Matt, please don't be like that. This isn't an official F2F; we're just tossing ideas around for an informal get together. I would rather get out of the city (and Memphis, for example, would be a cool suggestion), which is why I'd asked if anyone had any ideas. There is no slight intended to anywhere else in the country; I only reverted to maybe we should have it in LA because I was thinking logistics about where we have people willing to host and places big enough to gather. Basically, my comment was because I was thinking I didn't want to foist the burden on someone else since I'd been the one to bring it up today.

Your comment made me feel stupid and petty, which is the last thing I'd intended.

ETA: And also, I didn't see your edited comment about coming to Memphis until after I'd posted my response to the others, which is why I didn't mention it. I didn't actually see it until I went back and reread now, hours later.

Just for future reference, there is actually a whole country more than 2,000 miles wide between the two coasts.

Um, I'm kind of with Kristin on this one. Speaking just for me, to be blunt? I'm aware of the 2000-plus country in between. In fact, between moving to the US in 1963 and now, I've been from coast to coast via greyhound bus twice, and by car three times, using different routes, and remarkably little of the 2000 miles in between appealed to me enough to a) spend a shitload of money getting there and back, or b) flying, which for the record is something I actively fear doing.

I love Minneapolis, but I was just there two weeks ago. I love Boston, which happens to be on a coast - and yes, I DO like oceans better than inland; personal taste, purely - but will be there in a couple of weeks. And I like Chicago, but dude, we're talking frickin' December.

edit: there's also the fact the original suggestion was Las Vegas. Geographically, it happens to be closer to LA - albeit still a good distance away - than it is to a lot of the rest of the 2000 miles etc.

You'd have to be eager to take offense to make a fuffle out of Matt's comment. It is a normal and completely understandable complaint that the midwest and south get little play in the interim get togethers. Geography conspires against them. I am certain that his comment was not pointed at anybody in particular, and not even necessarily about this event. He'd just like to see people more often. That's not offensive.

And I like Chicago, but dude, we're talking frickin' December.

Purely anecdotal, and perhaps anomalous, but Chicago was less cold when I visited last December than it was the night we arrived in Chi for the first F2F.

You'd have to be eager to take offense to make a fuffle out of Matt's comment.

It's all how you read it, and just saying, it read snippy to me. If it didn't to you, cool. Also, see above, since we're talking geography lessons, David. The original suggestion was for Las Vegas, which is tucked inland in the southwestern corner of the United States.

edit: and people seriously offering to host and organise? Put it out on the table. I'm betting there'd be a good solid show of hands. But there's a reason things tend to gather where the majority of any given group live, which I rather understood was why b.org has these annual affairs....?

edit redux: and I neither took offense at Matt comments, nor have I the faintest interest in kerfuffles. I did think it was snippy. If it wasn't, my mistake and I'm sure Matt will tell me so himself.

You'd have to be eager to take offense to make a fuffle out of Matt's comment.

I have no problem flying into the middle of the country. The phrase "for future reference" always reads snippy to me, which is why I got defensive, but I am/was certainly not "eager to take offense".

Matt, I apologize if I overreacted. I agree that the coasts get more attention.

Tired now. Going to sleep. Night.

Huh. I'm going to check Vegas prices again, just to see. Sometimes as the date nears they will run discounts if the hotels aren't filling.

I'm the one that pitched this in the first place. It was a lot about me just really liking Vegas.

I think we should all meet in Spokane.

The phrase "for future reference" always reads snippy to me, which is why I got defensive, but I am/was certainly not "eager to take offense".

Yep. What Kristin said. It's phrase that sounds to my ear as if the lecturer is assuming the lecturee is a fool, which for future reference, I am emphatically not. And I generally hear it being used sarcastically.

Matt, I apologize if I overreacted.

And, yep. What Kristin said, again.

For the record, I will always vote Seattle or write it in for any informal F2F location mention.

This would be because it's, sadly, the only place I can afford to go. Well, okay, not go so much as be, but you get the general idea. (When even Spokane is a non-starter, well.. you know it's time to step up the job hunt, for one thing.)

However, I'm perfectly willing to be filled with envy at gatherings all around the globe. In the last week, I've found myself green with the stuff at L.A., SF, NYC, and Chicago, and that's just counting events in the US.

So yeah, a quick scan of Vegas shows rooms sitting at about $250-$300 a night, which is a bit steep.

No need to apologize, I was being snippy. My comment wasn't meant to imply anyone is a fool, but it was intended as a sarcastic reminder after seeing an entire string of west coast alternatives suggested for something that was (at least back when it was mentioned to me) a general holiday gathering rather than a regional f2f.

edit: Ouch, $250+ a night is on the steep side. I'm guessing 10 to a room won't fly with the Vegas hotel folks, eh?