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The DC Blogger Meet-Up: After Action Report

jimmiebjr | December 31, 2004 | 17 Replies

It was with great excitement I went to the DC Blogger Meetup put together by La Shawn Barber and I’m very glad to report that it was every bit as enjoyable as I was hoping it would be.

But first, the adventure.

I don’t actually live in DC. I live in Southern Maryland and it’s about an hour drive into town. The meetup was pretty much right in the middle of downtown, with parking at a nearby very large Metro subway station attached to a shopping mall. That’s where the fun began.

After parking and taking the elevator from the garage down to what I thought was the correct level, I began looking for an exit.

Exits are, apparently, in short supply in Union Station. There was much wandering and looking for signs that might have said “exit” and riding up and down escalators. Really, at some point I expected to have to fight a minotaur or get chased around by four ghosts until I could find a big white tablet to swallow that would let me chase them.

But finally, there was an exit and the restaurant and a roomful of chatting bloggers. I glommed onto my brother who was already in one conversation and had the chance to meet several others while we talked about the prospect of DC baseball (a hot topic in the city, let me tell you).

Then came dinner, which was good and a bit pricey (because you’re eating in downtown DC. A glass of wter costs two bucks,it seems). But there was plenty of lively conversation, lots of laughing and hollering across the table, and many, many pictures (a few of which are in. Many more are expected over the next couple of days).

What charmed me most about the folks I met is that we spent surprisingly little time talking about politics (a point that LaShawn noted about halfway into dinner). We talked about movies (and my unhealthy love for blacksploitation films), television (LaShawn’s love for Star Trek: TNG, the new “Battlestar Galactica” series that’s coming next month, and Jerry Orbach), and laughed an awful lot about the Washington State gubernatorial race (for which Ambra and Ameila have ringside seats).

What also made me glad to see was the wide variety of bloggers we had there last night. You, of course, had folks who blogged about politics like me, La Shawn, Matt from RatherBiased (a very neat guy from whom you’ll be hearing even more in the future), Cassandra’s Villainous Company, and Dave Huber. Bloggers whose work deals a lot with pop culture, their daily lives, their work, and only peripherally with politics like Avery’s Stereo Describes my Scenario, Demond’s Hunter’s Herald (who is just back from Iraq), and Bijan’s Pop Culture. There was blogging new arrival and sci-fi/mystery author William of Wills2Cents and Marie whose In Shaw blog keeps folks informed about the Shaw Community of DC all the time.

Great and pleasant folks and a very good time. I’m looking forward to the next one. Oh and one last note. What a good-looking group of bloggers those folks were, too! There were some seriously pretty women and some very manly men there last night. I think we could have had an impromptu fashion shoot (so long as I stayed behind the camera!).

I’m also very pleased to report that there were no problems navigating the mall to get to the car and no problems at all getting home, although it was quite late.

My bet is that if you kept your eyes peeled on the other blogs in thie post, you’ll read even more about the meetup and maybe even see a few photos along the way.