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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Meetups and social events / And a Good Time Was Had By All

And a Good Time Was Had By All

by John Cole|  March 31, 201710:30 pm| 73 Comments

This post is in: Meetups and social events, Readership Capture

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Well, I hope so. I had a great time, and didn’t even feel anxious like I normally do at affairs like this, which speaks to the excellent company. I hope others have pictures because I just have, not surprisingly, a bunch of crappy ones.

And I don’t care what you say about EFGoldman, he’s ok in my book.

Also, if most people were as nice as everyone that showed up tonight, I would go out more often.

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Previous Post: « Let’s Check in With Cole’s Pet Sitter…
Next Post: Open Thread: Ivanka Discovers the Difference Between “Celebrity” and “Popularity” »

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    March 31, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    When are you going to come out to one of the gatherings in Washington. That isn’t even nearly as far from where you live as Boston is. We’ll be nice to you.

  2. 2.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 31, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    You walked out of the Madison, WI, one to play video golf.

  3. 3.

    hilts

    March 31, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    When do you plan to hold one of these meet-ups in New York City?

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 31, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    I would guess that a meetup featuring the Blogfather on the West Coast is just right out, even if it was relatively close to me in Track Town, USA. For one thing, way out west.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    March 31, 2017 at 10:48 pm

    Glad that you had a good time, Cole??

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    And I don’t care what you say about EFGoldman, he’s ok in my book.

    Wait, they let him out of “the home”?

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 31, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I am sure that Mrs. efg followed all procedures in signing him out.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    March 31, 2017 at 10:58 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Wait, what? Has Our Host said something about not wanting to travel westward?

    John, we on the Left Coast would *love* to see you. You don’t have to fly, if that’s the issue. If you don’t mind taking some extra time, traveling by train in a sleeper compartment is an excellent way to travel.

    Now, how you’d choose where to go – L.A.? S.F.? Portland? Seattle? – is another matter. Maybe you could make a tour of it :)

  9. 9.

    FlyingToaster

    March 31, 2017 at 10:58 pm

    Did you make it to Tosci’s?

    It was ice pellets all the way back to Watertown.

    Have a safe trip home!

  10. 10.

    FlyingToaster

    March 31, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    Oh, and he’s lying. We’re all jackals. Every last one of us.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 31, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: She even brought a fresh onion for his belt!

  12. 12.

    Jim Bales

    March 31, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    I was delighted to attend — loved meeting good folk, and putting a few faces to the handles in the comments!

    Jim

  13. 13.

    Lyrebird

    March 31, 2017 at 11:01 pm

    Could someone who was there keep an eye out for Steve in the ATL and give him sound advice re: renting a car (imnsho re: NOT renting a car) to drive BOS-Somerville? Since there are cabs in Porter Square and Alewife and since the Monsignor O’Brien Expressway thing exists, I recommend against driving in Somerville for nice folks from outside the Hub. And I gotta crash before he’s likely to show up.

  14. 14.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You walked out of the Madison, WI, one to play video golf.

    Some people can’t take a hint.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 31, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    @Lyrebird: He is a management side labor lawyer. Give him advice accordingly.

  16. 16.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    @FlyingToaster: I didn’t go. I just wanted to get back to the room.

  17. 17.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 31, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    Holy Shit

    UCONN down by 10 in 2nd half!!

    ESPN2

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 31, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @John Cole: Aside from my introducing myself to you when I arrived, we didn’t speak, I had a long and interesting conversation with kideni/singingtruthtopower. She’s rather cool. You were still drinking then.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 31, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hey yuse! Yncha not rent a car, see…

    How was that? Too union rough guy?

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 31, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @Jim Bales: Sorry I couldn’t make it, especially since I took a peek at the URL behind your nym. I took that lab mumble-mumble years ago – Doc was still there and popped in on occasion, but Charlie Miller was the primary instructor. Still have my negatives somewhere.

