay, south east bay (i.e Milpitas, Fremont, 880 corridor = the path I'd be taking anyways), or south west bay (a path that becomes feasible as a carpool).

Do we know if Breads of India has Bandwidth of Wifi? I've got skype and a decent webcam on my laptop.

Well! It just so happens that, this summer only, I am currently living in Cupertino and working in Mountain View. Therefore, I have two questions:

1. Would You People care to have me around? (Me: exhibits 1, 2, 3.)

2. #55 Kathryn: if the answer to the preceding question is positive, would you be interested in picking me up in MV beforehand and dropping me off in southwest Cupertino afterward?

Kathryn@55: Hmm. That's a very enticing offer for me as well, and distinctly increases the likelihood that I'll be able to go. Thank you! I'm likewise in Mountain View, just on the other side of downtown. When will you need to know about whether I'm coming in order to make plans?

(Also, if you want to email me to coordinate, any address at dpdx.net will get to me; brooks.moses is the canonical one.)

I would care to have anyone around who cares to come. (Lurkers should beware that I will encourage them to try posting. Not obnoxiously, not repeatedly over demurrals, but probably at least once.)

Fidelio @ 49 -- Emily's not so much a lurker as a stalker. Or at least a sniffer.

Abi @ 58... not repeatedly over demurrals

For a moment I thought you were planning to do a Frieda Kahlo impersonation.

Speaking of lurking, I just tried clicking on the "view all by" thing next to my name, and it told me I've posted six times in the last seven years. I'm not THAT shy! And I've always used the same name too... is the machine confused or did I just dream that I said stuff?

Me@61: Oh, I get it-- I had the same name but a different email. This one makes the history show up. Never mind, as you were...

#58 abi:

Well then, the calendar has been marked!

I should hope that I am not in fact a lurker, as demonstrated by exhibit 1; but perhaps I have fallen into that condition of late by way of being Busy with Work and/or School.

Regarding transportation, I feel I ought to mention that I do not have a car here, and Google saith that public transit would take two-and-something hours, which is a bit much, so my appearance would be entirely conditional on the aforementioned offer, or any other of transportation by parties of local good repute.

And belated apologies for the double-post. My computer "hung" in the page reload (twice) and I ended up turning off and going to bed, so I didn't see the double-post last night.

Kathryn from Sunnyvale @55: Do we know if Breads of India has Bandwidth of Wifi? I've got skype and a decent webcam on my laptop.

Kathryn, email me at jacquem at panix dot com and let's get Skypage linked up (which would be worth doing anyway!).

abi: Is Skype what you've used to attend worldcon parties remotely?

Jacque @65:

Yes.

This lurker and tor.com scalability engineer, quantity one, intends to attend.

Kevin and/or Brooks,

I'd be able to drive either or both of you-- there could be one other person, but the car seats 4 comfortably, or 5 friendly.

Brooks-- unless a third person shows up requesting a ride, over the next few days is planning time enough.

I'll be here, or anywhere else on the Google Mountain View campus if that works better, and if you contact me privately we can exchange phone numbers/whatever for last-minute coordination.

Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut about this, but... this could be a serious test of loyalty for anyone who might otherwise be hankering to see the new restoration of METROPOLIS at the Castro.

Stupid Bay Area, always with too many cool things to do.

Kathryn and Jacque, this Skype thing you speak of, it is to be a method of Gathering Light by fiber optic? I could be capable of such an endeavour as well!

I am findable on Skype by an e-mail address that is otherwise defunct: shadowflyer at sbcglobal dot net.

Hob at # 54: You've seen how long the open threads go on here; what do you think?

When I call Breads of India tomorrow, I'll also ask them about WiFi. There's probably some access, what with their being pretty much next door to the Convention Center.

I'm happy for the chance to meet up with folks here in person, and I plan to attend. Looking forward to it.

re Skype, remote access, and such:

This is supposed to be something you can do with Second Life. You need to set up an account, and make up an Avatar which looks OK (My usual AV looks nothing like me), and it does soak up bandwidth. And the Account-name might not bear much relation to reality.

I don't think it would be practical over public or hotel-room wi-fi. It is being used by various organisations as a supplement to other internet-presence.

Examples I know of include Army OneSource and CNN. There are more which are less openly public.

