San Diego meet-up follow-up

December 28, 2003 11:06 PM

The San Diego meetup extravaganza was a success. We were expecting 20-30 people from around the Southern California region. Unfortunately only BatGrlHG, y6y6y6, LionIndex, and Matt where able to make it.

The microbrews and pizza flowed freely. Matt got the Iceland vacation (the grand total ended up being $2145), and reciprocated by telling us many MeFi secrets.
posted by y6y6y6 to MetaFilter gatherings at 11:06 PM (49 comments total)

Y6, sorry to hear you had such a small group, but glad Matt was there and got his gift. Hope he liked it!

PS: Your photo links are all giving me an error: You don't have permission to access /jons/pictures4/meetup_jon.jpg on this server.
posted by anastasiav at 11:11 PM on December 28, 2003

Oops. Are they working now?
posted by y6y6y6 at 11:18 PM on December 28, 2003

Are they working now?

Yep. Lovely portraits. And a cute Penguin, too!
posted by anastasiav at 11:23 PM on December 28, 2003

Oooooh, Batgrl really doesn't like that photo of herself....
(I only had one beer. Really. One.)

Yes, we were sworn to remain silent as to the secrets. Which were so incredibly secret that I've forgotten them.
(I only had one beer. Really. One.)

The penguin plans to attend the LA Meetup in January. Where he will again be available for photo ops.
posted by batgrlHG at 11:32 PM on December 28, 2003

WooWoo! Well done, again, y6y6y6.
posted by nthdegx at 12:17 AM on December 29, 2003

I propose a mathowie number (similar to an Erdos number)

If you've had drinks with mathowie you get a mathowie number of 1. If you've had drinks with someone who has had drinks with mathowie, your mathowie number is 2. And so on...
posted by vacapinta at 12:40 AM on December 29, 2003

The San Diego meetup extravaganza was a success. We were expecting 20-30 people from around the Southern California region. Unfortunately only BatGrlHG, y6y6y6, LionIndex, and Matt where able to make it.

O.K. Let met get this straight. You were expecting 20 to 30 people but instead got 4 (in reality only three members plus the MAN).

And its a success.

What exactly would constitute a failure? 2? I'm just sayin'...
posted by Dennis Murphy at 1:12 AM on December 29, 2003

Hope ya enjoy your holiday Matt. Lord knows, you deserve it.

Dennis, I attended a mefi meetup in oxford 18 months ago - only I turned up...
posted by dash_slot- at 5:30 AM on December 29, 2003

"What exactly would constitute a failure?"

Well, you know, if we hadn't had a good time.

I should add that Matt said he'd probably be taking the trip in the June-August time frame. So we'll have to wait for that. And he'll take lots of pictures with the camera "we" bought him.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:01 AM on December 29, 2003

oops, photos not working again.

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /jons/pictures4/meetup_jon.jpg on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:02 AM on December 29, 2003

Pictures mirrored here.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:08 AM on December 29, 2003

Is Matt *really* as tall as you indicate, Jon? And kudos on having such a great time.
posted by davidmsc at 7:50 AM on December 29, 2003

What camera were those pics taken with?
posted by goethean at 7:55 AM on December 29, 2003

Is Matt *really* as tall as you indicate, Jon?

I'm 6'5" and he was right up there with me.
posted by LionIndex at 8:00 AM on December 29, 2003

Yes, Matt really is about 7' 6". And he obviously spends a great deal of time lifting weights in the gym. The man is huge. If people met him they wouldn't give him as much grief as they do here. He could easy squash us like bugs.

We were all very impressed.

The pictures were taken with a Canon D60. The light was bad so I ended up shooting at 400 ISO, so slightly grainy. Getting BatgrlHG to sit still proved daunting, so she ended up with the harsh flash. And I'd had a bit to drink, otherwise the pics would be a bit better.
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:02 AM on December 29, 2003

And he shoots lightning bolts from his arse!

/Braveheart
posted by LionIndex at 8:07 AM on December 29, 2003

Crap. My girlfriend's brother made a surprise visit to town (he lives way out of town) so I did not make it. Next time!
posted by artlung at 9:43 AM on December 29, 2003

"What exactly would constitute a failure? 2?"

