Much Fun Was Had By All

I just got back from the blogger's bash, but must go to bed, so this is a quickie report. We had a wonderful time. Me, Conservative Zone Mark, Brock and Chris of Signifying Nothing, Musing Philosophical Scrivener Len, Mick of Fishkite, Memphis Cool Jon, Eric of webraw, Tim from LeanLeft (a surprise!), and Adam from the Commercial Appeal were there. Sadly, the lovely and vivacious Rachel of the City wasn't there; nor was the other cohort of LeanLeft, Kevin. They were much missed.

Conversation ranged all over the place. I had feared that meeting up in RL might be so awkward as to stifle us but we actually didn't have enough time to talk about everything that came up! All the forbidden topics -- politics, abortion, religion, web browsers -- were touched on and it was all friendly and polite in a spirited and animated way. We kept finding commonalities and similarities all across the table, too. The time just seemed to fly.

We all asked each other why we had started blogging and Tim wanted to know what our "hot button" issues were, those topics which we return to or which always prompt posting. Jon, Eric and Adam, who are all connected to the Commercial Appeal, were good sports about the ribbing I gave them and loved finding out about the origin of Half-Bakered's name.

Quick impressions of some of the people there: Mick is a quiet, but very deeply thoughtful young man. He brought some gorgeous Fishkite business cards! Jon actually is pretty Memphis Cool; he was clearly having a good time even if he was missing the Enterprise episode where Trip and T'Pol boink. Chris is the kind of professor I'd like to have in a class: knowledgeable and humorous and patient. Len has to be drawn out a bit but it's worth it. Brock is very funny and should post more often. Tim is a strong and forceful speaker, though aware of it and courteous; he was, to me, most clearly cut out for blogging (or has been shaped by it). Eric, it turns out, was something of a celebrity but fit right in with what was essentially a crowd of strangers he'd only learned about that day!

News of the night? The Commercial Appeal will be opening up a listing of Memphis and Mid-South blogs on their website. If you are a blogger and want to be blogrolled there, go to: http://web.commercialappeal.com/blogreg and sign up.

No talk of doing it again, but I can't imagine that we won't. It was just too much fun. Maybe in April some time, when Spring has arrived and outdoors is fun once more. I certainly look forward to another meetup. So many things we wanted to discuss that we didn't have time for, or that were forgotten in the rush of speaking, or that had to be pushed aside to stay on topic.

Thanks to everyone who attended. I'm hoping to read y'all's posts on the bash later Thursday.

BTW, before I forget, Mick of Fishkite is interested in joining up with the Rocky Top Brigade. Even after we explained it to him, too! Anyway, I'll email SouthKnox with the request and the bribes later, but if someone reads this early can they pass the word? We also need to find out if Rachel and Jon are interested. Hey! At this rate, we West Tennesseans may one day outnumber all those Eastern Grand Division folks over in KnoxVegas.

Well, off to bed and happy dreams. It was a great night.

Memphis Bloggers Bash Tonight!

Don't forget: the Bloggers Bash is tonight (Wednesday) at Zinnie's East on Madison, beginning at 7PM. This is not the Zinnie's bar at the corner of Madison and Belvedere, but the larger restaurant slightly east, towards Cooper. Look for the "Full Moon Club" howling wolf sign up top. We will be in the front room, to your right as you enter. It's looking like about six or seven people are definite and we might get as many as 10 or so! Great! See ya there.

Raw But The Good Way, Like Sushi

Thanks to Jon, I've found another Memphis blogger: webraw. If I read it right, Eric is an employee at the Death Star, but the blog is his personal site. He's been added at the left and you should check him out. Good writing and fun insights. His site design is sublimely beautiful.

Sorry, Bubba

Tuesday's primary looms and it looks like the Kerry nomination steam-roller will flatten Tennessee, according to the American Research Group. He leads with 32% to John Edwards' 21% and Clark's 20%, well outside of the four point margin of error. Look a bit farther down at the second large table and you'll see that Kerry has nearly 100 percent name recognition to Edwards/Clark's three-quarters, and Kerry has a much higher positive favorability number. The survey notes that half of undecideds already lean towards Kerry.

Sorry, SouthKnoxBubba, but it looks like the least-palatable guy for you.

Memphis Blogger's Bash -- It's On

OK, here's the latest. I went by Zinnie's East (not the bar on the corner of Belvedere, but the restaurant down the block towards Cooper) and made a reservation for Wednesday, Feb. 11th, at 7PM. They will give us the large round table in the front room, facing Madison. When you walk in the door, it's over your right shoulder. I told them to expect between 6 and 10 people.

I'm not sure how long we'll be there, but I'm planning for 9PM at the least. Hopefully, we'll find lots to talk about. I mean, we're bloggers, right? It might go longer, but 10PM will have to be my cut-off point; others might want to make a night of it. Who knows?

So, we are on! I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.