The numbers can be a problem. Second Life has some pretty tight limits on how many people can be in the same place. And there is the time-zone problem.

Skype only does 1:1 video conferencing; we can't have a virtual party, sadly. I await the day that there is a free and easy service to do it.

I believe Tinychat can do this; it allows up to 12 live cameras in a room and an unlimited number of viewers. Never tried it myself, but worth testing. If anyone wants to try, I'm at my nickname at gmail dot com.

Addendum to me @77: It looks very very easy to set up, in any case. I'm online most of the day, so if anyone is free, has an available webcam, and wants to try it, do ping me! Kathryn from Sunnyvale? Jacque?(I'm usually awake from 1 am to 7 pm Eastern / 7 am to 1 am CET.)

Things are looking very good for me to be there. I wonder if anyone will recognize me without my trench coat and fedora...

I would, but I can't be there.

Now why does Dawno have such a preference for the wearing of trench coats, and of hats that hide her eyes?

If I am not employed (my work assignment is temporary -- it may be gone as soon as early next week), or if I can get off that day, I will be there. I'm mainly a lurker these days, but the opportunity to meet the people who have already RSVPed is very tempting.

I've made the reservation for a group between 20 and 30 people. And, yes, they do have free WiFi.

Mark @71: I have found you on Skype and put you in my contacts list.

abi @76: Skype only does 1:1 video conferencing

Well, if we only have one or two virtual attendees, maybe we can have one or two laptops there serve as our telepresence?

...But Skype Help FAQ says they do have conference call capability:

Can I have conference calls with Skype for Mac?

Yes, there are a number of ways you can start a conference call, either by selecting the Start Conference Call from the Call Menu, or selecting mulitple contacts from within your contact list and press the green call button, or start a call and drag contacts from within your contact list to the call.

Pendrift @78: Tinychat: I'm trying to plug in now using my Twitter account @cavyherd. It's thinking it over very carefully. I've emailed myself and CCed you to remind me to look at this when my brain isn't sploded.

Jacque: you can have a voice conference with lots of people, but a video conference is 1:1. Or was last time I checked.

(I'm in the final throes of packing to leave & can't do much more right now.)

abi: Oh. Pooh. Well, we've got a week, and the scariest brain-trust on the planet; we'll figure something out.

I'm currently doing a live broadcast using Tinychat; the room is here. If you see an inverted V wall hanging with a Flying V ukulele under it, and a balalaika to the side, you're in the right place. I may or may not be there, depending on the time.

No account is needed to join the videoconference (just select the "nickname" option); those without webcams can join the room as viewers.

If anyone's online and willing to help test, as either a videoconference participant (i.e., broadcasting from your webcam) or as a viewer, please leave a message in the chatroom itself to say if things are working a-ok or if there are any problems encountered, and what setup's involved (OS and browser).

I'm broadcasting from a Macbook (FF3); I had to choose "USB Video" as the camera source for it to work even though my image was displayed on a different screen (Google Adapter I).

Thanks in advance to the fluorescent guinea pigs.

Pendrift @87: I got into the room fine as a guest, using Firefox running on Win XP Pro.

And I just got in, have talked to Julia Jones. I managed to send video, and sound.

One can see video, without a camera, but to send sound requires one. I like the Push To Talk option.

I did have a crash... I decided to test the "start broadcasting; to see if I could figure out sound, without a mike. And Flash crashed.

Abi@85
I'm given to understand that the latest version of skype does allow for multi-person video calls and /or HD calls... but my resident expert on such things is currently not in residence.

Thanks to Julia, tykewriter, Dan and Terry (I hope I didn't miss anyone). It looks like Tinychat can definitely do the trick. I'm broadcasting from the same link right now if anyone wants to peek and participate.

If we're going with this as the videoconferencing option, the easiest thing would be for the Fluorospherians at Breads of India to create a room then post the link here for the people who want to join in. What say you?

Pendrift... I'm leaving that up to those who can do it without any urge to send a laptop flying thru a wall. Breads closes at 9:30pm by the way, and if they won't let us overstay, we can move the next street over to the Pacific Coast Pub's outdoor terrace.

pendrift @91: Hm. I just tried that link, and I can figure out how to broadcast *me*. It's not obvious how I can connect to *you*, however.