I was totally expecting for it to be me, y6, and the penguin. So anyone showing up was going to be greeted with great surprise/welcome.

Since we met up in a sportsbar I think everyone was trying to figure out what team MeFi was, with a penguin for a mascot. Also Matt missed us the first circle round the room, so I was able to follow a stranger outside, show him a stuffed penguin and say "if I said MetaFilter would you know what I was talking about." Or I said something like that anyway. (One. Only one beer.)

And yeah, we missed you folk that couldn't make it. But hey, there's always next month in LA, right?
posted by batgrlHG at 9:53 AM on December 29, 2003

"if I said MetaFilter would you know what I was talking about."

We should have MetaFilter stickers. Available to active MeFiites. It'd be very interesting to be oot and aboot on vacation, looking at the Grand Canyon, say, and have someone recognize the sticker and start a conversation.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:10 AM on December 29, 2003

don't need stickers. just say out loud, "i'm going to blog this!" and see who looks around. Then say, "i bet i could find some great links in the metafilter archives!" and see if anyone looks.

and then slink away alone, like i do....perhaps stickers would be easier. cheaper than shirts.
posted by th3ph17 at 10:28 AM on December 29, 2003

I actually wear my MetaFilter baseball shirt out quite a bit. No one ever says anything about it.
posted by y6y6y6 at 10:36 AM on December 29, 2003

Why does LionIndex look so pensive, BatGirl so inebriated and y6³ so geeky while Matt is, as always, just Matt?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:05 AM on December 29, 2003

NO really, it was just one drink...
The penguin drank the other 12....
posted by batgrlHG at 12:58 PM on December 29, 2003

I'm supposed to not look pensive?
posted by LionIndex at 2:12 PM on December 29, 2003

don't listen to bill. pensive + wire-rim glasses = the need to club away hordes of helpless admirers.
posted by clever sheep at 2:54 PM on December 29, 2003

Yes, clever sheep, I could see those hordes straining against the bouncers at the edge of his pic.
posted by billsaysthis at 3:42 PM on December 29, 2003

So, was matt happy with the present? thrilled? pissed at miguel about it? is it not what he wanted? wrong size? color? ....
posted by amberglow at 3:56 PM on December 29, 2003

"So, was matt happy with the present?"

He was blown away. The reaction was a bit muted since he knew what it was already. But he certainly was thrilled.

It turns out hordes of people had IM'd and emailed him asking what sorts of things he might want if he had a few thousand dollars to spend. Iceland wasn't one of the things he mentioned, so it was a total surprise.
posted by y6y6y6 at 4:07 PM on December 29, 2003

I guess I should add that, yes, it was exactly what he wanted. Just not something he would ever ask for. Gift gold.
posted by y6y6y6 at 4:09 PM on December 29, 2003

Who came up with the Iceland idea, anyway? Not exactly an intuitive choice, I would think.
posted by konolia at 4:24 PM on December 29, 2003

Gift gold.
perfect! : >

konolia: Mrs. Matt...it was one of the things on her list.
posted by amberglow at 4:32 PM on December 29, 2003

y6y6y6: I was struck with the quality of the photos. I have a terrible time getting good pictures indoors w/o flash (which aren't good anyway, as flash is not natural light). What are your tips? Tripod? Can you recall your f-stop & shutter speed? Were your subjects on drugs that enabled them to sit still?
posted by msacheson at 5:22 PM on December 29, 2003

"What are your tips?"

Hmmmm....... Well........ This is embarassing......

Remember that Canon 50mm 1.4 lens I dissed in AskMe a couple weeks ago? That's the trick. So to get shots like that you need to go buy a one-trick-pony $600 lens.

The shots were about 1/30 sec at f/1.4 and 400 ISO. I took several to try and get at least one that was sharp.
posted by y6y6y6 at 5:33 PM on December 29, 2003

Yeah, it's the 1.4 lens I'm missing. The lowest my digital (Nikon Coolpix 4300) goes is 2.8, and while it can do ISO 400, I need a shutter speed of about 1/4 - 1/2 sometimes inside.

Sorry to hijack the thread with these photo questions, but one more: do you find 1/30 fast enough for hand held? What's your line: 1/15; 1/8; etc.? (sorry, that was 2 questions)
posted by msacheson at 6:05 PM on December 29, 2003

You have cameras.

