I’m back in my tiny little apartment in San Francisco, already missing my new friends! I had a great time, and kudos to Sean, et al for the hotel choice - it was perfect and a great location. Too many people to thank – you guys are all awesome.
Kathryn (FrenchToast)
I am home all safe and sound, and to say the least completely exhausted.
It was an absolute blast, as much or more fun then I have had at the various conventions I have gone to. Can’t wait to get to do this again.
To all those I met for the first time and those that I saw again - It was an amazing experience.
“see” you all around the forums, hopefully I will be around more often.
Back home in the wintery north!
It was great to meet everyone, and see everyone, and devour everyone as a werewolf : )
Glad to have met everyone! Looking forward to next year.
I’ve been back a day and I’m missing everyone already, I hope we all see each other next year. I had so much fun and I hope we can all get together again soon.
Also, I’d like to thank Beef and Audra for helping me find my way around, I’m sure I’d still be driving around in some remote corner of Texas without them.
Hugs!
Nike
glad too hear u made it to the airport, and got home safe… 
Best weekend ever, not sleeping was never so worth it. There’s no place I would rather have been to watch the finale and it really great to meet so many fellow GWCers! The airline temporarily misplaced my suitcase and I barely cared (except for the BSG t-shirts inside.) Serious case of meetup afterglow!
Back at work tonight, and let me tell you, it just SUCKS! LOL! It was so great to meet all of you. It just felt like a big old family reunion.
And to echo earlier sentiments in this thread, we really did miss those of you who couldn’t be there!
Home, now and I’m missing all of you so much!
I know what you mean about the quiet! After everyone headed home, it started to drizzle and then rain here, and it’s been windy and sad. I miss you all!!
Oh, good, I’m glad you got your bear. I was wondering if you won enough tickets for it!
Kathryn, thank you again for the magazine article - that was really thoughtful of you! And I realize now I’ve been spelling your name wrong in captions in flickr… I’m sorry!
Furpey, it was great to meet you! And thank you again so much for the AWEsome Fup shirts from Powell’s. I almost wore mine to work tonight but thought I might get spotted by my boss so I’ll save it. 
I find it very comforting to know we’re all missing each other- it makes me feel like we’re still connected and I don’t want that feeling to go away.
XXOO
Just woke up after 11 hours of sleep. I was surprised, I thought my body might have forgotten how to sleep during the weekend.
I am putting together some thoughts about the weekend and will post them, but I had the best time this weekend. Everyone is as great in person as they are on the forum, and the only thing that would have improved this amazing trip would have been if everyone could have been there. Plus, I think the next big technological advance needs to be a transporter so that we can do that one weekend every month. It was the best weekend ever!! I miss everyone so much and can’t wait for next year.
I returned home Monday night, after 5 fantastic days in Texas. Like Smarx (hi Smarx!!), I plan on gathering some thots and putting them together in writing soon. For now, I’ve got many of my pics up on the Meetup Account, and have caught up on some sleep.
The National Meetup was simply amazing fun. So many great times. I can’t thank Chuck, Audra, and Sean, enough. They all made us feel instantly at home, welcome, and they were just extraordinary hosts.
Strike that. Make that: Friends. Thank you GWC Crew.
I was lucky enough to attend the 1st International GWC Meetup this weekend and I wanted to share my thoughts with those who could attend in person, and those who could only attend in spirit. I am writing this on Tuesday, since I didn’t get home until 8:30 on Monday night, and I had only 15 hours sleep between Thursday morning and Monday night. I figured some rest would help my memory, I hope that turns out to be true.
I arrived Friday afternoon, picking up Konrad, Lord Future and Furpey at the airport, and we arrived about 2:00pm. Our first stop, the Irish Rover for introductions with the GWC crew and the many other early arrivals. It was so exciting meeting everyone and trying to start match forum names to faces and real life names. Would everyone be as nice as they are on the forum, would I have as much fun as I hoped when I got on that plane Friday morning? The answer: Yes. Everyone was great, I met more than 20 people and my mind was swimming with names, trying to track them in my head to posts they had written. And there were even some people who weren’t on the forum, yet…. Plus, Chuck, Sean and Audra. I was in the same place as the GWC crue. We took a break to get checked into our rooms and it was back to the Irish Rover. More people had arrived in our absence, so there were more introductions, more smiling and excited faces. It felt like I had arrived in BSG heaven.
Around 6:30pm the group moved to the hotel for the group watch. It was so exciting to watch as my name was checked against the RSVP list and I was admitted to the BSG watch room. I found a seat, with some new friends, and there were more introductions with more new arrivals. While most people were in their street clothes, some came ready to serve on the Galactica, it was awesome. We chatted while waiting for the show to start and then IT WAS TIME. The lights went down, the music came up and it started. Everyone will have their own opinion about the show, but I was blown away. I couldn’t believe that in just over 2 hours that we had resolution to so many questions, and seeing it with the GWCers made it that much better.
After the last regular episode finished airing, the taping of the podcast started. Audra had her iPhone list of discussion points and they were off and running. As you all have likely heard by now, it was great. I won’t go into a lot of detail, you could hear it in the ‘cast. There were presents given to the crew and then discussions about the show popped up. All too soon it was time to hit the hay.
