San Diego Mini Blogmeet

Actually, it was more a San Diego Protest Warriors planning meeting and lunch yesterday, but most of the people there were bloggers.

I finally got to connect with some of the local blog scene. I met Da Goddess and her very sweet son, Mrs. Smash, Mad Mikey, and the self-described "Blog Groupie" Gracie, who would probably make a pretty good blogger herself. Even Smash himself showed up via cell phone, though he's on TDY in Washington, DC.

I knew Da Goddess and Mrs. Smash from the work they did on the fabulous Valour-IT fundraiser last November, and I'd met the Smashes in person at the MilBlog Conference last April. I already knew a little bit about Mike and Gracie from reading Smash, but had never interacted with them in any way. All of them went through a lot with Mike's stroke and coma last January, so it could've been somewhat like an outsider stepping into a tight-knit family when I joined them.

However, they made me feel completely comfortable and I had a great time. Da Goddess is hilarious but very kind and her son is a sweetheart (I'm sure I'll have more stories about her, since we're going to the Wild Animal Park soon). Gracie is a riot, and Mrs. Smash has a great, quiet sense of humor. Mikey and I seem to have run in largely different circles, so he didn't have a clue who I was, but he was still very nice and I look forward to getting to know him if I get the chance to join in Protest Warrior activities.

It was great to finally meet up with some familiar faces and feel like I was making friends here in SD. Thanks so much to Da Goddess for inviting me!

Now, if only I could get my blogpapa, SD blogger Lex, to answer my emails. I mean, it's not like being a husband and raising teen and pre-teen daughters while working on a vice-admiral's staff, completing a master's degree, writing a fabulous blog, and planning for an impending career change really takes that much time and energy... ;)

Update: Da Goddess reports from her perspective (and says embarrassing things about "your humble correspondent"). And reading her reminded me I forgot about Mad Mikey's daughter! Oops! Just like Da Goddess' son, she's a very cool kid.