Hey Chuck--night driver et all, how was the turn out for the Ann Arbor gathering on the 30th? How about some details?

Jenny

-- Jenny (Jenny@Just.Curious), November 02, 1999

Answers

Yes, how was the get together? Inquiring minds have to know.

-- (Curious@too.com), November 02, 1999.

Great party, pizza is OK (even if it IS the true and literal precursor to Domino's), the stout is QUITE good though a little on the sweet side, and the Sangrias were marvelous or so I'm reliably told.

chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 02, 1999.

OH!! You meant the PEOPLE and TALK and STUFF!!

That's a different report.

AH, let's see . . . . . . . WE had, um (quickly removing shoes for counting assistance...) 11 or 12 or so likeminded folks show up. Mrs Driver received a year's supply in one bar of Chocolate from one of the quieter lurkers who showed, and we managed to get into some FAIRLY heated discussions, with LOTS of folks who happened to be out on the back patio too just looking on and ignoring us.

Mrs Driver and I did our best GREYBEAR immitations as we did a bit of show and tell on S.U.E.'s, and discussed bug out bags, options, etc. We were quite diverse in our expectations for the rollover. we were also pretty diverse in terms of where we were from. Faith Weaver made it from Pitsburgh, Mrs, Driver and I from Cleveburgh, and Mushroom from Kalamazoo, Paul Christie and Rich and a couple others from right around the corner.

I can't recommend this highly enough. Have a party yourself!!! Invite the yourdonites by posting on the forum, and get together with the rest of us and START NETWORKING!! You NEVER KNOW!! Even if it is LATE, it's better to do a LITTLE than NONE at all.

And while you are at it pop over to the Prep Forum (links all over the place hereabouts) and read BIGDOG's thread on bugging out and the considerations involved. I happen to think that REGARDLESS of your confidence in your location, if you have saved water or the means to purify it, you are sufficiently concerned to have done the thinking about bugging out and the initial packing of the bugout bag.

Chuck who would go on about bugging out but I said it all over there.

Promoised links to follow

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 02, 1999.

Y'all are just gonna have to cut and paste these:

Greybear's SUE thread (Y2K Nakedness and...) http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000em8

the bugout bag lists

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000yQd

try the archives.

HAPPY HUNTING!

Chuck

gotta go the drums are calling

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 02, 1999.

The A2 meeting went great! Lotsa fun.

Still waiting for Chuck and Ms Chuck to mail out the list of email addresses of attendees..... (hint, hint)....

-- alan (foo@bar.com), November 02, 1999.

Hi, Jenny and all of my new friends! The bottom line is this: The only question at the end was, "When are we going to get together again next?" Answer: "How about February?" (Talk about "optimistic doomers"!) It was the best. Without exception, I enjoyed meeting everyone and getting a wide variety of opinions, facts and ideas. It was not only fun but educational. Topics included emergency survival bags and why to have one, demonstrated with gusto by both the night and day drivers, the money system, likelihood of problems occurring (with ex pert programmers present who take it seriously), a well-balanced dis- cussion about the threat of martial law, opportunities for people with specific concerns to get good feedback from other folks, and lots of personal, get-to-know-you exchanges, including exchanges of cards and addresses and such. The weather was gorgeous, my shrimp quesadilla and sangria superb, I heard no complaints about parking or finding the right place, and, in typical old-world style, the owner, Dominick, came by to chat awhile. There was not one DGI among us, though there was a wide difference in degree and types of preparation being made.

You know, the response to Chuck's call for info was the first I'd ever made to a thread. There is so much nastiness that I didn't want to be involved, so I really was a bit apprehensive about who might show up. What a relief: not a loser or freaked-out doomer appeared, just a good group of highly enjoyable, concerned, intelligent GIs.

Thanks again, Chuck, for initiating the event! See y'all in February.

Rich (ritch @umich.edu) November 2, l999

-- rich (ritch@umich.edu), November 02, 1999.

Here's my take . . .

Blue skies, warm sun, brittle oak and maple leaves dancing across the brick and grass. The campus looks wonderful. Hill Street. I lived there once. Parking is plentiful. Tacked near the door of the welcoming restaurant is a sign saying the Yourdon bunch is in the back of the courtyard on the red and blue picnic tables.

I adjust my beret, covered in tinfoil especially for the occasion, and walk over to the group. Im greeted by smiles and after introducing myself, I join in listening as a man I know right away is Chuck continues outlining for the group one scenario about how it might come down.

Then we all toss around our thoughts about someones speculation that of it was going to be bad, it might be preferable if it were sudden, a matter of weeks until we tanked, rather than if it stretched out over months and months. A less centralized recovery effort would result, a bottom-up grassroots growing forward as opposed to a top- down affair.

[I see some of our thoughts echoed in this thread, posted today: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001hB9 ]

Were a varied group in terms of our backgrounds, our politics, our worldviews. Each contributes his or her description of the elephant, predicts how and whether its crippled body might move, tells about personal experiences that underlie the view. The conversation meanders and we begin to get to know each other in a way that you cant do online. Nothing replaces face-to-face contact in this physical world.

We turn to practical matters: Heres what a Survival Under Extremes pack looks like; heres a Bug Out Bag based on Greybears model. Heres how to use duct tape for sewing up a gash in your flesh. Break in those hiking boots now and blaze your trail out.

The foods good. The day is bright. Its like being live on the set of the Yourdon forum to hear us talk. Despite our differences, which we embrace with good humor, we share a common view of Y2K: It aint gonna be no friggin picnic.

Somebody says what I was just thinking: Its startling to be in a group, talking freely about Y2K. Thats the best part of being here for those of us who have no family, neighbors, co-workers or pals who believe that were facing great danger. Its reaffirming.

I recommend the experience to all of you. Meet some of the folks on this board. Look into their eyes; see the intelligence there, and the depth, and the passionate caring. Some dark night this winter, remembering them will warm you, give you the push you need to keep on keeping on.

Lots of trucks on the turnpike en route to PA on Sunday. And whats with the limited fuel service signs at the rest stops? I glance at the tinfoil-covered beret on the cars floor. Maybe Ill just leave it that way. Ya never know. Ann Arbor. Hm. Yup. That was good. Worth the ride. (Thanks to all who were there. A piece of my spirit goes with each of you.)

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), November 03, 1999.