Vancouver Meetup

January 23, 2008 11:31 PM

Recently, there was a thread in which someone was looking to meet nerdy people in the Vancouver area. Most replies mentioned organizing a meetup. This post is to explore that option and suggest venues and times.

I'm going to nominate La Casita on Groundhog Day, or Earl's.

Who's in?

posted by MaxK to MetaFilter gatherings at 11:31 PM (50 comments total)

Groundhog Day is a Saturday, right? I think I can do that. Never been to either of those places though, has anyone else? What are they like?
posted by PercussivePaul at 8:50 AM on January 24, 2008

Anyone want to think of going to the Brickhouse on 730 Main? Its vaguely near a skytrain, and you arent obligated to eat food, so its kinda cheaper and theres a pool table. Also books and brick walls and a generally decent mis en scene. Earlier on Saturday would be better if it had to be saturday, as it gets kinda busy post 9pm.
posted by cascando at 9:01 AM on January 24, 2008

I would definitely go for the Brickhouse, I can pretty much walk there.
posted by PercussivePaul at 9:47 AM on January 24, 2008

I could do the Brickhouse, but Feb 2nd may be a bit problematic (damn it seems the meetup gods are against me ever getting to go to one)
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 9:53 AM on January 24, 2008

I'm not around that day, but available most other days. I've missed the last couple of meetups, but I would try to make it to a non 2/2 event. Oh, and if I can recommend against Earl's...
I think that's enough non-constructive input
posted by birdsquared at 12:06 PM on January 24, 2008

Oh shoot, I just remembered I have plans with my girlfriend that night. Specifically, the "We Heart Daft Punk" dance party at the Biltmore. (y'all should come, it's gonna be rad)
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:28 PM on January 24, 2008

Before this thing dies we should come up with an alternative date maybe a bit further into the future. Here are some ideas:

1. Thursday Feb 7th
2. Friday Feb 8th
3. Saturday Feb 9th
4. Friday Feb 15th
5. Saturday Feb 16th

I vote for Saturday Feb 9th.
posted by PercussivePaul at 1:52 PM on January 24, 2008

I could do 1, 4 or 5...the Brickhouse is good, yes. Way, way better than Earls. Plus, if we want to eat food, there's a really great vegetarian restaurant (Radha) in the same building.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:54 PM on January 24, 2008

I'll be around on the 9th if anyone gives a damn
posted by mock at 8:30 PM on January 24, 2008

I'm down for something too, and also prefer places that skew more towards pub than restaurant. Of Paul's times, I'm good for maybe #4 or 5 (having friends in from Seattle during 1-3).
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:58 PM on January 25, 2008

I have a friend and his wife who recently moved to Vancouver from London. Although not a MeFite, I told him about the site (and that there are sometimes meetups). Having met various MeFites both in the UK and in the States, I'm pretty sure he'd be a good fit for the MeFi crowd.

When the date and time have been fixed for the meetup, would anybody object to my telling him about it? He's a great bloke, early 30s, works in IT/project management, he's a good laugh, as is his missus. He doesn't know many too people in Vancouver and I'm sure he'd be glad of an opportunity to meet you guys.
posted by essexjan at 3:28 PM on January 25, 2008

I'd be down for the brickhouse, sounds cool.
posted by concreteforest at 9:31 PM on January 25, 2008

I note that this has been fixed for the 9th in the sidebar, so that leaves the question of location being fixed. Is it going to be the Brickhouse? If so, what time?

essexjan - who's going to object? How could they object? Even if there was an objection, what recourse would the objector have? Thus - tell away. I'll speak for us all in this regard (who's going to object?).
posted by birdsquared at 1:40 PM on January 26, 2008

I like the Brickhouse. I can't be there on February 2nd but I'm in for another night.
posted by jokeefe at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2008

Oh wait, I should read before posting.

