I am leaving this weekend for Washington DC (or "Warshington", for those in the know) to attend the annual meeting of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. I’ll be railing against theocracy, getting trained to talk to Congressmen, and blogging the whole thing.
But I also want to meet you. No, not you, the other one… there… yeah, you.
PZ Myers will be there as well, and so we’re having a meetup: come to the Senator Sports Bar at the Holiday Inn Capitol Hill at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 10 (tomorrow!), and hang with us. We have no real plans except to chat with the Pharyngulistas and BABloggees, though other bloggers will be there as well if, by then, they don’t want to kill us or aren’t horribly disappointed that we don’t actually stride the Earth like vengeful gods.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:44 am
OMGosh, but I want to take you up on that invitation! Hmm…too bad I live in New Zealand. Have fun.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Whoo-hoo! I’ll be there!
I’ve always wanted to meet someone with an award-winning blog ; ).
J. D.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Are you coming into my neighborhood to visit your BigBadSis?
November 9th, 2007 at 11:09 am
I’d like to be there, too, and although I’m a bit closer to you than Crux Australis, Germany is still too far away for a short weekend trip.
… too bad!
It seems that you must have fun without me
November 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Oh man, I’d love to come too! Even though I’m closest of all so far (Ohio River Valley), I have a paper due on Monday. And I’m a poor grad student.
Have lots of fun!
November 9th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I’m hoping that me and my other half will be able to make it. We’re in Fairfax, so not too far away.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:25 am
My brother-in-law comes from Nebraska, and I always find it funny when he says, “I need to wersh the dishes.” We also lives in the Wershington area. Is that the same as Warshington?
Wish I could be there. Sounds like a great way to spend a weekend. Have fun!
November 9th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Hmm… I am in Charlottesville so this is very tempting. If you were meeting at the Brickskeller you could guarantee I would be there in a flash! Perhaps a change in venue would be considered?
November 9th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Does the Holiday Inn serve pasta? We must after all consider the dietary laws of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Have a great trip.
I’m still hoping that somehow CSpan will video and broadcast a presentation or something from this annual meeting, seems right up their alley.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Nuuuu, I’m on the wrong side of the landmass. Ah well, perhaps sometime in the future… future… future… future…
November 9th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I’m looking forward to meeting you! Oh, and thanks for the link the other day. Yowza.
November 9th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I, too, will be too far away - in Cumbria, in the northwest of England (more specifically, I expect to be at Sykeside near Brothers Water).
Hey, BA, you planning a European tour at any point?
November 9th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
As a Washingtonian, I may have to take this offer…
November 9th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
i think i can probably make it those 2 miles over to the hill. i only want to meet phil because he knows that mythbuster guy, tho’. i’m not gonna lie…
November 9th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Speak for yourself. I do stride the earth like a vengeful god.
I’m already checked in to the hotel, and I have to warn you: there’s some big school group here, too. There are swarms of teenagers running around and squealing and giggling and having a fun time — I’m trying to restrain myself from smiting them, but if it goes on too late I may have to.
“BABloggees”? What a horrible name. How about “BAbees” instead?
November 9th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I’d love to go, but I have a prior commitment, see below…
aReddishGreen! You should maybe join the Charlottesville Astronomical Society and have a look at our home galaxy sometime! (Shameless plug, huh?) We meet at McCormick Observatory (Phil’s old stomping ground) the first Wednesday of every month. We have observing sessions each month too, and I’ll be at our November session tomorrow night working on my binocular Messier certificate instead of hoisting a pint with Phil in DC. I’m the VP of the club and it’s incumbent upon me to attend these sessions.
So much to do, so little time! Bummer in the summer!
Rich
November 9th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Sorry, can’t make it, but I can’t believe that you’re going to be at the Holiday Inn Capitol!
That’s where I stayed in May on a school trip!
(Right near the Air and Space Museum, too!)
November 9th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
I wish I could go there, Phil! But my finances are too taunt for me to go on such a trip.
I wish you and all there the best of luck. Go forth, and educate!
November 9th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Hmmm, Bummer! I must work and it’s a short drive to DC, certainly not like the western states, where everything is half a country away.
I spoke with the local area Astronomy club last weekend. They said they had spoken to you about a local appearance for their club but,,,ah, you know,,,
Hope you can one day make it to this general neck of the woods. Red Top Mountain is a lovely place. Many Astronomy clubs find this a great place to hang the old ’scope and peer at the heavens.
MAybe Next time.
GAry 7
November 9th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Ya know, I find it strange that the AU site mentions nothing about the event this weekend.
And not being able to look at the schedule of speakers, I have no idea what you and PZ are doing during the afternoon tomorrow.
So I hope the following doesn’t come across as spam, but the National Capital Area Skeptics are sponsoring a free talk tomorrow. Dr. Eric Cline will talk on Biblical junk science. Full details at www.ncas.org.
The talk is from 2:00 - 4:00 at the National Science Foundation just across the river in Arlington, and is accessible by Metro.
If you’re not busy and looking for something to do, stop on by.
J. D.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Rich,
As it turns out I just joined CAS Wednesday night. I came really close to plugging Phil’s site here when the speaker was telling us about kicking Richard Hoagland out of the Lowel observatory on Mars Day! If the weather is good I should be able to make it out for the club night.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
That’s great news, Reddish! Glad to have you aboard!
Our speaker last night was John Dedecker, he’ll be the Vice President under me. Probably will be our President next year, great guy!
I’d -LOVE- to have seen John kick Hoagland out of Lowel! I’d heard that delicious story last summer when John joined the club. He’s operating the 26″ Clark refractor a good bit lately for public night.
That reminds me, BABlogees! (How about BAers?) You are all invited to view Mars (or Saturn or whatever’s up) in the monster 26″ refractor at the University of Virginia’s McCormick Observatory in Charlottesville Virginia. It’s free and open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month, year around. This is the best view of Saturn you’ll probably ever have, bar none. Phil will back me up on this one fer sher, he used to operate the scope himself. It’s the best free show in the universe!
See ya at Susan’s place tomorrow, Red! If you need directions, email me at vicepresident (at) cvilleastro dot org.
Rich
November 9th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
> “Speak for yourself. I do stride the earth like a vengeful god.”
Well, then I’m afraid I cannot believe in your existence.
Do you take smite requests?
I have a list.
It’s rather long…
> “there’s some big school group here, too. There are swarms of teenagers running around and squealing and giggling and having a fun time- I’m trying to restrain myself from smiting them”
That I think that’s illegal in most of the country with the exception of parts of the South.
> “How about “BAbees†instead?”
Only if the posters to your site get to be called Pizzers.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
> “Warshington”
I’ve taken to just calling it Dumbass, or Dumbass Hollow if I’m feeling wordy.
I know it’s not very clever, but I figure they don’t really deserve a clever insulting name.
A friend of mine calls it something that, if I typed it here, would burn out the pixels on your monitor. Yes, there is someone more cynical than me. Scary, eh? We try to keep him relatively isolated from the general public.
> “Pharyngulistas”
I totally did that once in a brothel in Nevada! It’s overrated.
You need *two* girls and goat never cooperates.
November 10th, 2007 at 6:54 am
>“Warshingtonâ€
Tom Clancy once remarked in one of his books that Washingto DC is (’X’ number) square miles, surrounded by reality…
November 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Heh, I live right beside the hotel; I can literally see it out my window right now. I’ll drop by and say hi.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Ah darn it, I got so caught up watching the Delta 4 launch and washing dishes I forgot. Hope you had fun.
November 11th, 2007 at 2:35 am
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