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TAM2: It's over.

kittynh said:
Moe, honey, I love you forever. I hope you know you've got some new family now!
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Am I the only one who though that Kitty and Moe bore a striking 20 year seperation similarity to each other?

______________________

Well, I've read the entire thread and I have to agree with Moe's sentiment in the OP. I was sad. Hell, I was sad Sunday afternoon and I missed the Sunday morning session in it's entirety. To me this really felt like a family reunion and we were all heading home instead of hanging out for a few more weeks together and I hated it.

I spoke to everyone at some point except Scrut. I'm pissed off at him for not tracking me down. I did plenty to draw attention to myself prior to and during TAM2. He has no excuse.

I want to thank Girl6 for letting me room with her and putting up with my smelly feet/shoes and snoring. I owe her big time.

I want to apologize to my fellow shy forum members who I met and didn't speak to nearly as much or as often as I wanted to because two shy people rarely have a good spontaneous conversation without a third, more gregarious party to elicit it.

I want to thank Kitty, Moe, Finella and Sparklecat (you four are the only one's I think I posed with) for taking photos with me so I don't look like a total loser with skepchicks.

I want to thank Randi, Linda, Carl, Hal, Chris, Andrew, and all the other JREF administration/insiders plus all the volunteers who helped set up/take down/assemble registration packages, etc. etc. (including Pool Boy, Lisa, Chaos, Claus Larsen, Skeptic Scott, etc) who helped make TAM2 happen. I can only afford one real vacation per you and the efforts of you all are the reason why I chose to spend it at TAM.

And finally... since it's never too early... I'm going to kick Pirate_Lass's a** at TAM3...
 
Just got home myself.

Same deal as most of the others here. I am tired.

Next time I will get there a day early.

It was very nice to see all these people have been typing at for more that 2 years now.

And you are all shorter than I thought you were. (note to self: Check for an inferiority complex….)

:D
 
Back home, and awake for the moment! I actually called out of work for the morning because, having arrived at home at 1 am and still wide awake, I knew I was going to be a crap therapist if I did that group at nine... :P

How lovely to meet some of you again, and others for the first time! I can't wait to see the pics -- I didn't bother taking any of my own with my crappy 35mm when everyone and his dog had a digital camera there and would likely post their pics.

And we gotta get a proper music jam next time... I never got to play my pennywhistles. :(

---,---'--{@
 
shanek said:
And how was Randi's talk? Obviously I had to miss the entirety of that.
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Actually, you really didn't miss much, he just thanked people and gave a few news tidbits. Only spoke for a half-hour when he was scheduled for 60 minutes. (although he started an hour late(!))

Bit of an anti-climax, really - in my humble opinion.
 
It was great to meet as many forum members as I did, but many will remain a mystery.

Who is this bear-chested woman? Did her name start with Renat?

Update: It says I post attachments, but it LIES!!!!

See the mystery here.
 
I had a great time Sunday afternoon hanging out with Renata & Luciana, Doubt and Stimpy. Joined later by Quinn and Ian Rowland for a few beers, and then even later (briefly) by Girl 6 and her entourage.

Also got to visit a fair amount with Pirate_Lad, Paul Ana...Agap....Greek Guy, Bignickel (South St Louis Hoosier), Brown, Dinonychus, Lisa... and too briefly ctaylor, Jeff Corey, shanek, and sparklecat.

Patricio, sorry I missed you Sunday night! I called twice, but the first time your roomate couldn't find a pen, and the second time I left a message. Hope you got out to the strip to see the lights!

And for those who weren't there, I don't think words could describe how truly, truly awful the one man band in the bar was. Now, I don't think I've ever seen someone doing that sort of act that I actually liked, but this guy was awful beyond description. Yeck!
 
I haven't even unpacked yet.

Drat, TAM2 is over. :( I'll post more tomorrow but I just wanted to let everyone know I enjoyed it immensely! Seeing old friends that I haven't seen since TAM1 and meeting new friends was wonderful!

Some highlights:
* Trying to organize the chocolate challenge. As someone remarked, it was like herding cat!
* Meeting Arctic Penguin, Bidlack Jr., MoeFaux, Pool Boy, Renata, Unrepentant Sinner Athiest, many others that I can't recall right now, and some attendees in my area that aren't on the forum.
* Ian Rowland sticking a nail up his nose at the Peppermill and disturbing the waitress.
* Going off to breakfast and never knowing who you'd run into at the cafe.
* Penn & Teller's show.
* Attending Lance Burton's show and having a better seat than the JREF party. ;)
* Loaning Kittynh an "Ask me! I'm shy" button and reading in this thread that it worked!
* Meeting Parrot Mason.
* Seeing 800-year-old painted handprints in Red Rock Canyon.
* Getting a signed "Skepchick Pajama Party -- Security" T-shirt!
 
As anyone that met me could have guessed, I had a fantastic time at TAMII. It was a pleasure meeting everyone and finally putting some of the names (and avatars) to faces.

