ELP Digest Dinner

As reported by Maureen Hanrahan

As many of you know, a bunch of us got together when John Arnold, our fearless leader, was in Santa Clara, CA, for a Microsoft conference. After all that brain drain, he was more than ready to join us for a bit of rowdiness.

The original plan was to get Digest readers in the Silicon Valley area together to meet. Well, things got a little carried away: there were also attendees from Fresno, Los Angeles (more or less), and Bullhead City, AZ. What some fans will do...

Well, we all finally managed to get together at the Tied House in Mountain View. A wonderful place, really: the food was good, the beer was good, the company was good (oh, yeah, we provided that!), and they didn't throw us out, even though four of us hung around for quite some time after dinner on a busy Friday night.

How we all managed (or didn't manage) to get there is a whole 'nother story; maybe for another page...

Anyway, the attendees were these:

• John Arnold, whom you know by reputation, at least; a co-founder of the Digest.
• Mark McCarron-Fraser, who made all the dinner arrangements.
• Chris Plaunt, the generous provider of the computer space where the ELP Digest web site originally on resided.
• Jill Plaunt, Chris' charming and lovely wife, who wasn't just along for the ride with hubby: she's just as rabid a fan as the rest of us.
• Kathleen Hanrahan, my sister, who's "too shy" to post anything to the Digest. Shy, my a**!!
• Glenn Mandelkern, who, among his other talents, has contributed good stuff to the ELP FAQ.
• Mo Hanrahan, yours truly, the humble keeper of the ELP FAQ, and the one responsible for half the out-of-town attendees.
• and last but not least, Jim Smith, the other co-founder of the Digest, and bringer of tons of great photos and other ELP memorabilia.

My sister brought her digital camera along, and great hilarity ensued as shots were snapped all round (well, mostly all round; a certain notable is conspicuously absent).

And here most of us are, going counterclock-wise around the table:

• Meet John, our guest of honor. It was, after all, his fault that we were where we were. (27k)
• Meet Mark. (29k)
• Meet Chris. (25k)
• Meet Jill and Kathleen. (33k)
• Meet Kathleen (hey, wait a minute, how'd she get in there again? She's supposed to be the official photographer...) and Glenn, and a certain, otherwise missing altogether, notable's left arm. (31k)
• Meet Jim. (30k)
• Tonight, for the first time, met the founders of the Digest, John and Jim. Really, folks, they had never met before this dinner. Ya gotta love the 'Net!! They also invited the right arm of that same certain notable!! Well, actually Jim and John had met at the aforementioned Microsoft conference 2 days earlier. But, if not for planning this dinner, they wouldn't have to known to meet there.(28k)
• Just to prove we did talk about our heroes, here are Chris and Mark, showing off Mark's Tarkus shirt and one of his precious posessions, Changing States. (26k)
• And (drumroll, please, Carl) here are the winners of the "Cutest Couple at Dinner" award, Chris and Jill! (31k)

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Updated:    01/02/12