    But my drugs are taking hols, so it’s bedtime.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 31, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: If only they could have done this last week against the Ducks…

  22. 22.

    mai naem mobile

    March 31, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    So John I am assuming Anne Laurie didn’t stab you, resulting in a visit to Mass Genreal ER?

  23. 23.

    HRA

    March 31, 2017 at 11:10 pm

    Great to know you had a very good time.

  24. 24.

    FlyingToaster

    March 31, 2017 at 11:11 pm

    @John Cole: Can’t blame you. I left the goldmans and hangers on, skipped Tosci’s, and wended my way through the slush westward. Not slippery so much as just wet, and one river road completely covered with water — for those in the Hub, end of Greenough at Arsenal. Bleah. Tired now.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    March 31, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    Glad it was a success! Heading for bed, can’t wait for some more photos and stories tomorrow.

  26. 26.

    Lyrebird

    March 31, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks thanks. Can’t think of any wittier response…

    Oh phew, Adam’s on it!
    @Adam L Silverman: so thanks to you too! And good Shabbos!

  27. 27.

    Eric

    March 31, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    It was a great time. More ice in suburbs. Drive safely everyone.

  28. 28.

    Downpuppy

    March 31, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: You said that out loud.

  29. 29.

    Downpuppy

    March 31, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    @mai naem mobile: Annie Laurie has a smile a foot wide & left the pruning shears at home.

  30. 30.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2017 at 11:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: You can’t take mild ribbing can you…

  31. 31.

    John Cole

    March 31, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @FlyingToaster: I realized I was dehydrated halfway home. Wasn’t feeling the diet coke. Got a quart of vita coca and a six pack of diet ginger ale and drank the coconut water, two diet ginger ales, and a big glass of water and my headache is subsiding.

  32. 32.

    khead

    March 31, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Weekend furlough.

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    March 31, 2017 at 11:36 pm

    @John Cole: Wow. That is a lot of liquid. You must have been dehydrated.

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 31, 2017 at 11:45 pm

    @John Cole: Whatever. You were kind of a dick at the meet-up. Or you could say that was back when you were drinking and you are different now. And that is is cool. I’ve been here for years so taking a mild ribbing is something I can do.

  35. 35.

    mai naem mobile

    March 31, 2017 at 11:47 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: They really really didn’t want to go see Dolt 45 at the WH.

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    March 31, 2017 at 11:56 pm

    @mai naem mobile: Who would? Maybe a team of Russian bots?

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    April 1, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @John Cole:

    Not that you need it now, but club soda with a twist of lime and a splash of grenadine makes a nice-looking mocktail if you need to be inconspicuous in a place where others are drinking.

  38. 38.

    AnotherBruce

    April 1, 2017 at 12:02 am

    Cole pacific tour 2018. Let’s start cranking out some psychedelic posters peeples.

  39. 39.

    Ric Drywall

    April 1, 2017 at 12:03 am

    Meanwhile, UConn women are losing in OT.

  40. 40.

    Jim Bales

    April 1, 2017 at 12:10 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Cool — drop me a line, I’d love to hear about when you took Strobe under Charlie, and happy to give you the nickle tour!

    jim

  41. 41.

    Ric Drywall

    April 1, 2017 at 12:18 am

    @Ric Drywall: And the streak is over.

  42. 42.

    khead

    April 1, 2017 at 12:18 am

    Wow. Mississippi State wins.

  43. 43.

    Ric Drywall

    April 1, 2017 at 12:21 am

    @khead: when they played last year, Miss St lost by 60.

  44. 44.

    GregB

    April 1, 2017 at 12:21 am

    Wish I could have made it.

  45. 45.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    April 1, 2017 at 12:23 am

    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

  46. 46.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    April 1, 2017 at 12:25 am

    MississippiState downs UCONN on buzzer beater in overtime in greatest upset in college hoops history.