I now seem to be running the pendrift link.

and now I am giving up the channel

I hope everyone had a terrific time! I'm currently in a hotel room in Ouray, CO, and hoping that the minor malfunction in the car can be fixed without having to wait for the mechanic's shop to open on Monday. Ouray is a very small town and doesn't have a real auto-parts store, or this would not be an issue.

Lee: I think you've misread the date there.

I'll be leaving for the airport soon.
See you on Friday evening.

I am delighted to respond in the affirmative to your very kind offer--

Jacque @93: That's because I was no longer broadcasting when you went there; otherwise, you'd have seen a small window with all the other live broadcasters for that channel.

I must send my regrets as well; I shall be in Tennessee, although apparently not the same portion as Terry is/was/be-will in. I understand if enough Light is Made, I may be able to perceive the side-effects from quite a distance, however.

--Dave

I can be there -- my day off got shifted to Friday.

Alas, I am unable to attend, being in Virginia and impecunious.

I will have my laptop, an HD-capable webcam, and the newest version of Skype-- one that can do multi-person video calls.

If this may be useful then email me with next steps to take (adding names to the skype list or whatnot).

Okay— having run the numbers, I'm still skeptical of my ability to make it, BUT I will plan as though I can so that if the opportunity affords I can jump on it quickly. If I do come, it will be with an infant in tow. Worst case scenario would be with a toddler as well and not Evil Rob, but I suspect it's most likely to be two of us.

Thanks for the ride offers, but I'm in the Sacramento region. The only reason I can even consider this is that Evil Rob's on a bit of an early schedule and I might get the car in time to make a 6:00 timeslot.

Alas, I'm on the wrong coast.

If, however, the trip to the Portsmouth NH cemetery with the reputedly glowing tombstone ever manifests, do please let me know.

B. Durbin: Sad I am that I can't make it. I have some people in Sacto I keep meaning to visit, so when I get around to it, I'll let you know.

By then we may even have the backyard to an acceptable level.

Note that we have been in this house for over a year now, but we aren't quite "moved in." I think this has much to do with my insistence on not getting more temporary bookshelves, opting to actually build them in now that we can.

Kathryn from Sunnyvale @104: If this may be useful then email me with next steps to take (adding names to the skype list or whatnot).

I do not find instructions for emailing you...?

Previous well-established plans for Friday evening have just started to unravel, so this long-time lurker is going to make an effort to be at that dusty table in the dark corner.

jacque @109
Ah, I hadn't noticed that post-names only include urls, not email addresses.

Using the email services of the dotcom yahoo, substitute a dot for the "from" in my post-name, and that should reach me.

Since tomorrow's the big day, if anyone wants to try doing the videoconference using Tinychat again, I just created a room here. I'll leave it running for the next 3 or 4 hours.

I just had a 2 minute chat with Pendrift, confirming that Tinychat works on my laptop.

Everything a-ok here as well, so I'll log off now. Thanks, Kathryn

Tinychat isn't working so well for me. I tried to log in using my Facebook account, and when I wouldn't let it update my status on Facebook (because really, who needs to know that I'm testing this?) it bounced me back out to the signup page again -- twice. Then when I tried to sign in as a guest, it told me I was a moderator!

Lee: If the channel is empty, the first person to log in becomes the moderator, so I would say it worked.

I just remembered that I'd said "maybe" earlier, and should update that to a definitely. Theresa (aka Tiger Spot) is coming with me, as well. (I was pretty sure she'd commented more recently than that set of posts, but I can't find evidence of it....)

Unfortunately, I have to cancel on account of illness. Frustrating -- but I don't want to be introduced some day as "you know, the guy who gave us all his virus that time."

I'm afraid I am going to need to cancel after my earlier affirmative. I am not feeling well, and have to be at work at 8 am tomorrow. Pooh.

I'm coming. One adult and one infant in carseat, God help us all.

I should have left 25 minutes ago as the traffic north bound to Oakland on 880 at this time of day is horrific. Unfortunately, I'm still neck deep in a problem at work with no idea when I'll get it resolved.

Why is it that when you have something fun to do that's exactly the time when an issue arises that needs your immediate and personal attention? Why didn't this come up yesterday when I wasn't busy and didn't have somewhere to be??

