Looks like the site has been left unattended for a few hours, which always makes me nervous, but there seemed to be no misbehavior or drama on the last few open threads. I’m chomping down on a disgusting late night hot pocket and getting ready for about 6 hours sleep before the first panel in the am.
Tonight was a lot of fun. I’m not surprised, but I am kind of amused by how many smart, committed, decent people there are out there who read this website. It was a trip down memory lane for a while, talking about my former wingnut days (and I made sure I credited the poorman, the bradrocket, and atrios for mocking me so much that I decided the easiest way to no longer be named the wanker of the day was to stop being a wanker, but that simplifies things). What shocked me was how much fun everyone was. It was really a good time, and anytime I travel anywhere from here on out I will make sure we schedule a meet.
There were some uncomfortable moments- someone “thanked me for my service” and that, as always, made me cringe. I served because I was failing out of college, smoking tons of pot, playing lacrosse, chasing sorority girls, and going to lots of dead shows. Military service did more for me than I ever did for it. Likewise, a few people said thanks for all you do with the blog, and that always makes me feel uncomfortable because I don’t do anything. Babbling incoherently on topics I am not an expert while dropping a few f-bombs and mentioning how much I love Tunch and Lily and Rosie and now Zsa Zsa (who doesn’t- they are fucking ADORABLE) doesn’t really feel like I am doing anything. You all do all the work. You’re the ones who donated to OFA, you all are the ones who have raised thousands of dollars for CAAR and MARC. You all did that, not me.
The best part of the night was watching all the bonds being formed, and I think there is a solid chance there will be Austin BJ meet-ups in the future (maybe every month!) and they can continue to work on the relationships and friendships that started tonight.
It was fun. Being out of the shell is good. And Ronnie Roo and Sandia Blanca are simply two of the sweetest human beings on the planet. I briefly thought about offing Grumpy Code Monkey but then decided I didn’t want to move to Austin.
Oh, and the super cute Evelyn DeHais, who is young as hell but an old soul (SHE IS ON THE BLOG ROLL ABOVE EZRA KLEIN and will laugh when she sees this), who made the original Tunch Feed logo, wants to do updates for the store because it has been five years and like all artists she hates all her earlier work. And if there are single guys (or girls- I didn’t ask) in Austin, why are you not hitting on her? Sweet jeebus, you morons.
I’m off to bed. I’m tired, contented, and the only thing that could make this night better would be Lily snoring in my ear and drooling in my armpit, which even though that sounds disgusting is actually my favorite thing in the world. I love that dog so much it hurts.
Santiago
About damn fucking time!
sharl
Awesome post.
Sleep well.
Csbella
Sweetness. Now I’ll go snuggle with my spoo.
Calouste
So Cole, why didn’t you hit on Evelyn? She might want to move to West Virginia, you never know until you ask.
bago
Has anyone else played the final dlc for Mass Effect 3? If you love the characters it’s a big sloppy kiss goodbye to them. I’m lookin at you Wrex.
Joey Maloney
THE LIBERAL APOCALYPSE IS UPON US!!!!
Newly married Wash. gay couple seeks pot license
Chris
Speaking of thepoorman, whatever happened to him. We nearly lost tbogg, can’t be an Internet without one of them
Anne Laurie
Well, next time you’re in New England (hahahahaha)…
dance around in your bones
Well, Comrade Mary and I were about to arm-wrestle over who gets Grumpy Code Monkey before we realized he belonged to RonnieRoo, so there’s that. (Sorry, RonnieRoo!)
What you have done with this blog is 1)personally being honest in public(even when you were a wingnut wanker you came across as honest – yes, I have read all the old stuff) and 2)keeping it going and 3)allowing people to shoot their mouths off w/o ban-hammering them.
That has fostered an open and committed commentariat/community/buncha nutballs who are very entertaining to read, and makes it fun to hang around here. It is quite an accomplishment, so don’t sell yourself short in that department.
I’m glad to see you peeking out of your shell and actually meeting some of the very fine folks who inhabit this place. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to do the same thing.
Love, DAIYB (w/the fucking insomnia again)
(Do they still make knock-out drops? where can one get a Mickey Finn on purpose?)
WereBear
Well, this was just the impetus I needed to order a giant Tunch/Overlords mug while it is still 1st gen.
Thanks for the heads up!
sharl
@Chris: I think Real Life basically happened to thepoorman. He wrote the blog mostly while he was in graduate school, then – I don’t remember the order things happened – he got married and got a job, I suspect a pretty good one in Silicon Valley or some similar high-tech enclave. I think a baby came along at some point, before he totally discontinued posting himself.