I didn't have a ride to the Gettin' Jiggy in SanDiggy event; I was almost tempted to use the always-unreliable Wendellmobile, but about six hours before the scheduled start, its brakes failed (I survived, but you are all suspects...).

(Matt) shoots lightning bolts from his arse!
In that case, I'm lucky I wasn't there...

And yeah, we missed you folk that couldn't make it. But hey, there's always next month in LA, right?
I'm still accepting suggestions for a freeway-close (and for me, public-transit-accessible) location for a January 10th or 11th assemblage.

We should have MetaFilter stickers.
azul has already made MeFi buttons, and has offered to provide them to attendees of MeFiSoCalWenCom '04 IF I can provide him with a semi-accurate projection of attendance... I wouldn't want anybody to go to the trouble of producing 25 of anything if only 4 attend... (but then y6y6y6=18, right?) I'm working on other possible swag and tempting tidbits, and I will be bringing my own penguin (I'd like to promise a guy who draws penguins, but that would be false advertising).

"What are your tips?"
I try to stay between 18 and 22 percent... But I'm usually not the one buying.
*rimshot*
Imagine being entertained by that kind of repartee all evening... Maybe I'll have to be the one buying.
posted by wendell at 7:14 PM on December 29, 2003

SoCal == where?
posted by five fresh fish at 7:51 PM on December 29, 2003

southern california, fff

wendell and whoever else goes to MFSCWenCom: take lots of pics : >
posted by amberglow at 8:00 PM on December 29, 2003

Just curious: how does one learn of these events (or would I already know if I were invited... ;)
posted by electro at 8:19 PM on December 29, 2003

I think you just watch MeTa for them electro--where are you? everyone who lives anywhere near any meetup is invited...they're fun!
posted by amberglow at 8:20 PM on December 29, 2003

Sorry, had to go make dinner....

I'm in LA, amberglow; thanks for asking. I guess I never read MeTa unless there's a callout or I'm really bored (which is my excuse today). I'll make a point of it in the future.
posted by electro at 10:01 PM on December 29, 2003

OK... typing y6³ takes more time and effort than typing y6y6y6. I'm just sayin'...
posted by nthdegx at 12:39 AM on December 30, 2003

I just got off a plane, here's a shot I took of jon (kinda blown out looking on a mac, probably too dark for a PC), and here's one of batgirl that came out really good and it was a total accident (I was using jon's 28-135 lens for this one and testing out the full on zoom + image stabilization in low light).
posted by mathowie at 12:55 AM on December 30, 2003

Cool stuff. But I'm still wondering how you could manage to not spot that shirt. How much time did you spend working on that in Photoshop? Should we have been reduced to getting your attention by attacking you with a stuffed penguin? I think not.
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:11 AM on December 30, 2003

But I enjoy attacking people with a stuffed penguin. Think of what a wonderful excuse this gives me...
posted by batgrlHG at 10:52 AM on December 30, 2003

Remember that Canon 50mm 1.4 lens I dissed in AskMe a couple weeks ago? That's the trick. So to get shots like that you need to go buy a one-trick-pony $600 lens.

y6, I was just going to drive down all the way down from Berkeley (!) that day to show you what the 1.4 was capable of. (Was supposed to visit my parents for the holidays sooner or later anyways.) Got caught up with some errands though and couldn't make it. Next time!

BTW the 50/1.8 is $70, 50/1.4 is $300. It's so hard to do available darkness shots with a zoom.
posted by DaShiv at 2:40 PM on December 30, 2003

What do you guys think about Mountain Bar in Chinatown for the LA get-together? Easy freeway and public transit access (Red and Gold Lines).
posted by 4easypayments at 8:10 PM on December 31, 2003

Works for me. But this is the San Diego thread.
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:22 PM on December 31, 2003

heavens forbid something is mentioned in the
San Diego thread.
that has nothing to do with 4 strangers in a bar.
posted by clavdivs at 8:10 AM on January 1, 2004

The San Diego Thread is sacrosanct and inviolable.

DO NOT TAUNT THE SAN DIEGO THREAD!!!!!!!!!
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:22 AM on January 1, 2004