The 9th it is, then.
posted by jokeefe at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2008

On the other hand, I don't really qualify as a nerd as such, despite the fact that I brush shoulders every working day with utterly serious nerdly sorts. My nerdliness is pretty much focused on books and music, and I'm older than the average Mefite, as far as I can tell. But if you're interested in meeting other people from the city, I'm happy to show it off or offer advice; I've lived here, with a few gaps, all my life.
posted by jokeefe at 4:05 PM on January 26, 2008

I down with the 9th. The fact that I'm moving into town now means less bus schedule glancing on my part.

And for the lurkers out there, or anyone thinking about inviting non-members along, it is more than cool to show up.
posted by myopicman at 10:25 PM on January 26, 2008

I'm not a huge nerd myself, but I'll show up!
posted by tickingclock at 1:44 AM on January 28, 2008

OK, how about the Brickhouse at 8:00pm on Saturday Feb 9th?
I guess since I proposed the date I'm sort of the organizer now. So I'll make sure I'm there. Does 8pm sound like a good time? Should we go a bit earlier to make sure we get a table? I don't remember the layout of the Brickhouse, will it be easy to find people or should we try to plan on being in a certain area of the bar?

Oh and I have never been to a meetup before. I am curious if friends and significant others often show up to these things or if it's mostly just Mefites. (though of course I'm sure everybody's welcome, I wouldn't want to invite someone and have them feel like they're not part of the club.)

and by the way sorry to those who can't make it on the 9th. In my mind we hadn't really fixed the date, butI think one of the admins just noticed the thread and put the date on the sidebar as a best guess of when it was likely to happen. since we have a number of people who say they can come we might as well go with it.

P.S. as much as I hate to admit it, i definitely qualify as 'nerdy'. or maybe geeky, I don't know. so MaxK I hope you can make it.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:01 PM on January 28, 2008

8pm sounds great. Maybe sit by the pooltable? It has the largest seating area.
posted by cascando at 7:43 PM on January 28, 2008

Anyone want to metafilter mail vancouver mefites? I am lazy...
posted by cascando at 7:44 PM on January 28, 2008

Well, I was going to do it, then I realized I would have to do it one at a time... so now I too am lazy.
posted by PercussivePaul at 10:41 PM on January 28, 2008

It's probably a good idea, if there are going to be lots of new people there who don't know each other, to make a little sign saying 'Metafilter' or 'Friends of matthowie' to direct people to the meetup and stop random strangers from being accosted in the bar.
posted by essexjan at 2:31 AM on January 30, 2008

February 9th, the Brickhouse? Hokay.
posted by jokeefe at 2:20 PM on January 30, 2008

Well, you can always do the social thing and ask the various people at the venue to see if they're with Metafilter; it's worked reasonably well in smaller venues, especially when close by the door. Or you can memorize all the uploaded profile photos here. Someone once made MeFi cards that could be printed out, but I can't find the link for them or who made them.
posted by myopicman at 2:23 PM on January 30, 2008

I sent out like 20 emails to invite vancouverites. Its kind of a laborious process I dont recommend it. I will now go back to my preferred method of doing nothing and hoping for the best.
posted by cascando at 6:16 PM on January 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Your efforts are much appreciated cascando. I think I'll be able to make it.
posted by FissionChips at 3:08 PM on January 31, 2008

February 9 at 8pm at the Brickhouse? It's in my calendar. I wouldn't have known, if cascando hadn't sent me an email - so thank you cascando.
posted by seawallrunner at 9:00 PM on February 1, 2008

Important update!! I just happened to drive by the Brickhouse today at 7:00 and it looked like they were closed, so I called them and sure enough they open at 8:00.

Let's push the start time to 8:30pm, OK?
posted by PercussivePaul at 7:39 PM on February 2, 2008

it's chinese new year...it would be apropos to do something related
posted by randomstriker at 11:11 PM on February 3, 2008

I'm in; might bring a friend.
posted by heeeraldo at 11:27 AM on February 4, 2008

I'm so glad this took off -- since changing the time from 8:00 to 8:30 might confuse some people, let's call it 8:00 and I'll volunteer to stand around outside at a quarter 'til and direct anyone looking lost to stand around with me and wander inside when they open.

