As you can tell, the San Diego TweetUp was a huge hit. The Meet up, coordinated by theJennifer Van Grove, took place at The Lafayette here in San Diego. There were tons of local tweets and twitter friendly folk. We gathered poolside, enjoyed an open bar, and mingled.. I love these events because it is always such a diverse crowd. You got your web professionals of course, then there are military people, teachers, and retail folk, to name a few. I think Richard and I made up the retail portion. LOL. Anyhoo, there is a lot of networking which is awesome because it is social networking as well as business because these are “Twitter people” after all.
So if you are local, and on Twitter you really should check it out.. Oh, and if you are a local straight man (I won’t name names, you know who you are): dude, there are hawt chicks there!
I did in fact get my new iPhone. I guess I left the blog kinda hanging on that…
Let me just say, What a debacle! Getting a new phone should not be so hard! Seriously. That said I am so glad I went thru it. I like being one of the idiots out there “first”. LOL. So after my 3 hour wait the SECOND day I was finally next. I was so sure my activation would be fast. I knew which phone I wanted (8G, I have a brand new iPod Classic that is huge so no need for 16G), I knew I qualified for the upgrade, should be smooth. After another 20 minutes (I know, right?) a “specialist” approached me. We got to work. He fetched the phone, took my info, and entered it into the activation handheld thing. We waited. The result came back fast: “Error. Account does not qualify”
WHAT!?!
So like, he tried to be all sorry and “better luck next time” but I was NOT leaving without an iPhone. I became one of the customers that made the wait so long. I made him call AT&T. After 45 minutes of trouble shooting the account it turns out that there was some corporate discount that we didn’t even know we had that was the issue. Ugh. So we removed it and finally the phone was set up. Phew. So now I had to go back to a real AT&T to figure that out another day. Whatever. I had my iPhone!
One more step. Plug it in and make a call. I did. I called Richard. It didn’t go through. I tried again. No luck. It rang, but went to AT&T operators. Huh. I cringed. I dialed MY number. My old phone rang. Shit! They put the upgrade on the wrong phone! At this point I was politely told by a number of Apple people that I was SOL. It was an AT&T thing. AT&T told me it was an Apple thing. I was screwed!
Finally an AT&T supervisor told me to swap the SIM. After an hour on the phone, of course… But now all is welll and I am a happy boy! LOL
Look at my new Apple product! I call it iGotnothing.
Well kids. I am a little down today. I showed up at my Apple Store bright and early, like a good little Mac-boy. I was expecting the line, since I opted for sleep last night. 8:00 was when I stepped into place. In fact, it all started out really hopeful! The plan, according to the Apple associates was this: 40 people let in at a time, 10-15 minutes each. I was about number 300, but I do exaggerate. Could have been a lot less in front of me. Still, at 15 minutes each group I figured about 2 hours. Seems logical, right? We have been through the lines with Apple before. They usually don’t screw up too bad.
After about 2 hours I really was getting discouraged. I had definitely moved up, but not much. And we had been at a standstill for a really long time. Twitter kept me appraised of the issues as we went. Servers down! Servers up! Servers DOWN! Richard came over with a snack. I finally got to go look at the entire line. Wow. He waited with me for 30 minutes. When it finally looked like I was moving again he took off to get ready for work. I waited, chatted with the gal next to me, and questioned the Apple folk. They were saying all systems were a go! Twitter linked me to more stories that it was bad. iTunes servers were the issue, and folks have been having trouble with iPhone 2.0 updates as well as the Apple Store activation parade…
It was when I was reading about how folks were sent home with NO WORKING phones (after Apple DE-activated old iPhone, but could NOT activate the new one) that a woman came past the line with her 2 new phones and a warning. “Don’t let them activate you here! I have been inside since 8:15 trying to get activated!” I decided screw it. I, like so many before me, left the line. After 3 hours.
I figured dude. 3 hours and I am not even halfway… Plus my current iPhone is working fine. Rocking iPhone 2.0 too! So I can wait. I waited this long… Right?
