Anyone?
Myself and a couple of the other bakers have been talking and it might be nice to have a Bay Area Halfcon. Remove the winter blahs from our collective craws, get some song, food and dance on, and maybe you might think about joining us.
When: Saturday~January 30th~ 2010 Where: ~blissmiss'~ Why: Because we are bakers and we can Time: 10:00am-(US) Happy Hour-(UK)
Ideas for afterwards, if so motivated? Mt. Diablo if weather is good is a thought. I've not been there yet. Bring binoculars if so.-- blissmiss, Jan 07 2010 N.A.W.C.H. N_2eA_2eW_2eC_2eH_2..._20coast_20halfcon)The previous one [csea, Jan 07 2010] Inception http://www.halfbake...dd_20one#1262836809History [csea, Jan 12 2010] (?) Not quite live photos http://6s4klaatu.mu...ay_in_San_FranciscoMore photos being uploaded, be sure to check back. [Klaatu, Jan 30 2010] Laptop upgrade ("Here, hold my beer, watch this!") Pop-up_20Sprinkler_...d_20Laptop_20Camera [normzone, Jan 30 2010] Where Halfbaker Types Come to Actually Make Their Stuff http://techshop.ws/They have social events as well and would probably love to host something like this. [doctorremulac3, Jun 21 2010] Oh, and [hob]? Would like to meet you again, too.-- csea, Jan 07 2010 Hmmm.... let me talk to my cruise director to see if I can book a suitable ride (I think the Norwegian Pearl is otherwise engaged). If nothing is available I might see if I can hitch a ride with 2 fries. (I still think he's crazy, but in a good way)
The food and song part sounds very tempting, but take my word for it, you don't want to see me dance. I did enjoy the potato latkes at Delancey Street, but my palate is open to suggestion.-- Canuck, Jan 07 2010 I think my house could be a meet up place, if you would like. Not for certain yet. Have the place to myself the last two weeks of the month, I think. I have some patios, and some views.-- blissmiss, Jan 07 2010 So I take it you're not in an area that's in danger of being "reclaimed" by the sea as global warming makes the oceans rise?-- Canuck, Jan 07 2010 Mt.Diablo, sort of. High enough to be safe from most of the elements. We seem to be above the fog even, some days. The hawks are now at eye level, let's just put it that way.-- blissmiss, Jan 07 2010 Get me the air fare and I'll be there. With bells on.-- Jinbish, Jan 07 2010 I'll start taking flying lessons.-- skinflaps, Jan 07 2010 I'll stow away in [Jinbish]'s washbag-- gnomethang, Jan 07 2010 is that a euphemism?-- po, Jan 07 2010 Or a promise ;-)-- Jinbish, Jan 07 2010 oh [bliss] I thought you were still in CT!! I'd love to come out there, but not this time...(cries in my sleeve..)-- xandram, Jan 07 2010 Come one, come all. We could meet at a pub and then come here for a transatlantic, or pacific, or whatever conference call. I'll have a webcam by then. With the time difference, the Londoners' will be getting up, by the time we are going nighty-night.-- blissmiss, Jan 07 2010 This might actually be possible for me if Amtrak's schedules work out. Are we looking at a weekend?-- gisho, Jan 07 2010 is this a local's spelling btw?-- po, Jan 07 2010 better?-- blissmiss, Jan 07 2010 yep - like old times my blissy bessy mate!-- po, Jan 07 2010 so... what is the weather like, usually, there, soon..?-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jan 08 2010 Sounds like you guys will have a blast blissmiss and I soooo wish I could, but unless something changes drastically in the near future I don't think I will be able to make it to this halfcon.<mutters, "not sure I *could* do that drive again Canuck" under breath>hmmmmm, I wonder how many air-miles we've got saved.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 08 2010 The weather is mild, not too cold, not too warm. Flowers are blooming, and the breeze is wonderful. At least I think it is.