Jacque just alerted me to the TinyChat thingie. I have created a nick there, and hopefully there will be a link I click on to enter the videoconference? Maybe? I have never used my laptop's webcam before.

The videoconference traffic will be flying fast tonight, as John's having a roleplaying game session (Mage, I think) with long distance friends via Skype tonight. Whee!

B. Durbin @120: I'm coming. One adult and one infant in carseat, God help us all.

Doesn't that make the carseat a trifle crowded?

Okay, I am now attempting to connect to tinychat. I'm on and broadcasting, but I can't figure out -- oh, something "boiped." But what?

From what I know of whom shall appear, it's gonna be one hell of a party.

Ah! We're up and running! jmo's junior partner's going off to bed. Terry is present.

Tiny chat URL:

http://tinychat.com/mh04n

Not gonna make it, guys. (I've already conveyed my apologies to Abi.) I've been working on an audit defense all week, and I am totally burnt. The thought of driving is terrifying. Love to you all, and Serge, I'm sorry. Have a great time.

So, us on Tinychat are wondering where the Bay Area contingent are...

As of now, 8 on the chat, 5 on camera. Waiting for the Californians.

They're here! they're here!

Because of battery issues with my laptop, we've signed off from Breads of India. That said, the party online is still going strong.

Kathryn, without you all it was pointless to go on.

Pointless. We despaired.

Seriously, people were pretty tired, especially Pendrift, who was in a time zone that made it the middle of the night. We signed it off.

It was great to see you all, so thank you and a sleepy goodnight to everyone.

The online contingent wrote a sonnet about it. The others got bored when we'd finished the octet, though, so I had to write the sestet alone.

At Breads of In-di-a, MLers met
To celebrate the visit from afar
Of abi, late arrived on stately jet,
And of all moderators still the star.*
While 'round the world the Fluorosphere logged on
to join the celebrations of the day
The living future to reflect upon
In language, shared repast and gentle play.
—Though troubles with the sound and pictures nagged,
And poor Nicole's damn camera bit the dust,
And Xopher's chat two minutes back was lagged,
And some of us began to think "We's cussed!"
—A grand old time was had by all concerned,
And seldom was a candle so well-burned.

*No disrespect to other mods on here.

First draft chat transcript. (Sorry, I somehow missed 10 minutes between 20:08 and 20:18.

Back home after the gathering. I'll start uploading pictures to my Flickr account this evening, but I suspect that a writeup is going to wait until tomorrow.

(I'm perpetually distracted by the chat transcript. I feel less guilty about neglecting the video contingent for so much of the evening, seeing the fun you were having.)

Chat transcript now has a few images, for Posterity.

Jacque @ 137:

Hello, Posterity!

You need to fix the encoding of the é in bon appétit, but otherwise it looks good.

Nice talking to people. I hope dinner was good.

Now finally reading it. I missed half of it as it went by.

[19:41] mark: Mouseketeer Roll Call!

[19:41] absentmindedperfesser(xopher): Top!

[19:41] absentmindedperfesser(xopher): Oops.

Jacque: [rice up nose]

[19:54] jacque: Terry is terribly bent out of shape that abi's there and He's Not.

[19:55] terry: I could say it's jealousy that when she shows up, everyone comes to see her

If if you showed up, we'd all come to see you. But noooooo. YOU had to go through New Mexico.

Listening to the Jupiter music now. Wow, that's weird.

Exceedingly silly fun. Sort of like tossing an Open Thread into a blender, with pictures.

KiethS: Email me the html, and I will.

That was fun!

For the benefit of the potentially confused, some of the things that look like complete non-sequiturs were said in response to webcam audio, which is not included in the transcript.

This was my first-ever attempt at being in a multi-person text-and-audio chat. It wasn't as strange as I had thought it might be. I might have to think about acquiring a webcam before the next one.

Jacque: You left out the fact that you first said "Role call"! That's what I was responding to.

I was going to attempt a write-up, but words cannot express—or even sum up—the evening. I had a super time, though I regret that I didn't get enough of it with all the fascinating people who turned up.

Photoset is here‡, with some but not all names*. Due to a subplot about D. Potter, a fall, and broken Magical Glasses which Permit Photography of the Subject, there are some gaps in the historical record§.

I brought a blue cotton sonnet, but since Ambar brought a charm against disemvowelment† and B Durbin brought an actual baby, I was completely outclassed.