He erased himself pretty well from the internet, although he couldn’t get to places where others mentioned details about him. Just the same, probably a smart thing for him to do, since his excellent blogging history may not have been so well received by employers (dangerous to assume otherwise).
Who knows? He did inquire a couple times – with a somewhat irritated tone, I thought – as to whether someone was willing to pick up the slack on at least that Komix thing he did (wish I could remember the full name; I actually have a hard copy of the self-published book he did too, somewhere). That led me to think he was planning to move on for some time before he actually did.
As for TBogg, I’m just grateful for every post he’s willing to do. With few breaks, he’s been at it for a long time, and I wouldn’t blame him for going on hiatus, or hanging it up completely. I sure hope he doesn’t, though.
raven
Man, without red hair Evelyn look exactly like one of the folks that swims at the same time as I do at the Y!
Debbie(aussie)
So glad John enjoyed the meet up.
Any plans on visiting downunder, Qld preferably:)
raven
@Debbie(aussie): My friends moved from Safety Bay to Sydney and one is attending UNSW COFA.
geg6
Anyone notice that Cole says he’ll do meetups when he’s traveling? I bet he doesn’t consider his many trips slightly north to the big city to be “traveling”. Yes, I am bitter.
I DEMAND A PITTSBURGH MEETUP!
NotMax
BTW Mr. Cole, in case you should read this, new patch for WoW dropped Tuesday — big doings in new area of Pandaria if you’ve got any level 90 characters..
geg6
Got about four inches last night and Cole should be glad to be in Austin because they said it got much worse just a bit south. It’s kinda funny because it’s still coming down but you can also hear it melting at the same time. It’s 33F now and going up to almost 40 today. I sure hope this is the last of it.
raven
@NotMax: Smile when you say that.
Debbie(aussie)
@raven:
Hope they like it.
Just like the US Aus is BIG. Sydney is about 1000kms from Brisbane(SE Qld)or nine hours by road.
raven
We have 25 mph winds and it’s 34 out, the pups may now want to go for a long walk!
raven
@Debbie(aussie): I watched Burke and Wills the other night, talk about a long walk!
eta, I remember when we flew into Darwin and thought we were there. Two beers and they closed the R&R center and it was back on the plane for the flight to Sydney!
Ash Can
@geg6: Did you see his comment in one of the meet-up threads (the first one, IIRC) where he said he intended to drive to Pittsburgh and take you out to dinner?
Linda Featheringill
BTW, Nate Silver has an interesting piece on the new pope. Aside from Turkson from Ghana, other front runners are Italian.
Turkson is probably a PITA but at least he’s interesting.
[Yes, God invented the papacy just to entertain me. Didn’t you know that?]
geg6
@Ash Can:
Um, no I didn’t. Guess I’ll shut up now. LOL!
Suffern ACE
@geg6: it has been hurting him as much as it hurts you, scientific research shows. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2288575/Giving-cold-shoulder-It-painful-researchers-claim.html
chopper
i hope there’s another NYC meetup before i move this summer. unless there’s a huge BJ contingent in SLO i don’t know about.
Lokahi
Now that Mr. Brady the Cat succeeded in getting me out of bed by dropping one of @WereBear‘s Stinky Sox toys on my head…
…here’s a second to Cole’s love note to Evelyn DeHais, @SquareSquid, and to Lolis and Marcelo and so many others my age-addled brain can’t dredge out of diminished memory. Hope this happens again, w/ or w/out Mr. Cole.
And sincere thanks to Mr. Cole for being willing to make this one happen in the first place.
Bobby Thomson
@Chris: The Editors stopped blogging a long time ago, not long after marrying Mrs. The Editors. Sifu Tweety was running the store but infrequently.
oldster
You sound happy, Cole, and I’m happy that you are happy.
kindness
So are you gonna stay for the festival next week John? You should.
Keith G
So…
Eric Holder is giving me one reason to root for the crazy that is Rand Paul.
Thanks Eric.
Baud
@Keith G:
Can’t we compromise and agree only to carry out drone strikes against Rand Paul?
Va Highlander
@John Cole:
Oh, horse shit, John! You can’t claim that you don’t do anything after you just admitted that leaving the blog unattended makes you nervous. If you didn’t fret like that, this place would be a waste of pixels.
On top of what you do and write yourself, you have assembled a team of smart, incisive front pagers, and together you’ve attracted one of the more savvy and sassy quasi-political communities I know. You and the Juicers have given me hope during some really dark days. You have actually made me feel like there is a political future for decent people and that it’s worth fighting for.
