Comments on: Toronto Meetup

Toronto Meetup

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:19:20 -0800

Last reminder! Toronto meetup tonight!

We have space reserved under the name Metafilter.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:20:05 -0800

are you guys gonna let Ottawa get away with trashing you? : >

By: livii

livii — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:40:13 -0800

Hey! I'll have you know, amber, that I was the one who suggested a shoutout for you, knowing that you love Canada. This is the thanks I get? Harrumph. ;)

I didn't write that sign, I just volunteered to hold it. Big difference. Plus, I completely disavow the hockey sign, being a die-hard Leafs fan. So, y'know, I'm safe, right?

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:43:08 -0800

I didn't mean it. Honest. Just "joking" around.

But seriously. The T Dot? Who came up with that shit. Shawn Desman? Oh wait.

HA HA!

Mister DJ come on and turn it up
This is how we rock it in the T-Dot

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:48:02 -0800

shh, livii--i know--i'm just instigating ; >

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 16:01:10 -0800

We have space reserved under the name Metafilter.

Okay, but how did you pronounce it when reserving?

Maybe I'll just carry a sign.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 16:12:38 -0800

I spelled it :P

Leaving the house now :D

By: loquax

loquax — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 17:55:43 -0800

But seriously. The T Dot? Who came up with that shit. Shawn Desman? Oh wait.

That's a really good question. The first time I remember hearing it was part of a series of Nike ads on the subway, maybe around the time the Raptors arrived.

And it is a horrible horrible nickname.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 20:15:47 -0800

Thanks, people, it was a lot of fun. Good beer, good turnout, and they served peas with my fish—kickass! Sorry I had to leave early.

By: nprigoda

nprigoda — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 20:42:30 -0800

sorry I missed it, looking forward to the next one, hopefully!

By: stonerose

stonerose — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 23:31:40 -0800

Well, that ended up being an interesting evening... in the OMGWTF sense. A heated discussion on gay marriage ended up with 4 people storming out of the bar... we saw the room turn into white text on a blue background right in front of our eyes. Many of those in attendance expressed regret at not having brought the official shout out pad 'n' pen... It was difficult to express disdain for Ottawa without these implements. Numerous drinks and platters of deep-fried food later, we exited the bar to find that one MeFite's car had been totalled - while sitting in a parking lot - by a completely sober driver. Three other cars were damaged.

All in all, a memorably ribald, drunken, contentious, funny, and generally good-humored event. Jacquilynne, we sincerely hope your next week is way, way, way less eventful.

Shepd has pics on the way.

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:11:55 -0800

... more details please! (that sounds fucking awesome! Mayhap the T-Dot isn't so bad after all!)

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 02:00:11 -0800

Oh, yeah, it was a fucking laugh a minute. Really. I especially enjoyed the two hours of standing around in the cold waiting for the cops to not show up. The bigoted guy in the jag was a blast, too. Oooh! Plus the hour of listening to the tow truck driver try to convince me to let him charge me a fortune to tow my car to a garage that would give him kickbacks. Then the hour at the reporting center, that was really fucking awesome. Truly.

The meet-up itself was hella fun. I enjoyed meeting everyone, even the people who stormed out during the argument (though, uh, except for non-mefite Tom, I don't remember who any of them were, sorry). My extra thanks go to stonerose, gesumtewhatever, orange swan and dirtynumbangelboy for standing about in the cold with me and being supportive while I threw a fit of hysteria in the parking lot.

By: Big Fat Tycoon

Big Fat Tycoon — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 04:21:19 -0800

T-Dot is just a shortened form of T.O., which has been Toronto, Ontario's nickname for years and years. I think Maestro (back when he was Maestro Fresh Wes) was one of the first people I really heard using it on a track.

By: joelf

joelf — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 06:20:03 -0800

sorry i couldn't make it. I was busy with my hobby of totalling cars in parking lots...

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 06:36:19 -0800

Seriously: people stormed out after an argument? Wow. I've been to a fair number of meetups now and there's never even been an argument that I remember; even the perennially touchy subject of "whose turn is it to buy a round?" gets resolved with a wink and a nod. I'll never think of Toronto as staid again.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:44:41 -0800

That was one hell of a night.

Next time, my apartment, BYOB, and we'll watch movies :D

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:07:48 -0800

And all we were complaining about was a 45-minute wait for a table.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:49:49 -0800

Jacquilynne, we sincerely hope your next week is way, way, way less eventful.

I'll second that. Your car was totaled? That's terrible.

But yes, before that... a fun night. Great to meet everyone. See y'all next time for more beer, onion rings and fried ice cream.