Many thanks to Serge for arranging it, transporting me, and not letting me pay; to Kathryn from Sunnyvale for bringing equipment to connect to the 2D contingent; to everyone for coming or connecting; to you, dear reader, for reading this; and to Making Light, for existing.

-----
‡ To my vexation, my camera is stuck on 640x480 mode. I apologize, and am about to go off and threaten it with a vicious sonnet.
* My list app did something funny with the list of names I was collating. Remember how someone asked about the Abiveld? That.
§ Other gaps in the historical record available by request
† by Elise, who was also represented by Ambar's necklace and my pendant.

The minor subplot, such as it was, was that I'd tripped and fallen on the way, with the result that my glasses, while not broken, had bent nosepieces, which meant facing a gathering of Very Blurred Faces, and the glimpse I got of my face precluded exposing it to a camera. Also, I was a bit shocky. (Only a bit.)

Still sore this morning. 8 baby aspirin = 2 regular aspirin. Nosepieces semi-restored, but I needed new glasses anyway...

Nice to see/meet everyone!

I had a great time--thanks to Serge for organizing, and everyone for coming!

D. - OW! I hope you heal up fast.

D: Yeah, sounds unpleasant. Glad you managed to get though and enjoy the evening anyway!

Oh, and "Baybee! AWWW!"

OMG you guys, the sonnet rocks. I even got namechecked! *squee*

(My webcam came back, eventually. But it reliably dies if, while it is on, I adjust the laptop lid angle towards acute. It appears to be part of the general issue with easily confused USB drivers sometimes causing BSOD.)

My apologies to all for serenading you with Jupiter when I came back from reboot and all my FireFox tabs reloaded, including YouTube and its infernal Onload=Play mechanism. TinyChat appeared to take away my "unmute microphone" privileges at that point; it began solidly ignoring my clicking on that command. I was on push-to-talk until I pooped out.

It was wonderful seeing everyone at the restaurant! Abi, Serge, a particular treat. & of course AWWWW BABY so CUUUUUUTE!!!! Unfortunately, there are people who were present whose names I still don't know. They probably gave them the first time the laptop went around, when the mike at the restaurant was muted. Afterwards, they said only, "Hi, me again!" and passed the laptop on. I will be thinking of Jacque shouting, "NAMES PLEASE!" and giggling for some time to come.

abi @ 143: Re: Photoset: We were in Oakland, not Berkeley.

Thanks, Xopher and David. Working on it.

D Potter @149:

You are correct. Fixed.

To those whom I mentioned today's radio performance: after waveform collapse, the time is 4:00. (For everyone else: KFJC, broadcast and streaming, 4:00 p.m. PST. I'm playing bass and computer with Reconnaissance Fly, doing our settings of spam poetry.)

Watching abi's slideshow. Wow. That is SO bizarre. I almost feel like I was physically there. (This is going to do interesting things to the Synthetic Fannish Memory problem.)

D.Potter: Jon Singer will almost certainly want to say 'hi!' (You all know that Jon and D are twins, right?)

Singer was there, for a while at least, but apparently he wasn't seeing the chat roll by, and we weren't saying much in audio while the restaurant was connected.

Wow. That was a dizzying experience. My brain is still fizzed and I didn't manage to drop off to sleep until about 4am. (Though poor Pendrift had to get up at 4am to participate. And poor Mark (Eric?) was so blasted by his day that he was dissolving into goo as we watched. (From what I could hear of it, he's got a great voice, btw.)

And Kathryn: Thank you thank you thank you for bringing your computer and enabling our telepresence!

Tim @ #151: I'm playing bass and computer

I'm sure it sounds wonderful. It just looks strange.

Tim Walters @ 145... Glad you enjoyed the whole thing. By the way, did you notice that I uttered only one pun?

Linkmeister @ 153: It sometimes sounds strange, too. I've learned that it's a good idea to tell the sound person not to worry if they see me playing bass but don't hear anything that sounds like bass. But today it was 80-90% straight bass playing.

Serge @ 154: I wasn't counting, but I'm glad to hear of your self-restraint! I made a really bad one about the Velveeta Underground on the air today...

The Velveeta Underground? Multi-tracked recordings, I trust.