Your humility is endearing but a little perspective, please.
Mark B.
Evelyn is indeed adorable, and quite entertaining to talk to. I pretty much enjoyed talking to everyone I met last night.
I think I was one of the people who thanked John. The thing that I really respect is that he has not just been honest and open, but he’s had the energy to post every day and also spend time with site maintenance and administrivia. Its really hard to keep that level of commitment for years, and it provides a focal point for the community of lurkers, commenters, and other front pagers. Good job, John!
Cassidy
This. Absolutely this. Because all the poor people, gays, women, and minorities who are and would be negatively affected by the policies of Paul the Dumber don’t matter in comparison to the DROOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNEEEEEEEZZZZZZ!
Hawes
Modesty and kindness become you. You should wear them more often.
Like pants.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Okay, we’ve learned something about what makes John uncomfortable.
So at the next meetup, don’t thank him for shit. Instead tell him what an asshole he was helping elect Dubya not once but twice. Then get him trashy drunk, take him to a tattoo parlor and get a swastika planted on his forehead.
That’ll teach him to be ungrateful when people compliment him in person. :P
mai naem
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Getting a Bush/Cheney sticker tattoo will embarrass him more than a swastika.
Baud
@Cassidy:
Wyden opposes drones. Why doesn’t anyone ever say, Fuck Holder, I’m supporting Wyden? Why do they always turn to the most loathsome of Republicans?
R-Jud
@mai naem: No, I think a Minnesota Vikings or other not-Steelers tat would be worse.
WereBear
So pleased everyone is (ahem) enjoying it!
Anyone curious, just click on my nym for site.
Dave C
@bago:
I’ve started it, but not finished. I think I’m actually going to have to start over, because I’m playing with a “renegade” character who has unfortunately let many of her friends (e.g., Wrex, Tali, etc.) die, so I don’t think I can get the full…er…effect of the DLC with this character. Luckily, I have like 3 more I can use.!
wormtown
@Anne Laurie: Yes, Please!!! I would gladly chip in for a plane ticket to fly you up here.
Gex
Please give yourself more credit on this blog thing. You yourself will note how great this little community is. You curated that. And my God, how hugely important was that for me these last couple months? Huge.
Face it, you done good. Even if by accident. It comes from you so you still get credit.
noodler
Amen Brother. My reply to this is always, “It’s my pleasure, really” 24 years, Navy Commander.
Nice picture, with props to the Shiner Bock. Spent some time in San Antonio during Flight School.
“Snowquestration” here in DC, with nary an inch on the ground. Fed’s closed today, which sucks since that means my classes at the Foreign Service Institute are cancelled today as well, and I am in the last month of Arabic language training (I joined the Foreign Service after the Navy). I could do flash cards all day, or catch up on the blog.
Cassidy
@Baud: Because it must all be burned down for the true utopia to rise up.
Cassidy
@noodler: I keep trying to get my brother to look into Foriegn Service. He’s a Chinese language major living in China right now. Problem is, because I was a Combat Arms Army guy, I think he assumes that everything I suggest to him is some kind of Hooah, high speed-low drag type of thing.
RoonieRoo
It’s been quite a few years since someone had wanted to off my husband. Ha. Plus, it made my Grumpy Code Monkey blush to have the BJ women wanted to wrestle for him on the thread.
Today is Grumpy’s birthday and last night was a great pre-birthday evening for him. I met so many amazing people and I know both Grumpy and I really want to do this again. It was one of those nights that reminds me of why we live in Austin.
noodler
@Cassidy: Joining the FS is at least a year long process, so tell him to at least register for and take the Foreign Service Officer test, (then essays, then orals, then security and med clearances….) so it’s a long process with a lot of off ramps, if it’s not what he wants. If he’s got mandarin under his belt, that is a BIG plus.
Being in China, he’s already go the wanderlust bug working for him, I’ve lived all over the world, and prefer being out there in the great big world, and making a difference.
More than happy to provide advice offline.
gogol's wife
@RoonieRoo:
Yes, he’s really cute!
Jane2
@WereBear: I have to figure out a way to smuggle them into Canada.
Cassidy
@noodler: Cool. I’ll keep that in the back. Unfortunately, he hasn’t show any interest even though what he’s told me he wants to do is right in line. He’s getting a minor or dual major in business and said something about working in underdeveloped nations to develop business and agriculture, etc. Personally, I think FS would be perfect for him, but his life, not mine.
chris
Thanks for the Poorman update. I miss that guy’s voice.
