Short version: I had a great time.

Slightly longer version - for me, it wasn't about the events so much as it was about spending time having interesting conversations with intelligent people, which is something I don't get enough of, living in my geographic bit of nowhere. Sadly, these sorts of free-fire wit-fests don't translate well into the printed word, because there's no way to accurately translate that atmosphere into text.

Still, I'd like to give friendly nods to the attendees and, where possible, point you to their summaries of events, which you can choose to believe or not at your own discretion.

Not that bloggers would ever embellish a tale.

Shoe, lately of Chou Chope - Shame she's blog-retired. I felt like I found a kindred spirit who really understands the joy and - ironically - sanity that blogging provides.

Teresa of Technicalities - Sadly, barely got to talk to her at dinner, but I was impressed that she remembered to give me a message from Shakey Pete. She's such a thoughtful girl. No wonder she's daddy's favorite.

Oddybobo of Bobo Blogger - Thanks to her keen eyesight (and knowing me all too well), I got a cool new T-shirt... which I wore for about 5 minutes before spraying it with Guinness. Strange, but true.

Zonker of Thunder And Roses - While I actually got a good amount of talk time with him, what really sticks out in my mind was how much fun it was just watching him verbally sparring with Redneck ("wanna rassle?"). The guy's a hoot.

Leslie of Leslie's Omnibus - What a sweetie! One of the best huggers in the crew. Plus she toted my sorry ass back & forth to Kaus's.

Redneck of RedNeck Ramblings - That boy just cracks me up. Just kept tossing out verbal red meat for the lions to pounce on all night long. Not sure where he found that NASCARney character.

Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks - Who else do you know that can kill a charging vacuum cleaner from 75 yards with a .44 revolver? 'Nuff said.

Contagion of Miasmatic Review - Still shy. Didn't hear a peep out of him all weekend.

Ktreva of The Reality Ranch - Slightly less shy. Especially when drinking coffee-flavored beer. Makes her screamy.

Tammi of Tammi's World - Completely lost count of how many good things she made happen at this event. Once again, she was the rock upon which a quality blogmeet rested.

Beloved Wife TNT of Smiling Dynamite - My fashion consultant and emotional lifeline when things got overwhelming. As always, I don't know what I'd do without her.

BloodSpite of Technography - I didn't recognize him at first (which broke his heart). He says it's because I'm a thoughtless jerk, but I *still* suspect he must've gotten a face transplant some time in the last year. On a personal note, I covet his .40... well, the one WITHOUT the 200-pound trigger pull, at any rate.

_Jon of We Swear - For just five minutes, I would LOVE to borrow this man's brain. I have never met anyone with his lightning-like talent for cracking off great one-liners. I swear the guy's a freakin' cyborg or something. He's fun to hang out with. Or he's fun out with which to hang, if you want to be picky about it.

Biloxi of The Republic of Biloxi - I didn't know he was coming, so I met him for the first time at dinner. Sadly, I wasn't at my social best, because I was obsessing about my walk-on role in T1G's roast. I did notice that he managed to get off a few good lines during dinner, so I'm looking forward to getting to know him through his blog in the coming weeks.

That 1 Guy of Drunken Wisdom - Nice guy... for a hippie.

And it's killin' me that he's movin' away.

Sadly, there's no photos of the Plinking Pit - a huge, deep, dirt pit filled with cast-away objects (like volley balls, barrels, cans, boxes, toys, vacuum cleaners, and puddles of water) where you shoot as much as you want, as fast as you want. Full-auto weapons welcome. $25 to play all day, but it's Bring Your Own Ammo).

Here's a shot of the tables at the Pit though. Yes, that really is an inch-think carpet of expended casings on the ground. Adds to the atmosphere.

Also:

In observance of your birthday, we will give you a free day of shooting on your birthday or the day before or the day after. ID will be checked for verification.

Re: Klas's
1) I don't like liver, but the liver dumpling soup was excellent.

2) The staff is friendly and amazingly tolerant of blogger antics.

3) I never thought I'd hear the Czech version of "I Will Survive":

but there it was, playing quietly on the restaurant's speakers. Don't know if anyone noticed it besides me & TNT.

Posted by: Harvey at 01:12 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 872 words, total size 7 kb.

1 You neglected to mention just how excited Joe was when you appeared in the Hooters Girl outfit. Heh... Too much fun, dude. Glad I got to hang with you and the missus again. Stay well!