Tim Walters @ 155... I made a really bad one about the Velveeta Underground on the air today...

I hope it was a Gooda one.

Serge, I assume it was a münster.

Linkmeister @ 156: Surely not cheesy byproducts?

Serge @ 157: I'll bet you've got Autun of them.

That bleu right past.

I cheddar to think about what krafty actions our molderators will take.

Ginger @ #159, I was thinking "highly-processed."

Edam it, Serge! These cheesy puns are making my hair gruyère.

It's appalling the things which get past yer eyes.

But these puns are brief, and so I'll just treat it as a slice of life moment, grate while it lasted, but ultimately melting away.

I thought I'd been curd of my obsession, but like any true Muenster, it arises once again. Ricotta do something about it!

Cheese and crackers, you've made me feel bleu for missing this. Some day, the caprese-ious gods will allow me to brie in the right place at the right time.

I just knew I'd roux the day I mixed with this saucy lot. I'd best stay out of this one or I'll get creamed.

"I never refuse dinner being paid for by people who can toss me over their shoulders."
- Abi during the Gathering, about Lizzy L

Actually, I said "I never argue with people who can throw me across the room," but there are also other ways to get me not to fight for the check.

Abi @ 169... I knew I was remembering it wrong. That being said, I also wouldn't argue with Lizzy L.

re paying for the check: William Goldman tells a story about Andre the Giant: Andre, it seems, refused to let people pay the bill.

If you went out with him, regardless of who invited whom, he paid. One day, an acquaintance, who wanted to pay, invited Andre out and slipped into the kitchen to pay, before Andre could grab the bill.

He found himself picked up, told, "I pay", and carried back to the table, and reseated by Andre.

It was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Andre was strong; and from all I've heard, a wonderful person.

Terry Karney @ 171... Andre was strong; and from all I've heard, a wonderful person.

I was amused by his decision to go as 'André' when he made it into the US. As far as I remember, his real name is Jean Ferré. It was understandable though, what with how people here would have pronounced his first name. He might as well have called himself a Wrestler Named Sue.

His real name was, André René Roussimoff. You can see why he shortened it.

I guess he went for 'Jean' originally because it sounds very much like 'géant'.

Jean Géant? Jean ValGéant? Jean Géanet?

Who do you know who can write Querelle de Brest AND lift you over his head, while escaping from vengeful police?

As I recall, Mark also has a lovely snore. ;-)

For you sonneteers who were around when my webcam died--this turned out to be the clue I needed to figuring out which driver was responsible for my frequent BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER BSOD crashes.

Until then, all I knew was, adjusting my laptop lid in a more closed direction (increasing the acuteness of the angle?) resulted in a "You have disconnected a USB device" two-tone descending sound effect, and sometimes it would keep making that noise without discernable reason, and then it would crash. If I was watching the driver list at the time, each THA-thunk was accompanied by the driver list refreshing. Adjusting my laptop lid toward open (less acute) sometimes staved off disaster, but often not. Very frustrating, and training me toward some very superstitious laptop-user behavior. ("If I adjust the laptop lid PAST the point I want it at, and then reopen it TO that point, I'll be safe, right? Right?" THA-thunk. THA-thunk. THA-bzzzzzzzzzzz BSOD.)

But when adjusting the lid made the webcam die at the same time as the THA-thunk sounded, it was an A-ha! moment. Last night I found out I can disable the USB Root Hub driver that governs the webcam, but still have use of the external USB ports - and then adjusting the lid no longer got me sound effects or refreshing driver lists or, presumably, BSOD.

Thank you, Making Light! Light has been shed on my frustrating situation!

Now if only it were as simple to solve as "uninstall the driver and let Windows reinstall it when you reboot." Been there, done that, didn't help. And Dell has no USB drivers available for download and upgrade. *sigh* DIY seems to be off the table, so I'll have to get in touch with Dell Tech Support sooner or later. Because ideally I'd like to have system stability AND a functioning webcam. But at least when I do get in touch with them I will have more useful details to report. And I use the webcam so infrequently that, until then, I'm pretty content.

Not unlike the process whereby they discovered what makes cloud holes.

Because ideally I'd like to have system stability AND a functioning webcam.

Ahem. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Clearly, the spammer was just too excited by the title of this particular thread to resist!