LOL. Steve FTW!!
I just want to say again, thank you to everyone! I love “The Coolest” hat and I loved reading all the messages from everyone. Thanks for all your kindness and I hope you continue to stick around for all the guttery goodness!!
Audra 
I do what I can from time to time.
AWESOME indeed!!!
Wow. So awesome, and so appropriate.
Well done, guys.
Since I was 17 I have had tears in my eyes 4 times. 3 of them were at the meetup last weekend. I cannot begin to express the joy this community still brings me day in and day out over the last few years.
You guys are and continue to be what make this place worth while. My heartfelt thanks to you all.
Your most humble servant,
Rev. Sean
Thank you Sean ! Thank you Chuck ! Thank you Audra !
for hours (no years, now) of just plain fun. You have made me laugh, choked me up at times, even annoyed me once or twice, and best of all, the outro to the Meetup podcast, made me stand up with my fist in the air, and chant along, “SO SAY WE ALL, SO SAY WE ALL, SO SAY WE ALL”, through tear-brimmed eyes. I love you guys.
Thank you for giving of yourselves. You are all frakkin awesome !!
Most sincerely,
NothingButheRain
I have been to a lot of functions. Many of these reached a point where everyone was ready to leave.
This is the first time, that after 5 days, no one wanted to go home. Everyone was having too much fun.
Night after night, people would be clustered at the door, ready to leave, and the next thing you knew, 2 hrs had passed. No one wanted the night to end. Including me.
I know it had to do with not wanting to let go of the great community that Sean, Chuck and Audra have founded.
Case in point:
The last day at breakfast with Chuck & Audra, Lady D and Topgun, I had to remind everyone bkitty and I had to get to the airport or we’d miss our plane.
In the car, as Chuck was speeding us to the airport to make it in time, he mentioned, “You know, if you don’t make your plane, spending one more night wouldn’t be a bad thing”. I had to agree. tears
Well said, “The Hub”. I went to Texas to watch the final episode of BSG and listen to the podcast live, but when I think back on last weekend, that seems like such a small part of our time. I had not considered the friendships that would come. I’ve not ever been able to connect with the people around me in the way that we all connected this weekend. It’s actually changed my perspective on life: if I can be accepted into a group as friendly as this, maybe the world doesn’t suck quite as much as I thought it did. The attitude on the podcast and in this community has always been “look to the positive”, and that idea has really pulled me out of my previous attitude of pessimism and negativity. I can’t thank you all enough for that, and I’m very proud to call you all friends. I’ve gotta say, walking out the door on Sunday night (well technically Monday morning :P) was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.
Okay, I’m getting sappy, so I’ll wrap it up. GWC Rocks!
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That’s an excellent point. I know I have a tendency to lose patience in crowds and conversations that I don’t feel like I’m part of. But I know I wish I could have stayed longer and the only thing that drew me away from all the cool folks I met at the meetup was crankiness from lack of sleep!
When I did my blog post on the weekend, I came to the very same conclusion. It was really about connecting with each other.
Great People+ Gray Goose+ Dog Tags+ A few shots+ laughter= Best Damn Weekend Ever.
The Hub!! Welcome to the forums!! Only 999 posts to go till OG!
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That is a very clever idea Rae. Will store that one away for later use in other events!
Would it be helpful to have a place to put them all online? My wife’s server has an unreasonable amount of bandwidth and storage space. We could certainly put them up there (uncompressed) and you can download at your leisure (The downside of this is the uploading speed most of us probably have)
?
That might work as a work-around for having a central SD reading computer (none of my stuff is SD, eg.)
I have integrated SD reader and CD/DVD burner on my laptop, plus a 250GB USB portable drive. Will bring for for next time. Should have thot of this this time. Doh!
Thinking about The GWC International Meetup
Sat, April 4, 2009.
8:00 am
Two weeks ago today, at this very time, I was dragging my sorryBarb out of a bed in Frisco, Texas. This is a hard enough task on a normal morning, and the fact that I’d plopped down exhausted into this very bed less than two hours prior made the job all the more difficult. I pulled back the window curtains and looked out at the new morning, and smiled, and remembered, and was no longer tired.
When Chuck had floated the idea of some kind of National Meetup for the GWC members, about a year ago, it was met with universal applause. The new GWC forum, a companion to the established blog and podcast, had attracted quite a following, and many of us had formed a strong bond. When a date, to coincide with the very last episode of Battlestar Galactica (wow do I dislike typing that), was set, I’m fairly sure Chuck, Audra, and Sean had no real idea they’d be filling half a hotel in Frisco with people who’d flown in from all over the northern hemisphere. But the forum quickly reflected what was happening. A LOT of people were coming! Airfare was being booked, vacation days set aside, babysitters were being lined up. Now March 20th had become the date we were all looking forward to, instead of dreading.
How did this all happen? People spending lots of their money to travel across the country? For a TV show? Were they crazy? It seemed like it, whenever explanations were offered to the uninitiated. I’m sure I’m not the only one who got a blank stare or a chuckle of disbelief whenever I detailed my vacation plans to a co-worker.
Chuck, Audra, and Sean had done something very rare: they had turned strangers from all over the country, and even the world, into an extended family, with nothing more than their spirit and enthusiasm, and obvious love for what they were doing on their podcast. Although an outsider might be hard-pressed to understand, it was obvious to those of us within: there were friends to be had here, good people who shared a love of science fiction and the excitement of the latest BSG episode. It didn’t stop there, though. A glance at the GWC forum and you’ll see many avenues and roads that lead in a thousand directions, just as a conversation between good friends can start in one place and end up in a completely unexpected one. Just like a GWC podcast, it’s sometimes not so much about the subject matter as it is about the just being together part. So when the chance to actually meet was available, it’s no wonder so many jumped (yes, I said jumped) at the chance.
I’ve just started to write about the Meetup. I’m not sure how much of it I’ll actually post here, because I want to keep you as friends, and what might quickly become Topgun’s Boring Written Vacation Slideshow is probably not the best way to do that. But I did want to share a little bit, and to again thank Chuck, Audra, Sean, and all my fellow attendees, for one of the very best times of my life.
Very well done, Topgun. How did this happen indeed?
I received similar ridicule at my place of employment. As geeks, we share that experience as well. During lunch breaks, I listen to discussions about interests and life in general. Once I mention something sci-fi related, I can sense the scorn.I received similar ridicule at my place of employment. As geeks, we share that experience as well. During lunch breaks, I listen to discussions about interests and life in general. Once I mention something sci-fi related, I can sense the scorn.
To find camaraderie experienced here is rare. I cherish it.
Vulcan yeah!
Similar great experiences for me in Browncoat community, esp. Firefly fan groups on East Coast (not so much the West Coast, but I guess they’re more laid back here).
I still fly back east 3-4 a year just for Browncoat shindigs.
–Frenchie
I finally finished my blog post on Day 3/The folks I met. It was bittersweet.
You can find it here.
sad smile