Sorry about losing P-C, as ND said, but they really should film this and show it every Halloween.

Feel free to watch it with P-C, bro. We'll unbolt the door after and only after we're assured that you've taken the horrible thing out of the DVD player.

Seriously. Speaking just for me, my phobia is the real deal; completely irrational, except that, wait, bitten by black widow, nearly died, allergic to the venom, nope, actually is rational.

Hey, this last few weeks has been balmy here in Austin, for the record. That's true on average in May, and the weather site bears me out. [link]

It did hit 100 on Memorial Day, but it's not all that muggy yet. June is another matter altogether.

And, since my home state is also being dissed, let me point out that I lived in AZ for approx 30 yrs and saw a tarantula only when I went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert museum.

There's lots of buggies in the desert-though not more so than say, Florida IME-but it's not like tarantulas are waiting to crawl up your nose when you sleep.

I get the spider thing, I do, I'm right there with y'all without the anaphylaxis, thankfully. But AZ is not Tarantula Central by any means.

I would, however, not suggest a F2F in Tucson or Phx in May or June unless you like the feeling of being baked alive or set up early morning/indoor activities. We natives know better. Heh.

Heh. Your balmy may vary. It was 68 here today, blue sky, gentle breeze, and all I could think was that weather just doesn't get any more perfect than this. 75 is balmy. 85 is hot.

But, heat-hating freak here. If I can make F2F '05, I figure almost anywhere in the middle of the country is going to be too hot for my sensitive blood that time of year, and I'll just spend as much time as possible standing in front of AC vents. And in '06, I figure odds are high that SF or Seattle will host, and we'll get my kind of summer weather.

I'm sorry, I know it's wrong, but I'm amused that the discussion of the next F2F has disintegrated into meat-axe-murdering arachnaphobia.

To be honest, Deb, after you told me that story about the giant freakazoid bird-eating spiders? Tarantulas haven't seemed nearly so bad.

I will still join in the axe-wielding mob, though, if anyone tries to show me a scary spider movie, up to and including the scene from Chamber of Secrets. Because spiders in movies don't generally look like real spiders, they look like the spiders in the heads of arachnophobes that are the reason we loathe and fear the fucking things.

And Jessica nails it. Brrrrr. Just stay away from the London Zoo's insect house; last time I looked, they actually had a Cost Rican bird-eater. They probably heard me screaming in Basildon.

Astarte, was someone dissing 'zona on spider issues? Not me; I never a saw a spider there either, although I'm told the desert does produce a metric fuckload of black widows, looking for water. My only problem with your state is the climate in summer. Every year, we talk about going down to Scottsdale or Phoenix for spring training (the Giants train there), but every year money issues seem to come up.

I'm sorry that the bartender & alcohol wasn't very good.

Now I know we won't have that problem in NO.

I don't remember there being a lot of spiders in Austin. The only thing that would make me choose NO (well not the only) but one reason for NO over Austin is the concentration of stuff in a walkable, out of the heat, area.

I asked before, but could somebody link to the post with all the info I'd need to get?

Heather, I only saw the one spider in Austin. Alas, it crawled out from under the patio table at which I was sitting, and parked next to my hand.

I don't know what the world record is for getting on the other side of a sliding glass door with no air in one's lungs, but whatever it is, I think I broke it.

I understand you. One is plenty for me too. I usually make Mr. H kill them.

I screamed so loud at seeing one on the wall once that he came tearing down the stairs buck naked to kill it, forgetting that we had company.

ooh, sounds like fun at your house :)