Special thanks go to:

Girl6 for helping organize the cash that paid for my registration, for being a genuinely good person and a damn good dancer. Holy crap, that woman can move.

MoeFaux for putting EvilYeti and I up at her place when we didn't have a place to stay on Sunday evening. I believe I was starting to hallucinate around 3 AM.

Hal Bidlack for publically embarassing me and giving me an excuse to finally, finally return the favor to an officer. It's been a dream of mine for years.

Girl6 and Renata's sweater kittens for what was quite possibly the greatest moment of my life. Those who were there know of what I speak.

I had a killer time hanging out with everyone, and I'm looking forward to TAMIII.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:


And for those who weren't there, I don't think words could describe how truly, truly awful the one man band in the bar was. Now, I don't think I've ever seen someone doing that sort of act that I actually liked, but this guy was awful beyond description. Yeck!
Click to expand...

He was awful!! I couldn't convince Nyarlathotep to bribe him to just shut up. Oh well, we lived through it. :-)
 
I have to echo everyone's statements so far that this felt far too short. I remember feeling that heading home last night was almost wrong, that the fun had just started and, as usual, I was missing out.

I must apologise to everyone that I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to Sunday night. I would've joined everyone on the strip for a couple hours, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay with the group with my health. I instead found a Kinko's and was able to catch up on most things.

I agree with Scrut. That DJ was awful. IMO, he probably would've been tolerable if the music hadn't been so damned loud! I swear, you couldn't hear yourself think in that damn lounge. And the DJ was the epitome of stereotypical DJs playing in lounges in Vegas: early to mid-40's, balding, and can't sing at all. Fortunately, seeing and watching skepchicks dancing more than made up for the DJ.

I shall post pictures if they turn out and I finish my last roll of film.

Note to self: ask Santa for digital zoom camera next Christmas.
 
Just got in from drive home, exhausted, too burnt out to form coherent thoughts. But the Meeting really was Amaz!ng, even more than last year's. Thanks to all who made it so, and apologies to those I didn't get to properly say goodbye to (i.e. most people).

More impressions when comprehensibility returns.

Renata rocks my world.
 
Randi final talk

Here are some notes I wrote about Randi's closing talk for those that had to leave early. Randi proclaimed the conference "a pretty fair success". He said that work on TAM3 will start immediately and that January in Las Vegas was a strong possibility but he wants to read the evaluations first. Next year, besides obviously asking Julia Sweeney to return (how strange to see her on Sex&The City Sunday night - in a nun's habit no less) Randi also will ask Richard Dawkins to return.
He was appreciative of the strong women representation. He gave a nice compliment to Berea College of Kentucky. He said that no one at the conference was shy (which wasn't true, I was deeply in shy mode). Randi also announced that Hal Bidlack will be offered a seat on the Board of Directors of JREF.
Lastly, I didn't know James Randi is 75.
 
Yes, he's 75, and he gets more grouchy, mean, facinating, funny, and wonderful with every passing year.
I'm beyond tired too, so just a few thoughts.
I think it was Patricio that remarked that although we had great speakers, the thrill is in the reunion.
We had a bit more free time this year, so the forum members really got to mingle and get to know one another. That being said: US, get your hand off my butt.
I hope that anyone who's thinking "is this worth my time?" will join us next year. You think there are bad jokes and puns on the forum? It goes up exponencially when we're face to face. Wear kevlar.
 
Gee, I thought the bar singing dude had a pretty fair voice. Perhaps you were waiting for some thrash metal or New Age?

~~ Paul
 
Just got home an hour ago.

I second every appreciative comment made here, as well as the negative comments about the on man band. I was very close to violence that evening...

BigNickel, you forgot me on your list. After torturing me with what you wrongly considered German language at the Meeting, I think you owe me that much - at least...

By the way, thanks to all the skepchicks for the handsigned T-shirt. It made loosing the chocolate challenge a little less painful. (And I will have my vengeance next TAM anyway)
 
If the TAM3 is to be held in the Tuscany next year, I vote we pay the One Man and His Synthesizer Band to stay away.

Small sessions would also be appreciated. Possibly in nearby hotel suites, that could be used for meetings during the day and crash pads during the night. After all, they are 600 square feet of floor space and could accommodate a dozen poeple seated at tables.

But, this was one of the best meetings I have ever attended.
And, boy, the Strip is the ultimate in tacky.
 
Here.

Had the greatest time.

Thanks to all, and some in particular. You know who you are.

Going to bed. Back later. Or earlier. Or something....
 
Chani and I had a great time. I liked everyone I talked to and I found it very interesting how different many people were in real life as opposed to their persona on screen. Nearly everyone was older, younger, quieter, nicer or otherwise had some trait that I wasn't expecting. I am really looking forward to TAM 3.
 
i don't know why i read this thread, just to torture myself i guess. sounds like you all had a great time. definitely going next year

i fully expect (and hope for) a flood of pics from the weekend in the picture thread in the coming days.
 
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