Okay, no. I am calm now. Really. I just feel I have to make a big deal out of it since so many local San Diegans are opposed to it. I have heard everything from “too commercial” to “waste of time”. And then there’s this. I mean, dudes. Relax. It’s an amusement park. They are all commercial! Have you not been to Disneyland? It’s one big commercial! Just because SeaWorld is brought to us by the Anheuser Busch Company doesn’t make it worse. In fact I find it hilarious! What better place to bring the brats than an Amusement Park that encourages you to get tanked? In fact, I Yelped about the whole thing... No need to type it all out again here, right?
So the thing I need to get across is my experience at ANY amusement park with my Richard. He loves them more than I do, especially if there are any type of animals involved. (Look at that GRIN!) When we arrived we were barely through the gates when he started. “We have to see the Polar Bears!” “Which way?” “Come on!! This way!!” We were apparently spending the day in high gear instead of relaxing. But I followed along, camera and map in tow as he rushed me from attraction to attraction. And that was the easy part. The hard part for me is the length of time he will spend staring at each thing. After like 5 minutes of penguins I am pretty much ready to move on. Not my Richard. Bless his heart. He has to “observe” the penguins for a while… From different vantage points even. Oh. My. Gawd. My iPhone sure came in handy! Don’t get me wrong, I know what I am getting into with these outings. The Zoo is much worse… We both managed to have fun.
Then aside from the park, there is the people watching. Seriously. The added element of all the Budweiser products kinda changes things. People are louder. Like that family behind us at Shamu “Believe”. First of all only Gramma was in a wheel chair, so I don’t think all 12 of them should have been taking up disabled seats. Aside from that, the drunken domestic going on was unreal. At least once the beer spilt, no one was industrious enough to go buy more. And dude, can we discuss the fashion choices that were witnessed? My eyes! Yes I realize there are water rides, but your swimsuit does not match everything. Sheesh!
Speaking of shows, we hung out after Cirque De La Mer to meet the performers. That was a pretty sophisticated show for SeaWorld, and we wanted to give them props. Turns out we got a photo with the boys too! Actually it was funny. One of the Mer Girls was available too, but no one wanted a photo with her. The guys on the other hand had a pretty big line-up of fans!
Since moving to San Diego Richard and I have been very lucky to have become part of a circle of friends. We all hang out, separately or all together all the time. We always have fun. Whether it’s our weekly SYTYCD parties, movie nights, BBQ’s, or going out to Hillcrest or Downtown and “painting the town”. I consider these people my San Diego family! But lately we have been noticing that we are a bit of a clique. There aren’t really any new faces (well, since Richard and I). No fresh blood. We just aren’t meeting any new people and that makes it tough for the single kids in the group. Not that we want to be matchmakers. Good gawd no! But when you hang out with new people you meet their people… Maybe one of their people might know another single guy and through just getting together our single kids will be exposed to more quality singles? Cause let’s face it, when you hang out at bars every week to meet people you are going to meet people that like hanging out in bars. And aside from all of that, we are a group that likes to entertain. It’s more fun with more people! Right? We decided that Sheila’s BBQ was our big event. We were all to bring new people.
So for me, I am not surprised by any of this. I have been trying to meet people with interests like mine lately, going to the SD Tweet-ups and Blogger Meet-ups, and actually going out and meeting the people I have been talking to on my various online social networks. My goal has been to get some friends who understand what the hell I am talking about with my SEO, CMS, tweets, plurks, and whatnots. People who understand why I constantly check my phone! In the meantime I have met a fair amount of people that I see or talk to regularly enough. So for this past BBQ I was pretty confident that I could get some new folks to come around. As it turned out, not so much. I do understand tho. One I asked at the last minute, and the others, well I mean given the choice I think I’d pick existing friends over newbies… I guess.
My other friends tried different approaches. One tried picking out someone that looked like they’d fit in with us at Mo’s and just walking up and chatting with him for a bit, followed up with the big invite. The guy actually seemed cool about it after the initial “we aren’t hitting on you” stuff was out of the way. He actually agreed to come by, and we got his number. In the end he flaked. Sheila invited her local barista that she chats with at her coffee place all the time. A good idea, I thought! He was a no show as well. So out of 6 new people invited 100% declined or flaked at the last minute.
