Bloggers, 3D!

I'm not going to step through the entire rota of bloggers who showed up at the Tonga Room last night (and officially, I am no longer a Tonga virgin, deflowered in a flow'ry place!), because Philo has done a far better job at capturing it all.

But I do have to mention the two men who I had not yet met, Jeff and Michael, who I specifically had been wanting to meet for some time now. I met up with Jeff at Martuni's, where we had pre-bloggerfest cocktails, and talked about biology, math, evolution, people, San Francisco, "home"....you name it. The list would be even longer if we hadn't already arrived at the top of the hill, the bottom of the Fairmont.

Having arrived on the early side (we were, at least, of the first 50% of those who showed up), we were sitting behind the tables, against the wall. Michael came in a bit later, with Vince ("the sermon is coming from inside the house!"). We made eye contact, and both made smallish waves at each other, but didn't get much of a chance to chat until later in the evening.

Last night, especially with Jeff & Vince & Michael, I was reminded of how much "real life" has to offer that the bandwidth of cyberspace simply lacks. Maybe knowing some of the personal lore of each of the bloggers there created a bit of mystique, but I think it's more that knowing the blogger side just gives you a better readiness to appreciate the core mystique of people like these.

Truly an honor to be in their presence. Last night I was about as close to being a Secular Humanist as I think I shall ever be.