A couple of hours later it was downstairs for some breakfast before the Audra tour of the grassy knoll and a visit the Sixth Floor museum. It you get to Dallas, I would recommend visiting, although it is sad subject. After the museum, it was back to the Irish Rover for lunch and games. A couple of hours later, it was time to get ready for dinner and the group headed out to Sweet Basil. The food was delicious and the company even better. Our three hosts each gave a speech and then there were more presentations.
With dinner complete, the next stop was Dave and Buster’s for some games. It took a while but most of the GWCers finally ended up at the trvia, we had a whole GWC lineup. After the games it was off to Chuck and Audra’s for a visit, group sing-along and then several games of Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow. Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel for some shut eye.
For the third day in a row total sleep was under 5 hours. I met up with the group in the lobby, some people with early flights had to say there goodbyes, and it was off to the Blue Mesa Grill for brunch. The 1st International GWC Meetup was starting to wind down. After lunch I took my first group of airport deliveries to DFW and Love Field. Back at the hotel I found Chuck, Audra, Uchiha Daisuke and KMehthas in the lobby. Uchiha Daisuke was getting ready to leave, but both KMehthas and I were staying until Monday, so it was back to Chuck and Audra’s for some Halo 3 and movies. We were joined by BKitty for a viewing of Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. Lady D, The Hub and TopGun also joined and it was off for dinner at a local BBQ place. Back to the house for a viewing of Serenity, a first of TopGun and then one more chance to visit with everyone. Finally, it was time to go. My final trip back to the hotel. My GWC Meetup weekend was ending.
It turned out that KMehthas and I had the first leg of our journey on the same flight, we took off the airport, rehashing the weekend and all of the fun. I was positive that once I got on the plane, my lack of weekend sleep would catch up with me and I would be out like a light. I could not have been more wrong.
The first call for boarding of the flight started to get everyone up and moving toward the doors. This was really the end of the meetup. We were leaving Dallas, when the most extraordinary thing occurred. We stood and were waiting for our rows to be called when KMehthas said, “Oh my god, it’s Aaron Douglas.” I leaned over to see some guy leaning against the wall. Then I leaned the other direction to see around those in front of me, and, “Oh my god. That’a Aaron Douglas.” KMehthas got a couple of quick pics and then it was time to board. I was sitting near the front of the plane, so I boarded at the end. Due to circumstance, I had a chance to pause in the first class area. I stopped to talk with him for a just a minute and thanked him for his work on the show. I mentioned I was travelling with a friend and that we had just spent the weekend in Dallas to watch the show with the GWC crew. We briefly discussed the final episode and I was off to my seat. I was so excited, I was never going to get any rest on this flight!!
After having left Dallas and the meetup, I was positive I had met all of the cool and amazing people in the area. Many having flown in for our weekend party, but that turned out to be wrong too. The two women in the seats next to me chatted the whole way and we shared stories of our holidays. About an hour before we landed, one of the airline staff stopped by, asked if I was Sherri and when I confirmed it, she handed me two pictures. Aaron Douglas had autographed a picture for both KMehthas and I and sent them back to me. And I think I made two new BSG convert. Both of my aisle companions were impressed with how nice he was to do that and the show sounded interesting to them. At the end of the flight we traded e-mail addresses and they wished me luck in possibly getting a picture with Aaron. I figured he was heading to Vancouver and my gate was right next door. He was there, but on the phone until he boarded, so I didn’t have the chance to say thank you, but it was still the best ending to the weekend I could have imagined.
For everyone who was there, thank you for being you. I was always impressed with how everyone interacted on the forum and the calls to the show. This weekend confirmed that that virtual impression was accurate, and it makes me look forward to next year more than I thought possible.
As for Chuck, Sean and Audra, I can’t thank you enough. I started listening to the cast because I love BSG. I kept listening because your ability to have critical discussion without going negative was a skill I admired, created podcasts that was engaging and helped to create a virtual community in which I wanted to participate. When that community moved into the real world, you were just as great as you on the ‘casts. I can’t thank you enough.
**Disclaimer: Any mistakes in timeline or names are obviously my own, and likely the result of welcomed sleep deprivation. J
Edited title to better reflect content. 3/24/09 11:36pm PT
Wow, Topgun, was that the stitched together one?
WOW!
I can has copy, pls?
And the others?
I think we covered the meetup pretty well! Itchy trigger-fingers! lol!
I have a favor to ask those of you who attended the meetup. I was busy most of the time and never got a chance to take many high-res pictures – just a few on my iPhone, and those of you with iPhones know how those look.
It’s not critical, but if you’re willing, it would mean a lot to me if you could take a few minutes and burn me a disc of whatever photos you might have at full reservation and drop them to me by mail.
My address:
Chuck Cage
2675 E. Eldorado Pkwy #215-108
Little Elm, TX 75068
Don’t spend any more than you have to – slow mail is totally fine. I’d just like to have a good set of pictures from the event.
Thanks, all.
C
u said reservation
ill glady send u the pics i have, but there might be a previously agreed apon charge…
Indeed. This is what happens when I’m not fully caught up on my sleep yet.
(And I’ve already got your discs ready, BTW. I just didn’t finish 'em in time for brunch.)
no worries, u had alot of ish on ur plate all weekend… i thought ud know what i meant… but i will be mailing the few pics i have tomara or thurs… thanks again 4 one of the best weekends ever… all thanks to u, audra, sean, n the community u’ve built
Holy Craaap! You ran into Aaron? What are the frakin’ odds?!