I didn't win a hat

But I had a great time at the Indy Blogmeet.

Old NFO and The Big Guy traveled far to meet with us, so Midwest Chick and I  drove the two hours to meet with them and the rest: Roberta (of course), Tam, Joanna, Brigid, Don, Jack, Old Grouch, Kerry, Karl (with his famous hats as prizes), and a cast of thousands....I was lucky enough to get to sit next to Tam for some great conversation.

We had excellent service, and an unflappable waitress, who kept us full of assorted beverages and made sure that there was room for the many and assorted appetizers and (somehow) kept our food orders straight, even while ignoring the display of lethal hardware.

The portions of conversations I could follow included the color of electrical arcs, the destructive mechanism of of overloaded and overrun turbines, the incredible awesomeness of the Navy's railguns, the damage electrical current does to cutters (and other metal implements) when the power is (of course) "off" (you checked it yourself didn't you?), and the relative merits of assorted knives and multitools (there were enough of the former for about 2.8 per person, and at least one of the latter to equip each attendee....we could have disassembled a car with all of them).

As we arrived early for the meet (we left early in case there were issues with the 130 mile trip) we met up with Brigid and OldNFO for a bit of impromptu shopping for spices and such, and I had the fun of chasing Brigid's truck through the northeast side of Indy's traffic.....A challenge, I assure you, to keep her (and Midwest Chick) in sight as they wove in and out of traffic (likely Brigid was urged to challenge me by Midwest Chick?). It was fun as I had time to chat with OldNFO during the chase trip. We spent way too much money at Penzy's and Artisanos for specialized spices and oils and vinegars and salts and such....But they will be put to good use in my kitchen, I assure you.

It was a good relaxing day. I was tired early though, due to my (apparently not yet fully) recovery from a bad case of flu earlier in the week...We'd have liked to stay and have dinner with Jay and OldNFO, but the 2 hour trip home was looming, so we left about 4.

If you weren't there, you missed it. Sad you.