  47. 47.

    Barbara

    April 1, 2017 at 12:33 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Winning shot by the shortest player on either team. Who scored 41 points in a game last week. It’s just time for U Conn to lose occasionally.

  48. 48.

    efgoldman

    April 1, 2017 at 12:33 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Wait, they let him out of “the home”?

    Not only that, I got to sit beside Cole. But it was OK, he had pants on. And he’s much nastier on line than in person.
    We just got home. Driving from Cambridge to RI in a sleet storm is not my idea of a real good time.

  49. 49.

    max

    April 1, 2017 at 12:33 am

    And I don’t care what you say about EFGoldman, he’s ok in my book.

    Someone thought EFGoldman isn’t OK?

    max
    [‘Is there something wrong with them?’]

  50. 50.

    efgoldman

    April 1, 2017 at 12:38 am

    @mai naem mobile:

    I am assuming Anne Laurie didn’t stab you

    Her spousal unit was there to restrain her.

    BTW, good thing VP Dense didn’t know about this; I spent most of the evening talking to women who aren’t my wife.

  51. 51.

    Yarrow

    April 1, 2017 at 12:40 am

    BTW, good thing VP Dense didn’t know about this; I spent most of the evening talking to women who aren’t my wife.

    Gasp! Was your own spousal unit there? If so, then it’s all good with Trump’s butler.

  52. 52.

    seaboogie

    April 1, 2017 at 12:41 am

    @efgoldman:

    BTW, good thing VP Dense didn’t know about this; I spent most of the evening talking to women who aren’t my wife.

    As long as you called them “Mother”, everything is cool…

  53. 53.

    Aleta

    April 1, 2017 at 12:41 am

    Rerun: The Puppets
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVWRetR4jg

  54. 54.

    efgoldman

    April 1, 2017 at 12:42 am

    @Yarrow:

    Was your own spousal unit there?

    Oh yeah. Most of the people that know us like her better.

  55. 55.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    April 1, 2017 at 12:43 am

    @efgoldman: I think that only applies if you’re alone with them.

  56. 56.

    seaboogie

    April 1, 2017 at 12:46 am

    @Aleta: I think that’s going to get a lot of play in the weeks and months ahead.

    Steep sent me a perfect music link re: my recently departed feline companion in the thread below @156. Shall we ask him for some more wonderful late night music?

  57. 57.

    humboldtblue

    April 1, 2017 at 12:53 am

    The Mississippi State Women beat UConn.

    Big news.

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    April 1, 2017 at 12:54 am

    @efgoldman: Well, then you are all good. I think Pence even says it’s okay for you to have an adult beverage if your wife is there.

    Wow, just typing that out…they are such children. So many complicated rules. No sense that the husband can control himself around women. Has to have a gazillion rules to keep him in line.

  59. 59.

    efgoldman

    April 1, 2017 at 1:06 am

    @Yarrow:

    So many complicated rules. No sense that the husband can control himself around women.

    A couple with whom we have been god friends for mat=ybe 25 years, maybe more. We’re the same age, our kids and grandkids are the same age. In her youth, she was a gorgeous flaming redhead. For a while, by coincidence, we worked across the street from each other in downtown Boston. I guess she and I are supposed to feel guilty, because every once in a while we had lunch together – unsupervised!

  60. 60.

    seaboogie

    April 1, 2017 at 1:09 am

    @Yarrow: I believe that a not insignificant aspect of authoritarianism arises out of having desires that they feel are unacceptable and must be surpressed, and therefore they will accuse all and sundry of the evil-ness of their own desires, in order to not have their “desire/perversion” discovered.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    April 1, 2017 at 1:15 am

    @efgoldman:

    It depends on local customs. I had friends who were forced to move to Idaho for work who discovered that they had been accidentally shocking the locals by having lunch together every day. Because the wife had kept her own last name, the Idaho locals didn’t realize that they were married to each other and just knew that they were married people having lunch together every day.

