We did, edgar! And we missed you!
The bat cruise was rained out, but we found alternate entertainment this evening. (Mostly involving drinking and eating, and talking of course.) There was some discussion of all of us getting A2K tattoos, but sadly, we talked ourselves out of it. :wink:
Yes you will Soz, meeting with these A2k friends is one of the memorable activities I have engaged in. We actually are likable and truly do care about each other.
At first it was a little odd because of course they did not look like their avatars, secondly it was hard not to call each person by their screen name but by the third day we were getting more accustomed to using real names, and finally the first night there was a lot of cross talk, everyone talking at the same time.
It is my belief that we are so used to communicating in written language there needs to be some transition time to communicate verbally and face to face.
My personal assessment of this trip is that I love these people very much and am thankful I had the opportunity to be involved.
Sounds like y'all had a great time, but where are the pics????
I wanna have another gathering now...Maybe Florida in spring?
There were a couple of digital cameras there, so some pictures will be posted soon with non-digital photos later on.
We had a great time! I highly recommend meeting fellow A2Kers to anyone who's considering it.
Meeting fellow a2kers has truly made my life better!
Just an update on pics - I will work on them tonight as I'm getting ready to go for golf. I have to figure the ends and outs of posting pics and where. Can anyone get me a link to one of Cravens quick hints
and to where they are posted to
It was a lovely weekend with a bunch of lovely people doing a bunch of wonderful things. And, we missed and thought of everyone that wasn't there :sad: but had all in our hearts
Later, golf calls
I put in a request for a Texas Gathering album this morning and it's ready already! I'll look and see if I can find instructions, BillW, but only if you report your golf scores!
I'm looking for an adjective to describe the week end. Fun is an understatement. ahhhhhh, here's one.............explosive. We had an explosively good time this week end in Austin! Yes siree......
Joanne's observation about how we all talked at once was, I thought, especially astute. We all have thoughts popping out all over and at A2K we never have to worry about interrupting or being interrupted. We were however all quite polite to one another in our conversations and I only wish we'd had more time.
Mr. and Mrs. PDiddie were the life of the party. Mrs. PD is a charmer and full of the most tantalizing questions, quick witted and fun fun fun. PDiddie himself........we all know him.....so full of information and ideas.........and oh yes, opinions. At lunch yesterday he announced that he was, in fact, quite proud of being an opinionated *^%&%$#. And I'm proud of him too.
Mac was our calm, centered and highly entertaining coordinator. She was, I believe the only one not interrupting. Which means she didn't get much time (relatively) to speak, however this did not cost anything in terms of the relevance and insightfulness of what she did choose to say when she spoke. And don't get the impression that she's in any way shy. Wise, reasoned and accomplished in the fine art of good timing.
Mr. and Mrs. BillW were our snuggle bunnies. (They're in love, as are we all, but it was their anniversary.) Their eyes were shaped like little hearts and BillW kept winking at us about the kayaks. Don't know what that was about. Anyway we finally had to tell him to cut out the bragging, it was making the rest of us jealous. :wink:
Joanne and her hats! Wow! They're all red and I don't think that's because she's a communist. I think Joanne had the most fun on sixth Street on Saturday night. We had to force her to leave the tatoo parlor (which she did screaming) and then she made it to every dance floor along the way. The girl knows how to have some fun.
And then there was me. I was taking it all in. Innocent observer that I am.
I'll tell more later, because we did so many fun and interesting things. I made it to the Capital and sat in the gallery for a bit observing the re-districting debates on the Senate floor. And the O'Henry Museum was especially fun for me. But more later. Must run now.
Thanks for the kind words Lola!
Wait, innocent? observer? Neither of those are words I'd use to describe our Lola!!!
Bill, check out the gallery page - it appears that uploading pics is very simple. Of course, I could be wrong...
What a great weekend, and what a powerful group of people convened in Austin.
And I'm not talking about those freaks at the Green Festival... :wink:
Yes, Lola and Joane, Mrs. PDiddie is quite a pistol. As long as I have known her she has been able to walk into a room of a thousand strangers and leave an hour later with 950 business cards/phone numbers, a variety of interesting job offers and at least five proposals of marriage. I definitely married up. Perhaps after she reads some of these glowing descriptions of herself, she'll jump onboard.
I wish the weather had been more cooperative and I wish we could have had even more time to flap our gums, but it was still wonderful to meet all of you.
I hope BillW can get the photos in the Gallery soon (although I'm sure it will re-emphasize the need for me to start my diet).
BTW, try as we might, Bill and I couldn't find a single thing we disagree about.
Bill, thank your beautiful wife again for allowing me to eat too much of her dinner at the Thai place Saturday night.
Joane, how was your antiqueing foray? (Another special thank-you to Tartarin for enabling JD to be with us.)
mac neglected to mention that as we arrived at the LBJ library the huge fountain in the courtyard magically came on as we strolled past it. (A synergistic force of nature we people are, I'm tellin' ya.)
