I'd be happy to mail them to (memfault/will check upthread later - Nicole?) for upcoming nametag goodness.

Thanks! Java, but go ahead and hold onto those for whomever else might need them.

I'm not actually positive that they're necessary for the SF gathering and if they are, a friend of mine wants to do them for me with his own supplies. He thinks he's an artist or something.

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P-C, I flew Spirit recently, and it was fine. But clearly a low-budget airline -- they didn't have check-in kiosks, for example, so I had to wait in line to check in (this was in NYC -- they have them in Detroit).

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Dude, how many posts did we have on muffalatas?

I think that this is what we were trying to avoid :)

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Whee! I just got big boss lady's okay to take off 4 days (Tuesday through Friday) while Nilly is here.

Yay!

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Other city-coordinators, please do me a favor and email me at my profile addy or post here where I should e the RFP, that'd be great.

Is there a Variety buffista log in? Salon - table talk is expired and Buffistas-foamy didn't work.

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I'll e-mail you tomorrow Java, if that's ok.

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Variety is relatively expensive paid service now.

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I was afraid of that. Thanks ND.

Sure, Heather, no problem. Back to work for me.

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And now, a meara like nobody has ever meara-ed before (at least in the amount of gushing and stopping-in-order-to-swounce):

Does this mean Nilly will be in NYC the weekend of the 27-29? Dude, I might be able to get over there.

P-C! Yup, definitely then.

I'm going to try to make appearances at both the Boston and New York shindigs; they're about equidistant from me.

Kate! This way, I'll have familiar faces on the latter of the occasions, on top of all the new ones. Excellent.

As soon as there is something close to a firm Boston date, I'm putting in with the job.

Lilty! I think Boston will be 23-24 of August. I'll write down the full list

so it looks like I'll get to DC in time

Sue! I'll get to meet a representative of the Canadians, as well!

I'M COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deena! What a wonderful surprise!

SO much more filled with sorrow that I can't make it

PMM, I so wish that you could make it, too.

I am not working that weekend!

marty!

I'll have free time in the daytime to show Nilly the NYC!

Jesse! I'm sorry that you were fired (I don't think I got a chance to tell you that, what with me being all these shades of dark lately), even with the grad-school going. But if that timing will give me more time to hang out with you, I'd selfishly say it's definitely a point in favor joblessness.

for sure I'm going to make her ride the Staten Island ferry with me.

You're on.

I have weird paranoia about places to eat, because I'm afraid I'll pick something that won't be the right kind of kosher.

Jesse (and everybody else) - please don't worry about food! After I finish this post, I'll try to write something up, both about shabbat and about kosher food. I'm sure there will be no problem at all regarding the food, and pretty sure that the only things that may come up with shabbat will be me explaining things.

And it comes with mind numbing fear as a bonus. Who knew?

Astarte, I really wish you could have been there, too. House-ownership has to have its downsides, I guess, and I don't think I got to congratulate you on it yet, so congrats!

About the only drawback to here coming here in August is that we'd have no snow to show her.

Hey, this leaves something for future visits! I shouldn't be greedy.

would totally kill like fifty people if we could find a way

Now, now, Sean, you may very well be the minister of killing stupid people, but fifty?

Do we know what size Nilly is?

According to this converting chart, I'm guessing that I'm size 3.5/4.

By the way, I adored the line story.

Thanks, libkitty.

So this is the most marvelous excuse to see your fair bayside city.

Laura! Another wonderful surprise!

I can't believe how lucky I am, with all the people I'll get to meet (and how greedy I am, with all the people I won't get to meet, and can't help but think "oh, how I wish I could", and, yeah, it means pretty much every single person who said they can't be at any of the places I plan on visiting, so, yeah, greedy).

I cannot believe that I'm coming to SF the week after

smonster! (see what I said about greedy?). I hope you'll have a great time when you're there, in any case.

Stupid money.

brenda! (see, still with the greedy?)

I have a living room in Berkeley's beautiful gourmet ghetto in which you would be welcome.

Sparky to the rescue of Jessica!

Also, Sparky, I'm pretty sure I didn't get to congratulate you on your marriage, so, a belated congrats!

(Catching up in this thread makes it possible for me to actually communicate with people I want to communicate with! How great is that?)

