DML meet... Better late than never I guess... :-)
For those of you who couldn't make it, I feel sorry for 'ya. :-)
I had a great time. I'm not exactly a very social person (as some
people at the DML meet may have noticed) but I'm working on it... :-)
I've always been pretty isolated and uncomfortable around people, but
meeting my fellow DMLers was like being reunited with old friends... It
was nice to be able to see the faces and get to know the "real" people
behind the e-mail addresses. When I correspond with someone by e-mail long
enough, I get a mental picture of what I think they look and act like.
I'm surprised at how often I'm wrong. :-) Its nice to meet the real
people and gain an even deeper perspective on their e-mail messages.
Well, enough about that. :-)
The plan was to meet in the Playdium parking lot at 9:30. Jason and
Norah got there early, and I was the second to arrive at a few minutes
before 9:30. I started talking with Jason and Norah, we checked out
each others' trucks, etc. As each new Dak rolled in, the whole process
repeated itself. :-) I believe the third to arrive was Bob Tom and his
son, followed by Randy Drew, then Eddie and Lisa Estoppey. There were
5 Daks and 8 people there. The weather wasn't quite as cooperative
as it could have been; there wasn't any rain or snow (to speak of), but
the temp hovered around 34 degrees F (what's that, 1-2 degrees C?) and
there was a brisk wind, so it was pretty cold. We stood around for a while
talking, checking out Daks, and taking pictures. We were frozen pretty
solid by then, so we went across the street to a Starbucks for some
coffee and hot chocolate, displacing a few patrons in the process... ;-)
After that, it was back outside for a quick nicotine fix then across
to the Playdium, which was a really fun time. :-) I was fairly decent at
the Harley Davidson street racing game, but I sucked at most everything else
I tried. :-) I tried to enter "DML" in the high score box, but I ran out of
time, so its just "D ". :-P We sort've split up into smaller groups,
merged back together, and split up again the entire time. After a successful
search for Randy's AWOL pager in the virtual roller coaster, we packed it up
and headed back out to the parking lot. Bob and his son had to take off then,
but the rest of us headed out to Jack Astors for some lunch. After a short
detour (and some off-road showboating by Jason and Norah) ;-) we were there.
Speaking of which, Eddie, I forgot to let you drive my truck over! :-( Next
time we get together, remind me; you're more than welcome to drive it. We
had a great lunch, and everyone signed the paper "tablecloth" which is
now hanging on the wall of my home office. :-) When we left the
restauraunt, we spent some more time hanging out in a chilly parking lot,
took some more pictures, everyone took the opportunity to ask what was
going on with the stickers ;-) then we said our goodbyes and headed home.
The worst part about the whole thing was going home... As I was driving
away, I got this sinking feeling in my stomach like I just lost my
best friend or something. After a 2 1/4 hour drive home, I was
happy to be off the highway, but I would have gladly jumped back in the
truck and drove another 5 hours round trip just for another hour of
the DML meet. :-) We're definitely going to have to do this again!!
I had a thought as I was heading home; it might be neat to get a
DML group picture at the top of the CN tower... Maybe at a future
Toronto DML meet? :-)
I've already got my pictures developed and scanned in. I'm about
to create a page so everyone can check out the Toronto meet.
Unfortunately for me, eveyone else there is a heck of a lot more
photogenic than I am. Oh well, I guess I'll post 'em anyway. :-) I
believe Norah and Jason have some pics too that they're going to send
me to scan for the page. Norah: I'm such a doofus... I didn't think of
this at the time, but I should have just taken your film home with me,
then I could have gotten all the pics developed at once! Doh!
If you've got a few DMLers in your area, I highly recommend getting
together! Its a LOT of fun! We spent about 5.5-6 hours together, but
to me it felt like half an hour; it was over too quickly. I can hardly
wait for the next one!!!
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
| Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.58@93.55), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
`--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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