Milblogger Conference
The Milblogger Conference was a remarkable experience, despite the exigencies of scheduling and over-indulgence which somewhat curtailed my ability to participate. I have rarely been in the presence of so many outstanding people all at once. The people I'd already met - Cat, Blackfive, ArmyWife, were their usual charming and intoxicated selves. And those I met for the first time at the pre conference drinking, the conference, or the after conference pub non-crawl without exception impressed me with their charm, enthusiasm, competence and desire to put themselves around as many alcoholic drinks as humanly possible. But I shouldn't give the impression that the whole thing was about drinking. That was just a useful and enjoyable side effect. The real work of the conference has been discussed elsewhere, but I'd especially like to single out a few of the many people I met.
Uncle Jimbo, from over at Blackfive, is exactly what you'd expect from reading his posts, only more so. An intensely fun and indeed loud individual. And seeing Matt again was every bit as nice as I imagined it would be. Stand up guys, the both of them.
Steve Schippert of ThreatsWatch.org, is a little more serious than Jimbo, but fascinating to talk to, and actually took the time to come up with a stunningly workable scheme to increase this humble website's readership. Even though I hadn't (despite the pleas of many) actually gotten around to reading Threatswatch until this morning, You can be sure that I will be a devotedly regular reader from now on.
Murdoc, of MurdocOnline, whose pages I have filled with drivel about UAVs, made the trek down from the untamed wilderness of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He totally pussed out on the Friday drinking, offering only a lame excuse – something about an eleven hour drive. And I of course had to bail early on the crawl. Hopefully, he can make it down to DC again, and if we are blessed with better weather, I will give him a real tour.
Deborah Scranton and Mike Moriarty, respectively the director and one of the cameramen/stars of the upcoming movie, The War Tapes. Next time I'm up near New Hampshire, I need to hang out with these people. Abandoning my conversation with Mike and Deborah was the most painful bit about bugging out for Easter. Go over and look at the previews.
There's some commentary trickling out, about the aftermath of the pub crawl, available here. And check out OpFor's podcast over here. I know they changed their name because the name "Officer's Club" was exclusionary, offensive and cumbersome. But the new name always reminds me of the eighth grade joke - "Hey man, there's a dikvor on your shoulder." But maybe that's just me.
A great time, and I wish I had been able to spend more time with everyone Saturday night.
on
| § 4
§ 4 Comments
[ You're too late, comments are closed ]
"Stunningly workable scheme".
"Stunningly workable scheme"...LOL...I'd rather say that it's stunningly simple...which is why I was able to figure it out in the first place. Think of it as Jarhead Assists Buckethead, Part I. Remember, John Noonan let the secret out on the panel that Marines can't read and write...which is why he types as I dictate.
On being more serious than Jimbo, ...nah...I'm just not as funny. See?
So...what you're telling me that Murdoc was around Saturday and I missed him? Why didn't you tell me on the street, you loser?
I know, I wussed out, too. For what it's worth, I got the dreaded root canal today. For two hours I had relief. Now that the novacaine has worn off, it's worse than ever.
Next time I head down DC way, use your telepathy and drop a line so we can go grab a cervesa. Or, when that fails, I may drop you a line to remind you to use your telepathy because I'm coming down.
Was cool hanging out Friday, laughing my arse off numbed by Rx Guiness. Thanks for the laughs.
Cheers.
Steve: I totally cannot
Steve: I totally cannot believe you were there on Saturday! I was even keeping an eye out because you were on my "must talk with extensively" list. And double that after your performance on your panel.
BH: Thanks for the whirlwind rained-out tour of the Mall. A couple shaky-cam shots of a couple of the monuments while dodging puddles makes it all worthwhile!
And when I walked out of the pub that night I was suddenly struck by "oh, crap...I wasn't even paying attention to where we came from" syndrome. But I made it.
Steve, you are confusing my
Steve, you are confusing my fellow bloggers by your inconsiderate use of my given name. But I'll let it slide, for now. Perhaps you can come up with a more colorful nom de net, like "threatguy" or "the toothless wonder."
If you'd been serious about drinking, you would have arranged to have that root canal in the afternoon on Saturday - that way, you could have attended the conference, had the drilling done, and then started drinking while the anaesthetic was still working. You'd have had a gentle handoff from the pain-killing medical drugs to the pain-killing nice tasting drinks.
The funny thing about Jimbo is that he is a kind of serious, in a completely unserious manner, if you follow. Most anyone would appear less serious standing next to Jimbo, like most people would appear tall and handsome standing next to Harry Reid.
As for not letting you know about Murdoc, you were leaving the conference I was just getting to, which Murdoc (having not been drinking Friday) had been at the whole time. I figgered you'd met him already. Blame your tooth, not me.
Definitely, if your super secret threatwatch responsibilities bring you to DC, give me a holler and we'll put ourselves around some beamish, or guiness, or whatever alcoholic beverage seems like a good idea at the time.
Murdoc, it was great to be
Murdoc, it was great to be able to make fun of you in person after all these many moons making fun of you over teh internets.
Next time you're down, we'll do the national monuments the right way, in sunny weather with a flask of whisky.