  62. 62.

    jl

    April 1, 2017 at 1:28 am

    Cole and efgoldman are both irascible grumpy men of a certain age with lots of spleen. I don’t see why they wouldn’t get along.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    April 1, 2017 at 1:32 am

    @jl:

    Cole and efgoldman are both irascible grumpy men of a certain age with lots of spleen.

    Cole is way more rascible in person. Of course, I knew better than to ask about mustard, pants, or a car in a field. He’s also considerably younger than I am.

  64. 64.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 1, 2017 at 1:52 am

    @efgoldman:

    He’s also considerably younger than I am.

    As is Methusalah. Zing!

    And thanks all for the don’t-drive-in-Boston advice

  65. 65.

    jl

    April 1, 2017 at 1:57 am

    @efgoldman:

    ” He’s also considerably younger than I am. ”

    efgoldman also tells wild tales, and is not overly careful about the truth, another thing in common with Cole.
    C’mon, Cole brags about being a grumpy old man before his time.

  66. 66.

    jl

    April 1, 2017 at 2:04 am

    OK, now I feel bad for talking mean about Cole and efgoldman. Pic looked like everyone had a great time. I’m glad the meet up was a success. And I’ll be happy that Cole was a nice young man who had a good time, I’ll be very happy about that. I will. I will I will.

  67. 67.

    Aleta

    April 1, 2017 at 2:13 am

    @seaboogie: Sorry I left and missed your comment. Very sorry to hear about your loss of your loved cat. It’s so hard. Sympathy to you.

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    April 1, 2017 at 2:43 am

    @jl

    I will. I will I will.

    Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy.

    :)

    /showing age

    (To those of us around at the time, the memory is dear.)

  69. 69.

    Kropadope

    April 1, 2017 at 3:21 am

    Just got in myself. Went to the movies after and had an epic misadventure on the way home.

  70. 70.

    satby

    April 1, 2017 at 5:59 am

    @Kropadope: well don’t just leave us hanging, what happened?

  71. 71.

    Greg

    April 1, 2017 at 6:52 am

    I had a very nice time and it was great to meet new people. Maybe I’ll take the time and post more. I am more of a car/motorcycle/boat/grandkids guy than books/food/pets (I do like pets but don’t have any at the moment). So not sure if people would be interested in what the cutest grandchildren in the world are doing, engine rebuilds, fixing hulls, and doing brakes. Anyway I like the political discussions. Can’t wait for the next get together..

  72. 72.

    Kropadope

    April 1, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @satby: Dropped my friend off, was on my last notch of gas. But forgot about it while passing the gas station conveniently located on his corner. So I’m driving along Rt. 9 to pick up the highway home and don’t see another open gas station. Rather than get on the highway, which it turns out I should’ve done, I decide to follow this road figuring “hey, it’s a numbered road near Boston, I gotta see something soon.” Long story short, Wellesley is a ghost town at night. Eventually find a convenience store for directions. I get to Framingham by the time I find gas, having left from Boston with my destination close to the SE Rhode Island border. I was fumbling for almost an hour on my low gas light.

    Thank god I drive a Prius.

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    April 1, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    @Kropadope:

    Many years ago mom and dad were on a driving trip headed for the west coast.

    One evening mom asked to drive so they switched. As it slowly got closer to dark, they were chasing the beautiful sundown in Nebraska, they switched driving again, and dad asked mom how long the gas reserve light had been on. She didn’t recall.

    This part of the Interstate, most exits just opened onto dirt roads to ranches. and they were driving a V-8 roadster. Finally, after full dark, they saw a dusk-to-dawn light off to the south at an exit. As they got to the station, the manager was just shutting up, but was happy to turn the pumps back on for them to fill up and continue west.

    But driving on fumes those 5 miles from the I-70 exit to the feed store/gas station.
    All for a pretty sunset.

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