Another Blogger Meetup

Wow! Two in a row! We had another blogger meetup Saturday night. This one consisted of Atlanta bloggers and was put together by Greg Greene and even though he is on the opposite side from me politically, he is actually a real nice guy. I found him to be very likeable and he told me that some of his best friends are Republicans.

Last Week at the Jawja Blogger Meetup in Dahlonega I told Kelley I was going to the Atlanta shindig and she warned me that most of the people that were gonna be there were liberals. Uh oh! This might get messy. She said she was gonna go so there would be at least two of us and I would be armed with my crutches to beat people up if it got real bad. After all, I am one of those mean spirited conservative/libertarian types.

I got there a little after seven. The Five Seasons Brewery is hidden in the Prado on Roswell Road just inside the Perimeter. Kelley was already there and was sitting on Greg's right. I sat on his left, even though my politics were to his right, right?

Adam showed up with not one but two wimmins and both of 'em were babes! So, I'm a dirty old man. What of it? I was happy to see him because we didn't get to talk much at the Jawja Meetup last week. Turns out we had both floated the Eleven Point River in southern Missouri and we remembered the old guy who rented canoes.

The canoe guy was an ex-marine and as redneck as you could be, but he hated the county's crackdown on pot smokers. The sheriff and his deputies would hide along the river and as soon as they saw people toking on a joint they would arrest 'em and haul 'em off to the county jail. There they could post bail and skip out of the county. These antics got publicity in St. Louis and Kansas City and business on the Eleven Point suffered. I still remember this old guy bitching about it.

"Them damn guys have really messed up my business. I loved renting to them mary-joo-wana smokers. They just laid back in them canoes and went 'wow.' The beer drinkers get drunk and have canoe fights and ram 'em. The pot smokers bring the canoes back in good shape. That damn sheriff really pisses me off!"

Back to the blogfest. I finally got to meet Ricky West. He's been sending me links to articles that might interest me for quite some time. We didn't talk as much as I would have liked to. He wandered over to the right side of the table where most of the people on the left were and spent most of the evening over there. Hmmmm! Consorting with the enemy?

I sat right across the table from Jim Flowers and his lovely wife who's name I promptly forgot. Aaarrrggghhh! Old age is a bitch. She mentioned that she was doing sumpin' at the capital about the flag.

Let me tell you what I feel about the flag. It is bullshit! Changing the flag will not lift one child out of poverty. It will not stop one crime. It will not stop one poor teenager from getting pregnant. It will certainly not raise the SAT scores in Georgia. Yes, the previous flag was created as a response to civil rights legislation. It was a way to tell the federal gummint to fuck off. It was changed by Roy Barnes, but there are a lot of idiots in Georgia who want it changed back. I want it changed too. I want it to be all blue with the words SAT 50 on it in bright red letters. (Just damn, I wish I had Photoshop and knew how to use it. I'd create my Georgia flag and put it on my site. )Then maybe the flag debate would actually mean sumpin' It's only a piece of cloth, dammit! Get a grip!

Anyway, Jim's wife and I had a very lively discussion about education, which Kelley joined in and it turns out we all feel the same way. A big key to education is parental involvement. Another key is school discipline. I got kicked out of school for three days in the sevnth grade for smoking. Think my parents sued the school? Hell no! I was grounded for two months. The final thing is challenge the students. Go back to tracking. Put the bright kids together and let them take advanced courses.

Jim and I got in a discussion of technology. He's a PC bigot and I'm a mainframe bigot. We also talked Irag, deficits, and taxes. Even though we have opposing views the discussion was polite and interesting. No blood was spilled.

In the I Wish I Were 30 Years Younger Department I met Jessica Harbour who is a very attractive young lady. She was the prettiest woman at the blogfest. Sigh!

Reid has lots of pictures of the event. I'll even identify the people in the top picture. From left to right is Kelley, Greg, me (counting off points of my debate with Jim (who is probably saying "This guy is a real boring asshole), Jim's wife who is partly hidden, and I'm sorry I didn't get the name of the last person in the picture. Holy shit! I'm in a lot of those pictures.

One of the bad things about my limited mobility is it is hard to get up to go talk to people. I have to wait until they come to me. Thus, I probably missed talking to half the people there. That's a shame, because regardless of political affiliation (or apolitical affiliation, since not all of the bloggers write about politics) this group was a very nice bunch of people. Some of the discussions were lively but no blood was spilled.

After we broke up, Greg, Kelley, Jessica, Adam and the two wimmins who were with him, and I went to Frankies had a few more drinks, talked some more, and learned more about each other.

Jessica and Greg want to start an Atlanta blog where we would blog about all things Atlanta. This would be everything but politics. Well, maybe there might be a little politics thrown in. I was thinking that maybe I could throw in a few restaurant reviews about restaurants where the Sommelier Guild holds tastings.

I'm looking forward to another function so maybe I can meet some of the other people I didn't get to talk to. This one was a blast.

Thanks Greg.

Posted by denny at November 9, 2003 10:25 PM