Watching the folks storm out was completely bizarre.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:50:26 -0800

pics? (any pics of people storming out?)

sounds like some night! : >

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 08:55:26 -0800

I'm kinda not surprised. I was only there for a couple of hours, and there'd already been two or three involved discussions to my left. Fortunately, I had some wonderful people to my right and across who were perfectly willing to talk about non-volatile topics like Wisconsin.

Sorry to hear about the car, jacquilynne!

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:00:14 -0800

shepd took pictures, but he said he'd have to "develop" them before he could post 'em. Not sure what he meant by "develop". Maybe "photoshop"?

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:31:07 -0800

Maybe I'll have a fake beard photoshopped over my real beard.

Or maybe we'll all have Admiral Akbar heads or something.

*crosses fingers and hopes for none of the above*

By: livii

livii — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:34:55 -0800

Sorry to hear that, jacquilynne! Well, I guess the Ottawa crew was showed.

By: stonerose

stonerose — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:38:58 -0800

As we await pictures, I'd like to clear up a few misconceptions:

Fuzzy Monster: Fuzzy, not monstrous.

DrJohnEvans: Not a Dr., not John Evans.

dirtynumbangelboy: Dirty and boy, yes; increasingly numb as the night went on. No angel.

By: gesamtkunstwerk

gesamtkunstwerk — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:16:20 -0800

It was nice to talk to so many nice mefites. We'll have to do it again soon, if for no other reason than to celebrate the end of Jacquilynne's streak of bad luck.

The bigoted guy in the jag was a blast, too. (Bigot guy was a truly creepy end to the evening. Here's hoping he doesn't come to the next meetup.)

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:36:08 -0800

Sorry to hear about the car-trashing! What a crappy thing to have to deal with, especially that late at night. On the plus side, I had a great time meeting you all, and thanks for the quality gab.

The mass walkout was a bit surreal, though...Fuzzy and I had more or less just arrived and weren't even aware there was a dispute ongoing until everyone got up and left.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:44:42 -0800

Yeah, sorry for ignoring you there, stonerose—I'm just not used to responding to this name at all, ya know?

Also, they were excellent fries.

By: shepd

shepd — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:19:21 -0800

Pictures will be here soon! They're in the 1 hour photomat! Hope they don't look like hell. I shoulda practiced more.

By: shepd

shepd — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:21:48 -0800

I missed a heated discussion? WTF? Fucking $1.00 per half hour parking made me miss that? ARGH. I would have LOVED to take pictures of the people storming out. :-(

I wish I had been there to take pics of the car wreck too. So sorry to hear about that, but it would have made an interesting set of photos. DAMN. Oh well.

By: shepd

shepd — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:32:26 -0800

Pictures. Yes, I learned to use a better flash and better film. Don't remind me.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:58:36 -0800

The page doesn't seem to be loading for me, shepd.

By: stonerose

stonerose — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 16:02:46 -0800

ditto

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 16:10:11 -0800

Although the URL is very nice indeed.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 16:16:17 -0800

Ah! There we go. Very nice!

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 16:25:57 -0800

Who is who!?!?

By: Shane

Shane — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 17:10:21 -0800

sorry I missed it, looking forward to the next one, hopefully!

What he said. Bummer. Anyone up for late March? I'll be in town then.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 22:18:19 -0800

I didn't catch the usernames of some of the people I didn't get to talk to (sorry, guys!), but I'll fill in who I can (left to right):

I am the least qualified person to be labelling these; I'm awful with the whole face-name connection thing. My sincerest apologies if any of this is wrong. To the PWUIDC's: I owe you a pint next time.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 06:08:56 -0800

jacquilynne, DrJohnEvans, dirtynumbangelboy

This one isn't even a bad picture of me! If there's a better quality scan of that one, shep, I'd love a copy. Then I can stop using the current picture of me that I use everywhere, which was taken in a bar, and is thus moderately inappropriate for many of the things I use it for and replace it with this picture of me, which was taken in a bar and is thus moderately inappropriate for many of the things I would like to use it for.

By: shepd

shepd — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:52:37 -0800

LOL jacquilynne.

Here's the full negative scan of that picture from the photo lab, jacquilynne.

For those who had trouble accessing the pics, my server reacts badly to load (on purpose... I need some bandwidth too! thanks thttpd). It will be fine now, I'm sure. :-D

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 10:07:07 -0800

Nice photos, shepd. Cheers!

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 18:01:14 -0800

For those of you keeping track, my car has been returned to me all fixed and shiny, and while I've been forced to pay the deductable, the insurance company still expects to return that money to me.

By: Ms Snit

Ms Snit — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:00:42 -0800

Sounds like lots of fun and mayhem ensued... I'll try to get my arse to the next meetup.