Also, wondering if I should worry that getting married didn’t make me abandon blogs like The Poorman.
Kristine
I would love a Chicago meet-up.
You run an online neighborhood bar, Cole. There’s a room for families in the back and in one corner a set-up for gamers. The kind of place you can bring your pets. Name-calling and fights and then we all get together to take up a collection to pay for surgery for a pupster or kitteh.
::hums theme from Cheers::
dance around in your bones
@RoonieRoo:
♫ Happy Birthday, Dear Grumpy….and keep having fun with RonnieRoo ♪♫
Dang, I still woulda liked to wrestle with Comrade Mary (because she seems pretty cool,too)
Omnes Omnibus
@Kristine: Speaking of… We are running low on good scotch.
Maude
@Gex:
Hey, you’re here as a regular, John must be doing something right.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@gogol’s wife:
Never underestimate the power of a crappy camera phone to distort reality (like Cole, I possess an almost preternatural ability to slap down a compliment whenever it gets within spitting distance).
Oh, and Evelyn’s only been in Austin a few weeks, so nobody’s really had time to hit on her (although I think I heard her mention a boyfriend, so that’s probably moot). But she hit me with a reality stick during our conversation last night, and while I know she doesn’t enjoy being angry all the time, we need her and people like her to be angry, primarily because they have the right to be angry, and because angry people do something.
Too many of my generation drank the Reagan kool-aid and enabled our current headlong rush into neo-feudalism. We need the younger folk to point this out.
Square Squid
@raven:
I just dyed my hair red last week, so that could be me. I do swim at the Y!
Definitely not single, but appreciate the shout out. Cole said he’d do another meetup tonight (BUT I CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE), and I’m trying to convince my boyfriend to come along. I don’t have any friends in Austin, so it was super nice to meet folks. All of the Juicers especially @grumpycodemonkey, @Lohaki and Hannah (@Markelos’ wife) are super fun/nice people, and Cole bought us all whiskey… TWICE. Whaaaat.
I will now most likely re-resume my lurker status, but I would definitely like to update the BJ store in the next couple of months, so that we can save more animals with art.
Dennis
Cole, you probably didn’t do Evelyn any favors with your exhortation to random people to hit on her.
Cue the Stalkers!
Just Some Fuckhead
Except Madison, freaks.
Marcelo
My wife and I had an AWESOME time last night. Everywhere we turned there were wonderful fascinating people who I wanted to get to know more of. Lohaki, Evelyn, Logan, Rob, Dr. PM, everyone I spoke to (I’m sure I missed people, I’m sorry!) – just super cool people. Let’s do this again soon.
John, it was an absolute pleasure meeting you. I hope you’re enjoying Austin as much as we enjoyed last night. I’m going to talk to my friends on the Psych crew and see if I can’t hook you up with some swag. Stay tuned.
Petorado
How could a person not have fun hanging out with members of the Harlotry and Necromancy Appreciation Society?
montanareddog
@Baud: Well said
LurkyLoo2
Would anyone be interested in a meetup in the San Francisco Bay Area?
I would love to meet some of my fellow/fella balloon-juicers :)
Chris
I’m assuming none of you muthafuggas are in London
Paul in KY
@R-Jud: How about Cleveland Browns?
Sandia Blanca
A few more remarks on last night’s gathering.
First, I was the cringe-inducer who thanked John for his service (and yes, it was both serious and tongue-in-cheek at the same time). He underestimates the value he’s brought to the blogosphere, but the fact that so many of us showed up on a weeknight (on very short notice) testifies to the importance we place on this blog and its proprietor. I heard some powerful stories last night about how this community has given people the safety to share their stories in public.
Second, I may need to frame this blog post to capture that compliment from John! And ditto what he said about RoonieRoo and Evelyn. Loved meeting Lokahi, Marcelo and his lovely wife, and both Matts.
Third, John really did wear shorts, so the verdict is still out on whether he owns pants.
Sandia Blanca
Oh! Forgot to mention that Grumpy Code Monkey and RoonieRoo are very cute together, so all the other ladies need to give it up.
Evelyn
It’s just a big old love fest on this blog now. Gross.
Sandia Blanca
@Evelyn: It helps if you remember that an “FU” from John is his version of “I (heart) U.”
Spike
@Paul in KY: Do the Browns even have a logo? Maybe a big ol’ Baltimore Raven instead.
A.J.
” I was failing out of college, smoking tons of pot, playing lacrosse, chasing sorority girls, and going to lots of dead shows.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.