The Central Texas crowd got together this past Sunday for chili and politics and, boy, was it good!
Weren't able to make it? No worries--it was such a big crowd we'll be doing it again in a few weeks.
Roses and I were expecting ten, maybe twelve people tops to fit into the niche at the Chili Parlor. One hour and four tables later we realized we were gonna need a bigger space.
In all we had seventeen wonderful, passionate and articulate people show up to talk and listen and feel a little better about where we were headed as a democracy. It was such a great crowd that we're shopping around for another space for the next meeting, tentatively scheduled for July 16th. Many of us at one end of the table weren't able to talk to the opposite end at all and we want to correct that for next time. We'll hopefully find some place with beer (of course), food, and enough room for us to move around and mingle.
We regulars were pleasantly surprised by several lurkers--and I use that expression in the most affectionate way--who came to visit and hopefully will be inspired to log on now that they've put some faces with user names. I was sorry to not get the chance to speak with most of them, because I was dying to know the details of their connection to the blogosphere and whether they'd found us through Daily Kos or the Texas Kaos site. If you guys are reading this, I hope you'll join us for the next meeting and introduce yourselves with your newly-minted user names!
Our group on Sunday: baileynaustin and his friend who hasn't yet logged on; refinish69; boadicea; sccs and her guest; rabel in a snazzy Daily Kos t-shirt; Janet Strange with photos from Yearly Kos; david(austin,tx); Grand Moff Texan and Chiflada-a-go-go; starlizard and crazymouse who came in all the way from Schertz; two folks who haven't yet logged on but will surely do so soon; roses; and me. There were stories of the Kos convention, delegates meeting again from the state convention, free goodies brought back from Warner's party (which was also much discussed), and info on current and potential new candidates exchanged. It was positively jam-packed full of Democratic goodness.
Best of all, as has happened nearly every meeting, towards the end someone from another table at the restaurant approached roses (she is very approachable) and asked her about our group and how to get involved. Our merry band grows!
July's meeting time and placed to be announced in a couple of weeks. See you all next month!