If she's in D.C. before I leave, or if she's in Boston when I'm there, that would be great.

Sheryl, what is your exact schedule? I do hope we'll get to meet.

Will sleep on it.

Teppy, I'm selfish. As long as I'll get to see you, I would let you choose on which coast...

Probably DC.

Jen! Wow, so many people. I am so completely humbled by this. I keep reminding myself, just like I did when it all started, that it's about you, not less and maybe even more, than it is about me. Your generosity and kindness and spirit. And still, it's very hard to believe.

Ima ready to party!

SailAwaigh! Now imagine me repeating the former paragraph.

wondering if sudden insanity has struck

juliana, every bride deserves some time away for resting and relaxing before the stress of the final days of preparations. Obviously, SF is a great place to achieve such a goal (also, belated happy birthday!).

It hard to explain to non-Buffistas how I just couldn't let a chance to meet Nilly go by.

Um, OK, I was debating with myself whether I should post this or not, and I'm not sure I'm able to make myself clear, but here we go anyway. Because, you know what? I'm not that special. It's not that I have such a bad opinion about myself or that I'm fishing for anybody contradicting this or anything like that, because I'm completely not. I just really do mean that. So, yeah, not that special. Just me, plain old me. Then again, I want to meet each and every one of you because you're, well, you, so it's not like it's about me, again, just like with the whole amazing generosity that started the whole thing. And this is a way in which I can actually read sentences like the one above and not completely become incoherent with the blushing. Well, either that, or they'll need to evacuate people when I land in the USA in order to make room for my oh-so-huge ego.

[Edit: to be continued. Where do I think I'm posting at, the "Firefly" thread?]

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And now, the continuation:

I am looking at having a nice pasta dinner ready for the travelers on Thursday

deb, how considerate!

I was wondering, though, maybe you'd prefer to wait with the first time you cook kosher, until I'm actually there, to make things easier for you? I'll know what needs to be done, in case of any questions that may arise, and I think maybe it'll make things more relaxed, knowing for sure that everything is going smoothly. Also, I'd love to watch you at work - hey, I may even get to actually learn something!

On top of all that, I need to check it out, since I'm not sure (it's not a situation I've faced before, until now), but there are several rules about how a Jewish person should be present in at least some sort of cooking of kosher food (with baking, for example, a jewish person has to "light the fire" or, in our days, turn on the oven), as a precaution to make sure that there's somebody there who is familiar with the rules and knows how to work according to them (remember the fences of larger radius comparison? Something like that), so it may be best on all "halakha" accounts if I'm there and keeping you company.

if i understand correctly, from sundown on Friday until Sundown on Saturday, Nilly cant be in a car or be going out to eat and such, so I thought we could cram into my apartment or go to the roof and hang out and get good quality Nilly time without all the running around so we can actually sit and talk.

Allyson got it completely right. Jewish shabbat (from sundown Friday to dark Saturday) is best spent sitting and talking and eating and hanging out and just being together.

Does this also mean that Nilly can't be in a place with electric lights?

Vortex, no. It only means that I can't turn a light on or off at that time. I'll probably sit and put together some sort of shabbat explanation, just to make sure things are clear. So all the following questions about it will be answered separately (but, in short, no car (no matter who is driving), no anything electric - sitting and talking and eating, and at most taking walks around, are probably the best things to do on shabbat. In fact, these are the very things I do at home on that day. Any one of those being done by anybody who is not me is completely OK, of course, if there was any question about that).

How much of a stop, I am wondering, for driving out to the airport and meeting Nilly purposes?

JohnSweden, I have no idea yet. The travel agent assured me that it'll be long enough for whatever bureaucratic thing I may need to be doing, but she couldn't tell me (yet) exactly how long.

Matt, health-vibes to your father. And all sorts of good ~ma to you.

I am so there, even if it involves jury-rigging a day off (or two).

Maria!

Oh, look! It's the end of the thread! It reaches an end!

Now, to dust out my soapbox, climb, and see how large are the paragraphs that I can throw at the subjects of kosher food and observing shabbat. Also, I'm guessing I won't be able to finish typing them until tomorrow, but they will be typed. And posted. You are warned.

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