12/22/2005: Memphis Bloggers Bash, December 21, 2005

As mentioned in my brief live entry from the bash itself, we all collected and had a great time, as always.

Let's see if I can recreate the roll. Keep in mind that incipient senility for me is, as always, just about 20 minutes away, so if there's anyone I left out, it's nothing personal. Leave a comment, and I'll add your name multo quick pronto (ditto for correcting misspellings):

First and foremost, the "industriously quirky" Mike Hollihan, who for his confessed unsociability has nonetheless managed to be the organizational genius behind most of the Memphis bashes for the last soon-to-be two years now
"The Factotem": a brilliantly cobbled together stand-in for DBV's very own Karen McLauchlan. For a while it looked like Karen might be able to make it to the bash (she had been travelling on family business for a bit, and could spare a short diversion to Memphis) but unfortunately last-minute holiday plans scotched that idea. Based on a suggestion by Mike along with a memory of my days in active Sherlockianism, Karen put together "The Factotem" so she could be with us in spirit, if not in person.
Mark Havener, Mike's wargaming nemesis and model rocketeer extraordinaire
Derek "autoegocrat" Haire, who announced the imminent resurrection of The River City Mud Company/Bugle (i.e., his return to solo blogging)
Eric Janssen, also of Quixtar Blog and Plug In (the Commercial Appeal's tech oriented blog), who shared with us his enthusiasm for Wikipedia
Chris Lawrence, in town for the holidays while on winter break from his position as a visiting professor at the Political Science department at Duke
Newcomer Markus Seaberry, "aspiring writer,actor, spoken-word artist/developing (I hope) rapper" as he describes himself on his blog
Rachel "Pulp Faction" Drinkard (a/k/a, "the other Rachel", so as not to confuse her with Rachel "and the City" Hurley, who was a no-show last night)
Long time Bash absentee Jon Sparks, who was a late arrival since he had to make a mandatory appearance at the Commercial Appeal's holiday party that evening (still, it was very good to catch up again with Jon)
Bret Weaver, who is, in addition to being a local blogger, a staff member of the University of Memphis's Daily Helmsman
Paul Ryburn, another newcomer. I didn't know it at the time (because, unfortunately, I didn't get any time to talk with Paul), but Paul is also the proprietor of Memphis Wallpaper, a wonderful site where you can snatch a number of great pictures of Memphis to use as desktop wallpaper for your computer (my computer at work is made more interesting by the occasional use of Paul's pictures of AutoZone Park and the Arcade Restaurant as wallpaper, and I see there are a few more pictures I'll have to borrow soon. Thanks, Paul!).
Chris "The Pesky Fly" Davis
E.J. Friedman, of Cherry Blossom Special and Scenestars, who entertained us with his TiVo capture of the Boondocks Christmas show, as well imparting upon those of us present the deep, dark secrets of the infamous goatse.cx website
Last, and most certainly least, was yours truly, Guardian of The Factotem and Occasional Comedy Relief

And what would a Bloggers Bash be without pictures? On the front page here we'll only tease you with one picture:

Mr. Mike Meets The Factotem

The rest of the pictures below the fold....

All in all, once again, a dignified insurrection fully worthy of:

The Art Schroeder Memorial Synopsis™

A great time was had by all, and nobody was arrested.

A pre-Bash shot: Karen lovingly handcrafts The Factotem

(L to R) Mark, Paul, the back of Mike's head, Derek (standing)

Markus (in the foreground) and Eric Janssen (just beyond Markus), both with the backs of their heads to us, alas. Paul's standing to the left, E.J.'s standing to the right, and Mike is seated facing us.

(L to R, facing us) Markus, Eric, Bret, Paul (standing), Mark. Facing away from us is Chris and a bit of Mike.

The assembled multitudes gaze in wonder as Eric performs some technical wizardry on his PowerBook

To the left, Mike and E.J. (standing) watch Eric, while Chris follows along with Eric on his cell phone's Web browser; to the right we have the backs of Mark's and Bret's heads as they watch Eric, too.

The Cool Kids (L to R, Derek, Rachel, Chris) taking a nicotine break

Mark and Paul. (Ok, so I've not mastered the "red-eye suppression" mode of my camera. So sue me.)

Chris enjoying one of Quetzal's non-alcoholic brews. Quetzal has a variety of coffees available. I see a Sunday breakfast trip sometime soon in order to check their wi-fi/brunch suitability. Does Cafe Francisco have a rival for my affections?