Posted by: zonker at July 14, 2007 03:36 PM (PrUNH)

2 .... sounds like y'all had a great time.... next time, I hope to make it!...

Posted by: Eric at July 14, 2007 05:39 PM (XKa04)

3 You are too kind....well to everyone but me! ;p Seriously, so glad y'all made it, and even more delighted that you enjoyed yourself.

Posted by: Tammi at July 14, 2007 06:10 PM (F/bmV)

4 Sorry I missed this!! It sounded like a good time was had by all. Hoping to make it up there before the end of the year!!

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at July 14, 2007 06:16 PM (PjrBf)

5 All those cartridge cases! Free! What is wrong with you Yankees? Down here if somebody doesn't pick up his own brass the vulters will swoop.

Posted by: Peter at July 14, 2007 07:03 PM (A5s0y)

6 Man, it was good to see you again. I know, you couldn't get a word in edgewise on the way the Klaus when I was sittin' 'side you. But hell, sometimes it's hard to translate 'neck. Carney is 'bout right for that ol' boy that walked up Saturday night. I thought he'd take the smoke and roll. Uh uh. Didn't happen now did it? I ain't had to be so impolite in a long time. Well, at least since I was ridin' to Klaus in the back of the omnibus with you that evenin'. I'm damned glad you didn't wear those shorts in the van. That'd been weird. I don't care who's daddy you are... It was good to see you and SD again. Yes, you have out kicked your coverage. She's a sweetie.

Posted by: RedNeck at July 14, 2007 09:29 PM (IqSuW)

7 That charging vacuum cleaner was closer to 10 yards, dammit!! And Peter: I don't even reload (yet) and couldn't believe how people just left their brass...

Posted by: Graumagus at July 15, 2007 01:03 AM (Ks8du)

8 Ack, that was supposed to be 100 yards... Time to get the three hour nap I take every night in lieu of sleep... Definitely going to be headed back to that range sometime soon.

Posted by: Graumagus at July 15, 2007 01:06 AM (Ks8du)

9 Well, at least I got to see you all dolled up in the Hooters shirt. *grin*

Posted by: Teresa at July 15, 2007 08:44 PM (gsbs5)

10 It was great fun. I'm trying to plan a trip back to the range here in the next couple of months... if you are interested.

Posted by: Contagion at July 16, 2007 07:00 AM (gSaan)

11 YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! But for $250 I can make you a good deal on a boat anchor with a 200 pound trigger pull

Posted by: BloodSpite at July 19, 2007 06:51 AM (QOJ8Q)

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Fun!

Ok, slightly longer version:

Richmond of One for the Road - phenomenal job of keeping everyone fed & beveraged. Hostess-wise, she makes Martha Stewart look like Roseanne Barr.

WxMan - aka Mr. Richmond, who was kind enough to let me light some fireworks AND kind enough to send me this link (caution: contains naked boobs).

Blogson Contagion of Miasmatic Review - still shy. Wouldn't say a word. Just sat there trying to hide under his new Packers beret (a gift from my Beloved Wife TNT of Smiling Dynamite). Well, he did mumble something about how he wished people would start leaving comments on his beer review posts so that he wouldn't feel like he was doing all that drunk blogging for nothing.

Bloggranddaughter Ktreva of The Reality Ranch - besides flaunting her stunning red hair, did a lot of dramatic eye-rolling whenever Contagion said anything dumb. She had very tired eyes at the end of the night.

Blogdaughter Tammi of Tammi's World - besides flaunting her stunning mocha hair, forgot to wear her chocolate-proof dress.

Roses of Ack! Thbbbt! - I love this woman. She knows who the Purple Pandas are.

(currently) blogless Nancy - too smart & charming to be blogless. Someone send her a link.

Akshun J of Underground Media: Reloaded - taught me the meaning of Netflix cheating. Wonder if you can do that with Blockbuster? Also, I owe him a COHERENT explanation of the concept of "The Bad Example Family". That'll be up in a few days, after I dig up all the relevant links.

Mrs. J - despite the fact that I used her name in a horrible pun shortly after meeting her, was still very nice to me, and upgraded my knowledge of Central American geography. Oh, and she needs a blog.

and the rest - who I won't list by name, since Richmond doesn't, and I don't want to blow anyone's cover. But they know who they are and I enjoyed meeting them.

Fun people. Food. Alcohol. Things that blow up.

Score 10/10.

Posted by: Harvey at 12:57 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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