----- Meetin’ and Greetin’ in livestock country! -----
Nov 15 '05
The Bottom Line Once again I'm reminded why Meet & Greets rock! If you get the chance, I recommend you get yourself on over when the next one rolls around.
Well it’s been quite a weekend down south, the weather was phenomenal and Epinions members were once again some of the best people you could spend an afternoon with. As my second Meet & Greet is now a memory, I’m glad I got a chance to chat, laugh, argue, and see face to face members from all over the USA. It’s always interesting to finally connect the words behind the profile page with a real person, and as usual my expectations were surpassed! I didn't know what to expect in Dallas and wasn't sure if this would be anything like the November 2004 Chicago event.
First I have to thank Andrew (bob_tomato) and Amy (pearannoyed) for allowing me to hang out at their house on Friday night. They both went out of their way to make a non-local feel at home right away, even Oreo accepted me for the evening. :) It was also great to meet Bryan and chat about what’s up in music. I don’t hang out in the music section very often but I enjoyed discussing the latest happenings and comparing musical tastes. This was the first time my friend Matt (hardcoreham) has participated in a Meet & Greet and gotten a chance to discuss Epinions happenings with other members. I know he had a great time and I’m sure he’ll be active on the site in the future.
----- Gameworks Dallas -----
Once again the Epinions staff booked a private room with a veritable feast for all attendees. Chicken wings, cheese sticks, poppers, potato skins, veggies, cookies, brownies, and of course beverages. Somehow we still managed to talk between all the snacking and drink orders, I have to say our server Jessica did a great job handling a table of arguing guys. Where I was seated I was once again immersed in the music category with Andrew, Sheila (blindsider), Bryan (pyfr), Brian (hstisgod), and the big man himself, Music Category Lead (madtheory). I was a little surprised that most of y’all only had to drive an hour or less to get to the Grapevine mall, I had to deal with the DFW airport!
After chatting it up with my tablemates for a bit, I was able to mingle and greet fellow members Mike (mike.holmes ), mrkstvns , Jason (thewasp), Grace (gracef) and others as well. Somehow in the thick of things I lost track of my favorite pen, thankfully I remembered I loaned it to Bryan just as he returned it to me. I'll review it eventually Bryan, then you can buy one of your own! :)
Garrett was in the thick of things as usual, tossing out site-specific ideas and stirring the conversational pot when needed. Garrett, it’s always great to hang out with you no matter if the conversation is about business or other stuff. Thankfully Christal was present to bring beauty and class to a roomful of guys, computer nerds at that. I must say that for being the customer care specialist and dealing with all the complaints and problems, she always has a sincere, gorgeous smile in person. Meeting the ‘new’ guys on the Shopping.com payroll was great, Andy and Greg might be the guys you don’t seen around the front-side of Epinions much, but I have a feeling the site wouldn’t stay running very long without them. I hope we gave you guys a good reception, it’s great to know someone’s behind the scene exterminating bugs and keeping things running smoothly.
After a couple hours passed much faster than I could imagine, we all waited with bated breath for the iPod Nano drawing. The lucky winner was none other than Music's hard-working man, bob_tomato. I can truly say it's gone to a good home and I'm sure Andrew will know what to do with his new iPod. I don't want all the members that didn't make it to think we left empty handed, since Christal handed out the coolest Dallas M&G Tees to everyone that wanted one. I received several very positive comments on the shirt while in Fort Worth the next couple days which gave me a chance to pass out my card and hopefully recruit a few new members.
I have to say thanks to the Eps staff for providing Gameworks cards for everyone to goof around with. I stayed at Gameworks a bit later than most to try my hand at defending beacheads, dancing like a fool, and in general taking advantage of the cards left over.
Another very succesful Meet & Greet is in the past, I can only say I'm looking forward to the next event. Thanks to everyone at Epinions for making this happen, and of course thanks to the members that took the time to travel however far to attend... you guys are what make this site great!
Until next time...
Abraham
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