Ale, Ale, the Gang's All Here
As Ram Dass once said, "Free beer now!" (Or was it "Be here now!"? I always get those two confused.)
Well, regardless, we took the saying to heart and that was a lot of fun, a lot of beer and for once, I didn't end up in an alley with my pants around my ankles the next morning (not for lack of trying, though). I'm talking, of course, about a rare weekend get-together of the BARBARian Blogging Ethics Discussion Committee and Drinking Society, which happened Saturday afternoon at the 3300 Club at Mission and 29th Streets in San Francisco. A number of the usual suspects were there -- Scaramouche, the King of Zembla, Paperwight, fyrste from suckful and now his new site, The Afterist, Shystee, Mags from You forgot Poland!, Angie from Ang's Weird Ideas, Brian (our resident and token Political Moderate) from 1000 Buffalo Stampede -- am I forgetting anyone? -- and, as we always like to see, some new faces: Kevin from Brother Kenya's Paradigm (along with his lovely wife, whose name and website I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten, though I'm sure someone will enlighten me in the comments), Bill/Kvatch from Blognonymous and Tom from If I Ran the Zoo. Add those sites to your BARBARian blogrolls, folks, and hope that their proprietors can all make some of the future gatherings.
It was a wet, rainy Saturday afternoon, and the 3300 Club -- recommended by our resident barrespondent Drew of Scamboogah!! (who, along with his lovely wife Teri, was unfortunately a no-show) -- made for a nice refuge. We had just about enough room at the one big table for all of us to sit and converse and pet the occasional dog that came in. Early on, we commandeered the bar's one and only pitcher and kept the bartender filling it with Humboldt Hemp Ale*, and the money that had been collected from the overpayment at Ben & Nick's at the last gathering lasted for over three hours of refills. Because some of the regulars at the bar were celebrating their January birthdays Saturday, the staff laid out some hors d'oeuvres of chips and cheese and salami and cupcakes and other goodies, and everyone there was invited to partake. Nice place, that 3300 Club, just a regular, honest neighborhood bar with a decidedly Irish cast to it, nothing pretentious or fancy.
*You folks that participated might want to stay away from any drug-testing for the next couple weeks. Who knows what that hemp in the ale might do -- you might be able to create tennis shoes or T-shirts or plastics or industrial solvents or any number of items with your urine now if you're not careful. Personally, I never take drug tests unless they're multiple choice.
Anyway, it was a grand time out, and we look forward to the next one, whenever that might be. There was some noise about a BARBARian barbecue and even a softball game, but that will have to wait until the rain stops some time in the spring. In the meantime, we'll all just keep pounding away at our keyboards and finding the time every four to six weeks to meet up and hoist a few glasses together while discussing politics and postings, cabbages and kings.
Until then, cheers all.
Well, regardless, we took the saying to heart and that was a lot of fun, a lot of beer and for once, I didn't end up in an alley with my pants around my ankles the next morning (not for lack of trying, though). I'm talking, of course, about a rare weekend get-together of the BARBARian Blogging Ethics Discussion Committee and Drinking Society, which happened Saturday afternoon at the 3300 Club at Mission and 29th Streets in San Francisco. A number of the usual suspects were there -- Scaramouche, the King of Zembla, Paperwight, fyrste from suckful and now his new site, The Afterist, Shystee, Mags from You forgot Poland!, Angie from Ang's Weird Ideas, Brian (our resident and token Political Moderate) from 1000 Buffalo Stampede -- am I forgetting anyone? -- and, as we always like to see, some new faces: Kevin from Brother Kenya's Paradigm (along with his lovely wife, whose name and website I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten, though I'm sure someone will enlighten me in the comments), Bill/Kvatch from Blognonymous and Tom from If I Ran the Zoo. Add those sites to your BARBARian blogrolls, folks, and hope that their proprietors can all make some of the future gatherings.
It was a wet, rainy Saturday afternoon, and the 3300 Club -- recommended by our resident barrespondent Drew of Scamboogah!! (who, along with his lovely wife Teri, was unfortunately a no-show) -- made for a nice refuge. We had just about enough room at the one big table for all of us to sit and converse and pet the occasional dog that came in. Early on, we commandeered the bar's one and only pitcher and kept the bartender filling it with Humboldt Hemp Ale*, and the money that had been collected from the overpayment at Ben & Nick's at the last gathering lasted for over three hours of refills. Because some of the regulars at the bar were celebrating their January birthdays Saturday, the staff laid out some hors d'oeuvres of chips and cheese and salami and cupcakes and other goodies, and everyone there was invited to partake. Nice place, that 3300 Club, just a regular, honest neighborhood bar with a decidedly Irish cast to it, nothing pretentious or fancy.
*You folks that participated might want to stay away from any drug-testing for the next couple weeks. Who knows what that hemp in the ale might do -- you might be able to create tennis shoes or T-shirts or plastics or industrial solvents or any number of items with your urine now if you're not careful. Personally, I never take drug tests unless they're multiple choice.
Anyway, it was a grand time out, and we look forward to the next one, whenever that might be. There was some noise about a BARBARian barbecue and even a softball game, but that will have to wait until the rain stops some time in the spring. In the meantime, we'll all just keep pounding away at our keyboards and finding the time every four to six weeks to meet up and hoist a few glasses together while discussing politics and postings, cabbages and kings.
Until then, cheers all.
posted by Generik at 7:30 AM
BARBARIAN Contributors
4 Comments:
Hail, BARBARians! Sue and I had a great time at the 3300 yesterday, meeting everyone and finally placing the faces that go with all those peculiar blog names. Wish we could have stayed longer, but there was a delicious dinner with our name on it at Firefly. (Kvatch, please do NOT go there a third time.)
Looking forward to future assemblies!
As always, I had a fabulous time. I even tried today to re-create the sopa de pollo we had last night, but I'm afraid it's still not as good as the folks at ____. [I already forgot what it's called.]
Sorry I missed it, too! Hell, Green Boy could've walked to there.
BTW, I see that Ben & Nick's now has wireless (that's where I'm posting this from).
I've been swamped the last couple of months, but will try to keep an eye out for the next get-together. For one thing, I had two drinks at the Glen Park gathering without paying anything (then again, maybe that means I should quit while I'm ahead....)
-- Swopa
Had a great time--thanks to Erik et al for organizing! It was lots of fun to meet y'all...and I hope to see all of you (and more) at the next one.
Which I think should be a panel on commenter ethics. Because, you know, they're the ones we really need to keep an eye on.
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