Looking forward to meeting all of you!
posted by MaxK at 1:36 AM on February 5, 2008

Also, can someone volunteer to bring a shoddy sign and a camera to photograph the event? I don't have a printer and my iPhone costs to much up here to turn on long enough to take a photo with.
posted by MaxK at 1:38 AM on February 5, 2008

I'll bring my camera - and I think I can manage to print off a shoddy sign...
posted by birdsquared at 9:11 PM on February 5, 2008

I'll be there with camera; there may well be bells on, too.
posted by heeeraldo at 2:08 PM on February 6, 2008

I would but it's the first weekend after Chinese Lunar New Years so there's a whole bunch of family stuff. =(

Have fun, though!
posted by porpoise at 2:26 PM on February 7, 2008

Apologies, won't be able to make it.
Have fun storming the castle meeting up!
posted by juv3nal at 4:09 PM on February 8, 2008

Looks as though I won't be able to make it, either as I've caught a rather awful cold.

Have fun!
posted by tickingclock at 6:52 PM on February 8, 2008

Well, I'm still coming! see you tonight whoever comes.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:35 PM on February 9, 2008

no can do anymore... yalls have fun...
posted by seawallrunner at 7:47 PM on February 9, 2008

It is possible that the meetup is still in progress, but my cat needs meds so I left early-ish. Here are some photos. heeeraldo, as promised, brought his camera (though no bells... hmmmm) so I imagine he will post his shots (with a much nicer camera from the looks of things) later.

It was a well attended affair (more participants than the 2 other meetups I've made it to in this burg) and I would qualify it as a success.
posted by birdsquared at 12:23 AM on February 10, 2008

definite success.
i enjoyed a nice walk up the hill with heeraldo and myopicman. we left around 1:00 and we were the last. I would put the peak attendance around 10.

thanks jay for the photos and for keeping track of everyone's names, you did better than I could have. thanks everyone for being rad. see you again sometime.
posted by PercussivePaul at 1:26 AM on February 10, 2008

It was fun meeting everyone. Big thanks to the organizers and the photographers.

I mentioned that I would throw up a couple Vancouver-centric links:
Buildering.net - Run by a guy called Ardarvin. Randomly updated with buildering & parkour content.
Liveable region - Very active transit / local politics blog.
Weather and sunset webcam - Find out if it's raining without cracking the blinds.

Also, if anyone wants a slick plugin to view the meetup photos this was just posted in Projects - PicLens
posted by FissionChips at 2:14 PM on February 10, 2008

my photos are up on flickr.
there's adjustment of white balance (badly, to be honest) and a little sharpening but not much otherwise.

I had a great time meeting you all (and seeing myopicman for the third time in a week, bizarrely) and look forward to doing it again.
posted by heeeraldo at 2:14 PM on February 10, 2008

Those are some nice-lookin' photos!

It was great meeting everybody, hope to do it again sometime.
posted by meadowlands at 5:40 PM on February 10, 2008

Hey Vancouver mefites - it was great meeting you on Saturday night... look forward to seeing you again.
posted by radiocontrolled at 5:59 PM on February 10, 2008

Indeed, good photos birdsquared and heeeraldo! Again, sorry I couldn't join you all.
posted by seawallrunner at 6:16 PM on February 10, 2008

Where's that photo you took of a certain person playing pool? you know the one I mean...
posted by PercussivePaul at 6:38 PM on February 10, 2008

Great pics birdsquared and heeeraldo.
PercussivePaul - I was thinking the same thing...
posted by metaname at 6:45 PM on February 10, 2008

it was blurry, so I didn't bother with it.
I can, if you reeeeally want.
posted by heeeraldo at 7:39 PM on February 10, 2008