Face to face meeting

[James]

How about planning our first face to face meeting in October, to coincide with the Internet World trade show?

The show runs from 1st - 5th of October.

[allera]

Depends on where it is. I'm in Florida, USA.

[James]

New York, New York :cool:

[allera]

Oooo, now that sounds fun. I haven't been to NY in a while... :)

[Phoenix]

It's in Noo Yawk, Noo Yawk.

Which is only a couple of hours by train for me, but a ways away from Florida. It's going to take a tremendous amount of courage for me to go to the face to face meeting.

We had a discussion about face to face meetings just a week or so ago with DesertSage, and I'd prefer that people judge me by my intellect, my rhetoric, my writing skills, and my other mental abilities.

In person, they tend to get hung up on what's on the outside and does not reflect who I am. I'm trapped in the prison of a form that causes people to make many wrong assumptions about me, the worst of which is that my thoughts, analyses, etc, are not my own, but are parroted from other sources.

The Internet levels the playing field for me, and allows me to be who I am, free of the filters that come in to play otherwise. It allows my voice to be heard without prejudice.

I'll be there in NYC, just don't forget that what's inside is what matters.

[allera]

Phoenix-

You aren't the only one that feels that way. I've always been involved in things that generally only "adults" are involved in. They used to think I was just some kid, but once they talked to me and got to know what I actually am like, they accepted me as their own. So in the workplace and hobbyplace I generally stick out as the youngster. I'm 22 now, so it's not as bad as when I was 14 and 15, but I can still feel it in certain situations. This will probably be one of them since serious businesses are usually big-boys' playing fields (emphasis on usually).

I think joining the local chamber of commerce will also be one of those situations... We shall see.

[Phoenix]

At least youth is something that you can grow out of. Once you hit thirty, you'll be one of the 'adults' at last.

I've spent years working in an industry where (as long as they are very gifted techies) youth is not a disadvantage. If someone goes into Unix administration, programming or other hard-core tech stuff, either while in high-school or right out of high school, that's considered a good thing. Most of my colleagues did so, and I was writing BASIC programs on a VAX when I was 12, so I am one of that crowd.

On the inside...

[akashik]

Originally posted by Phoenix
I'm trapped in the prison of a form that causes people to make many wrong assumptions about me, the worst of which is that my thoughts, analyses, etc, are not my own, but are parroted from other sources.

Ahh see! Now I want to meet you to see what the hell yer talkin' about *lol*

From where I'm sitting right now Florida isn't so far away from New York :D I *may* be able to make it though - I usually make a pilgrimage to Seattle once a year for their lovely winter. (believe me, once you live in the sub-tropics, seeing snow in December is very nice).

I'll do my best and hope to see you all there. Shmoozing is something I do quite well :)

Greg

[Sesran]

I am in Connecticut. NEW YORK is about an hour away. Not sure if I am going though. I do agree with Phoenix on the face to face meeting though.
Billy

[Phoenix]

Sesran, if you come, can you bring one of those paper bags with the eyeholes in it for me? wait, no, that's not going to help, much...

and, No, i will not give you guys a link to a picture-you might get a hernia laughing at it. and you'd never take me seriously again.

[Tommy]

A face to face meeting would benefit us in many ways. Like DesertSage says (where did he go?) you just can't beat a real eye to eye conversation. Sure, we do great online but we could do even better offline all grouped together in one room. The energy we would create in a first meeting and the flow of conversation just can't be replicated in text on a forum.

There will be no prejudging, afterall, we all know eachother from this forum and respect eachothers views (in most cases). A meeting could only extend this and would not be of detriment to anyone. Anyone who would go on to think less of someone after discovering their race, gender, age, physical appearence is not worth knowing IMO. :rolleyes:

Phoenix, you've done a great job so far and you're drive and vision has been the leading force behind this Ethics Committee.

If you're all clever enough, you'll be able to find my ugly mug on workz.com and soon it might even make it into the magazine - let's hope not because the corporate photo of me is just way too cheesy for a circulation of 20,000+. :lol:

[Phoenix]

I guess I'm clever :)

[Tommy]

Sure, it's Tommy's picture but is that what I really look like? Am I all gray?

Theres only one way to find out ;)

[Phoenix]

Yes, you do look a bit washed out in the picture...probably just need to get out, get a little sun...

[James]

lol a little more sun! Hes hardly ever in the office:lol:

[Phoenix]

Yeah, but he's in the dark all the time having :coctail: and :beer: at the local pub.

[Tommy]

:beer: :coctail:

I can not deny or cornifrm that.

But it is true that I did my upmost best to use all of my annual vacation allowance last year. I'm not so sure I'll manage all of it this year, theres sooooo much to do..... :(

[akashik]

How's Tommy going to get any sun in England?? :D

I suppose he takes off to France or Italy or one of those sunny countries...

Greg Moore

[Tommy]

We've had about three days of sunshine so far this year so I've had to fly out to get my vitamin D from the solar rays. :cool:

I even made it out to Australia & New Zealand ealier this year. Boy, the connections to webhostdir.com are slow out there.
:lol:

[akashik]

Originally posted by Tommy
Boy, the connections to webhostdir.com are slow out there.
:lol:

Tell me about it! Some days I have trouble getting Google to load :rolleyes:

Greg

[poorapagal]

well i am in london....what about a netmeeting of some sort...

[Orpheus]

I'm in Indiana. A field trip to New York doesn't sound like a bad idea, so long as everyone strongly believes we will accomplish more in NY in person than we would in a video conference or chatroom. I've never actually been to NY.....i hear parking is pretty rough..:p

[Orpheus]

Ok, so am I the only other person to take the time to find Tommy's picture? For some reason silly challenges spark my interest. :)

[Phoenix]

NYC is quite a place-dirty, smelly, and crowded, but a lot of fun.

What part of Indiana are you from, Orpheus? I'm originally from Michigan, about an hour north of the Indiana border (Battle Creek).

[Orpheus]

South Bend, when I'm claiming it, however, working on a degree from Purdue(24 more credits for BS :) .....