San Francisco "Meet and Greet" (2005) ~ Party On Garth!
Mar 14 '05 (Updated Mar 28 '05)
The Bottom Line A good time was had by all, even the Bottom Line....
Having not been to the left coast in oooh 20 years, I decided we absolutely had to get out there for the Meet-n-Greet.... besides, they give us all kinds of really cool free stuff.. and food. And booze. Oh yeah. Epinions knows how to throw a party alright!
Tom Barnes and I got there early Friday afternoon to check the place out. When we landed in Oakland it was like in the 80s. Just gorgeous weather! Considering they were calling for snow in DC as our plane took off, we were quite happy to walk out into the nice sunshine.
Stevie Baby had agreed to meet us for dinner on Friday night to plot all the trouble we would cause the next day at the actual meet... so we check into our hotel and set about trying to find this great restaurant he told us to find him at. It doesn't exist. Now, I can take a hint (sometimes) but isn't it just easier to tell me oh hell no I ain't meeting your crazy ass! than to go through the trouble to send me on the proverbial wild goose chase? That Steve.. what a card! Much to his dismay, we did find him.. and we did force him to break bread with us at a place that really did exist. That'll show him! 4 hours later he kindly dropped us off at Fisherman's Wharf and burned rubber making his escape.
So Saturday I get up at like 8AM I'm so excited about the Greet... those that know me know that my heart doesn't usually start pumping til noon-ish. I spose being on right coast time internally helped though. It was, after all, 11AM to my body. We spent some time walking along the Embarcadero and met a non-reviewer for lunch (yes, as a matter of fact I do have friends outside Epinions... although I tried to recruit her to no avail..) We had lunch at Gordon Biersch so we could just go right up the stairs afterwards to the meet.
As usual,we were the first to arrive. I do this so I can beat Garrett up with very few witnesses, you see. As I walked in I noticed him rummaging through some boxes. Randy slapped him around and the boxes got shoved under a table. This, of course, was mean... they made me pace and wonder for hours. Brats, all of them!
Ms Christal was there keeping the men-folk drooling and the Eps men in line. I've said it before, I'll say it again... you fellas really need to come to one of these if for no other reason than to see her. Stunningly gorgeous, that one. And she's fun as hell. There was no table dance from her though.. she said she's saving that for when Jack actually shows up to one... I think she figures that's a safe bet to make. heh. We all were very disappointed that he was unable to make it due to last minute complications in Texas. Bummer man.
Sara (otherwise known as the HMFWIC) was of course there and working the room trying to 'splain a few things to the masses and listening to ideas for a few new things to draw more readers and writers to the site. She's very diplomatic. heh. More than I woulda been in a few of those conversations I overheard.... heh.
A coupla the design guys from Epinions showed up to this one too. Will was brand new to the company, having started work and walked into the office just about the time Paul was disrobing (see below). He decided this was his kinda place! WooHoo! He's cute as hell gals, and oh so shy still, but I imagine that shyness won't last long... Brad was, of course, also cute as hell (that being a prerequisite for Brisbane employment) and very outgoing. I had a pretty in-depth conversation with him and Christal as to review length/details/rating stringency/ and all that vs what kinda review brings in the money. Rob, resident stats man, didn't show up but is supposed to be working on those numbers....
For now, suffice it to say that we DO want those long professional reviews, as I've said, but please don't hold everyone else to those standards. A novel should not be necessary for a helpful rating.... If there is any good personal experience type info, then the review should be shown to the public... an SH rating hides it completely.
The other thing that came out (and nobody is telling you to stick to one format here, so don't try to twist what I'm saying here..) is that it makes it easier for the consumer if you title sections of your longer reviews so they can skip to exactly what it is they want to know about. That is not an edict! It is just an FYI... ok?
Sean showed up too and talked at length to Tom about the Travel section and what could be done to garner more income from there, so they will be putting their heads together for awhile to get that all fixed up and generating more moolah for both the company and the travel writers.... so do post those travel reviews if ya gottem cuz eventually they are gonna be a gold mine, I'm thinkin.
As to those boxes that they kept hiding from me, well... Let me tell ya.. I have loved every freebie they have supplied at these things, and as much playful crap as I gave Garrett and Randy both over those towels, they were actually my very favorite prize... but I wanted a shirt! They listened to me! (likely just trying to give me heart failure to get rid of me... but whatever..) These are very nice shirts with a 1/4 zipper in front with the Epinions guys across the left breast and Epinions Meet-n-Greet San Francisco on them. Excellent quality shirts and very warm. Perfect! THANK YOU!!!
Now, I usually go on about the members that showed up, but I've just woken up and not had near enough coffeee yet but wanted to get this posted so I'm going to just make a list of who I recall off the top of my head for now. I'll add more as my brain slowly kicks into gear here. Gimme a break man, it was a whirlwind 3 day vacation with lots happening....
ME!!!
Tom Barnes
Stevie Baby
Robert
Adrienne
Wayne
Megu
Gael
Alex
Pam
Tina
horswispr
alow90
Michael
(Like I said, there were many more and I'll update as soon as I can)
Missing in action (and not mentioned here yet):
Dick
Keelung
Savanna
And now, the answer all you wimins been waitin' to hear...
Well ok first a short story to embarrass the hell out of him... As many will recall, at the Boston meet in July 2004 our loooovely Kristina wondered aloud if Epinions hunka-hunka Paul had a hairy chest or not. Well folks, the ever helpful staff at Brisbane decided to start an office pool and get an answer for us once and for all. They ambushed Paul on Friday at the office and made him show it all (I'm tryin to get the video, gimme time). We now have the definitive answer...
Drum roll please.....
Smooth and rock hard gals!
(and if that don't get ya to the next meet, nothing will...)
See ya in DC.....
(Contrary to any rumors you may hear, Garrett did not throw down any wrestling moves on Megu.. no, really, he didn't... I swear it... would I lie to you...?)
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Epinions.com ID:
drdevience
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Member: Lori Leidig
Location: Sweden
Reviews written: 647
Trusted by: 781 members
About Me:
Game over.
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