I guess my point is this. I understand how to meet people. At least online. (Richard and I aren’t single. In the gay world I find making new friends in real life so awkward… People are out looking for dates, not friends usually.) Besides, I think I have a number of great resources right now that are more reliable than just picking someone out of the crowds. I have met people. How do I get them from the acquaintance stage to the friend stage? How do we as an established group assimilate new folk? I can tell you it was a long time before I felt comfortable with everyone… How do we make that easier?
OMG. It’s anniversary day! As is my tradition, seen here, I did nothing. I knew it was coming, just like last year. I still work *at* the mall so shopping or a card would be easy enough. I just can’t get it together… After reading last years post I am a bit jumpy, worried some box or something is gonna pop out of somewhere leaving me to feel like a total heel. I thought we agreed tho. We get another iPhone. That is the gift, so we each end u with killer phones! Yay!
We are spending the day at a friend’s house for a BBQ and hopefully fireworks. She lives on Coronado Island, so we should be able to see the show without too much effort! There is champagne chilling in the fridge for later tonight. And we have a week off. I think that is a pretty good start on Anniversary festivities!
Anyhoo. Happy Anniversary Richard! Thank you for keeping me company all these years…
I was just about to get in the shower when it occurred to me that there are only 4 more work days (5 total) till my 6 day vacation! I am so excited… I just had to sit and enjoy the feeling a bit. We aren’t planning to go anywhere, what with gas prices what they are. Probably some local San Diego tourist stuff. We like that kind of thing. Plus the big 4th of July will be happening, and along with that our 11th anniversary. We have big gifts planned… iPhones! I get a 3G and Richard is taking the original! I can’t even wait till the 11th! I don’t know what will be more fun. My new iPhone or watching Richard learn to use his. Heh.
Anyhoo. Now I just need to get thru the next 4 5 days.
Weekend recap! I had a blast every day… Listen as I attempt to recount the fun. Meeting with some local Twitterers included:
@gooster
@tenthmuse
@mikeynerd
@slickdome (not quite local)
@richardallen
@wesstone
@danielphillip (me!)
A few photos on Flickr, as well as here on the blog. Cause I blogged the whole thing too. Heh. Friend me, follow me…
UPDATE: It’ll be 11 years for me and Richard. Not 12. Feels like 12 tho.
Urban Mo’s was a blast last night. This photo was one of only three that I took, but it has Trixie and I love her. I always end up wishing I brought the actual camera! But then who wants to be that guy chasing people with a camera all night when you’ve only just met? Right? So a few iPhone photos are all I got.
So anyhoo, @gooster, @wesstone, @slickdome, @richardallen, @jeffred, @tenthmuse, @mikeynerd, and me @danielphillip were in attendance. And Mo’s was packed. Packed, I tell you! I was poked, prodded, and groped in places not normally groped.. Hellooo! The heat was pretty intense too. All that aside I think a crowd is a good venue to meet new people tho, in case you don’t hit it off and you want to slip away… It could happen! What a great time tho! We all seemed to play nicely together, although it did get a bit wild towards the end. I danced I twirled and posed like a freak to Miley IN PUBLIC! OMG. LOL. And one of my “Apple martinis” was basically a glass of vodka. Cuh-ra-zy! Nothing like booze to make meeting new people less stressful… Kidding! Kinda.
Most importantly I think we made a few new friends, and that was the whole point, right?
Okay, so just in from the big night out at Mo’s. Totally a blast. My Twitter peeps rock!
I can safely say this because I have met 1/16th of them in person. Okay, maybe not that many… But still, between tonight and the #sdtweetups I have been to I can say that Twitter is my friend yo. More, plus a photo or two tomorrow. Must sleep now.
As a wise woman once said, “Tweet me, twitter me, add me, friend me, follow me, stalk me, love me! Twitter!!”
temperature: 64°F (18°C)
feels like: 63°F (17°C)
humidity: 72.7%
sky conditions: overcast
conditions: clear
wind: from the S at 14 mph
visibility: 8 mi ( 12.9 km)
updated: 05/24/2012 10:51 am
Speaking of shows, we hung out after Cirque De La Mer to meet the performers. That was a pretty sophisticated show for SeaWorld, and we wanted to give them props. Turns out we got a photo with the boys too! Actually it was funny. One of the Mer Girls was available too, but no one wanted a photo with her. The guys on the other hand had a pretty big line-up of fans! 
UPDATE: It’ll be 11 years for me and 