O. Henry's home was a real treat; Lola apparently funded them for the next six months with her purchases, and our light lunch at the Driskill just prior to departure Sunday afternoon was the highlight (from a strictly chocolate POV).
mac, good job keeping up on the convoy back home Sunday afternoon. Find anything good at the outlet mall in San Marcos? Let's do a movie or brunch or dinner soon.
For those of you ambivalent about taking your A2K experience offline, let me echo what the others have already posted: it takes a true leap of faith for a single person, especially a single woman, to come to a Gathering of people known only online, so my hat's off to all y'all who took the plunge. Good relationships in any medium require an element of risk as well as faith, and we have started off swimmingly.
This makes me anticipate the spring Gathering in San Francisco greatly.
Well, ok Mac............I'll admit to a bit of worldly knowledge and striving for gratification that accompany it. And, ok...........I did do a bit more than observe. I did stir the pot along with the rest of em. We did have an excellent good time.
The few of us who arrived early took a little walk on the trail along the Colorado River (which was behind the hotel) up to town on Friday morning and hopped what the folks at the hotel called a "trolley" but was really just a bus dressed like a trolley car. Nevertheless, it took us straight to the Capital Building and all the delights within. We were told by the hotel staff at the desk that the only Republicans in town were hold up in this building, fearing for their safety when ever they ventured outside it's walls. And as a matter of fact, there were a whole passel of these clean cut types hanging around in the hallways, scurrying back and forth from the second story Senate and House Chambers. The building itself was beautiful. But I didn't much care for the photo of GW hanging on the wall. There he was, in all his magnificent splendor, perched on the edge of his desk like a little paraquet, preening his feathers, pretending to be a Daddy parrot. But he came off, unfortunately as the same ole pip squeak, stuffed shirt that he always seems to be. (Sorry you Republican guys, you'll have to forgive me, but I got so much encouragement for talking this way over the week end, it's a bit hard to give it up.) Our time in the gallery observing the debate in the Senate on redistricting was fascinating.
Friday evening we warmed up, getting to know each other over dinner and all drank a bit too much (or at least those sitting near and around me did -- well all but Mrs. BillW who manages to never drink while at the same time never failing to join in on the fun and never saying a single word of caution about the completely irresponsible behavior of the rest of us.)
Saturday was another over cast day, with the false promise of sun, which eventually gave way to thunderstorm type rain in the late afternoon and evening. In the morning we checked out the LBJ Library which I liked but some were not too impressed. My favorite moment here was when we walked in and Joanne announced proudly to the woman behind the reception desk that we were all Democrats. The woman, a pleasant looking older woman with the appearance of a slightly kindlier than usual jewelry counter attendant at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, looked at us and without skipping a beat responded, "well, there's no need for confession dears." At the end of the tour, I bought a small campaign pin which said, "All The Way With LBJ" for a $1.50.
Some of us split off from the group and went kayaking on the river, dubbed "Town Lake" for some unknown reason. It's not a lake at all, it is a river...........so I don't know why they called it a lake. I'm sure there must be a good reason. The kayaking was inspiring, except we were forced to return to shore a little sooner than we wished because of thunder and lightening, followed by hard rain.
Dinner on 6th Street at a Vietnamese/Thai Restaurant and a pleasant stroll up and down the way afterwards. Now I understand what it is my kids are doing when they,tell me "I'm going to Austin for the week end." I should have known, I suppose. Sixth Street is a combination of New Orleans and St. Marks Place in New York City's downtown East side. And of course, all the students about were licking their sizable wounds over the Texas/OU fiasco earlier in the day. (This is where Joanne began doing cartwheels down the street, making everyone laugh.) NOTE TO READERS: Don't believe everything told to you in this post, the reporter is sometimes slightly unreliable.
O'Henry Museum Sunday morning following breakfast..........and this post is getting so long, I think I'll leave this description for later. Or maybe others would like to give their versions. Oh.........but there is one thing more. BillW performed admirably as an excellent a2k advocate, inviting the director of the O'Henry Museum to join us here on a2k. So let's all look for her and give her a warm welcome if she really tries us out.
Seem to have reached two snags in picture uploading -
1) Apparently need an intervening Internet server before I can get pictures on A2K; any ideas or suggestions
2) Whereas there is a slot for "Texas Gathering" in "Home > Able2Know Members > A2K Gatherings", I don't find a path under "Able2Know.com Members" for "A2K Gatherings>Texas Gathering" under album when in the "Upload" mode. Any help, or will it just automatically find its place?
BTW, didn't play very good today - back was hurting and pretty tired, but still managed an 88. For me, that's pretty good
Will delay the posting of pics until I get a little more help and rested up -
Wow...sounds like you guys had an excellent time in Austin! I can't wait to see the pics, but the descriptions from everyone are so wonderfully vivid that I feel like I can see the whole thing just by reading about it.
I put in a request to get the Texas Gathering Album listed on the dropdown.
And here's a link to a Forum Help topic about uploading to the Gallery (I put in a question about software needed...)
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=401537#401537
My picture will not be back until Wed., boo hoo. I do not have a digital camera and they are being put on a CD.
But I will post them as soon as possible that day.