2 fries, It would not be a halfcon without you and Canuck. gisho, it could be a weekend, or whatever is best for the rest.-- blissmiss, Jan 08 2010 //Have the place to myself the last two weeks of the month, I think. I have some patios, and some views.//
Just this month? You are kind to offer! I'll be back in the Bay area next week, so anytime after that is OK by me. I'll be teaching M/W starting Jan 20th, all else is flexible.
Mt Diablo = Walnut Creek(ish?) Accessible via BART for those coming in to OAK/SFO ? Someday we'll have to do one in sight of Mt. Baker, WA .(I've had the pleasure of seeing the mountain from the water several times this week!)
I've recently learned a bit about SKYPE teleconferencing, don't yet know if we could use it to broadcast / record the HB debauchery...-- csea, Jan 09 2010 Yup, walnut creekish, and very BART. I have been SKYPED myself as well. That would be a fun experiment, if we could finagle that with other bakers.-- blissmiss, Jan 09 2010 *counts on fingers* That would be the last weekend of the month, or the second-to-last.. are you thinking sooner, or later?-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jan 10 2010 Last works for me...if everyone else is good. But then...next to last works for me too. I wonder if jutta would like to come, if she would have a preference?-- blissmiss, Jan 10 2010 If it's on the 30th or 31st, and you make it a brunch, I'll bring the croissants.-- jutta, Jan 10 2010 Yum...Brunch would be great.-- blissmiss, Jan 10 2010 Suits me. Slight preference for Sat the 30th. What shall I bring?-- csea, Jan 10 2010 hah, the londoner's turn to be jealous - work on the skype thing!-- po, Jan 10 2010 butter and yep, we shall work on the skype thing here. Haven't bought my webcam yet, but if everyone over there gets their skype ready, someone surely will have one here, by then. (if we all agree that is something we want to do, naturally.)-- blissmiss, Jan 10 2010 I can do Skype. Californian brunch-time should be UK evening, I think...-- hippo, Jan 11 2010 I think so too. So you guys can be pissy, and messy, and happy hour-ish, and we will be proper and breakfast cool. Just kidding, just kidding.-- blissmiss, Jan 11 2010 //can be pissy, and messy, and happy hour-ish//
Your wish is my command!-- Jinbish, Jan 11 2010 For our Northern Neighbors:
f.y.i. I just returned from Bellingham, WA to OAK, on Allegiant Air for $18.88 USD (plus a bunch of charges for tax, baggage, reserved seat, advance boarding, etc, total more like $80.) This was because I was able to fly on a Monday.
Probably cheaper then driving!-- csea, Jan 12 2010 Get outta here!!! Really???-- blissmiss, Jan 12 2010 Airlines are hard up for customers nowadays. I'm going back in Feb. More like $100 each way. YMMV.
Vancouver Winter Olympics are Feb 12-28; prices for flights are bound to go up around these dates.-- csea, Jan 12 2010 Then it's Saturday, the last Saturday of January, 2010. We could all meet at the Walnut Creek BART commuter hub, if we're eating here. Or earlier if meeting for a brunch in the city. My house is free, should I say more?-- blissmiss, Jan 14 2010 I so wish that I could come to this one bliss! As I,we wish that you could come to our Englandbakes.
(have a bun on behalf.)-- skinflaps, Jan 14 2010 Thanks skinny. Englandbakes has a really cool sound to it. (pop group perhaps?)-- blissmiss, Jan 14 2010 I've skyped. We'll see if we can pull this off.-- normzone, Jan 15 2010 "We built this city...we built this city on rock and roll..." Is that how it goes?-- blissmiss, Jan 15 2010 [blissmiss], please contact me via my profile page to discuss wherewithal for Skyping.-- csea, Jan 16 2010 Your wish is my command, oh great one.-- blissmiss, Jan 16 2010 [blissmis] has cable internet, so we should be able to get something working. Does anyone have experience with "Mikogo" or "Yugma" (teleconference add-ons for Skype?)-- csea, Jan 17 2010 The silence you hear is me...-- blissmiss, Jan 18 2010 [csea] you could set up a live event on vokle.com.-- tatterdemalion, Jan 18 2010 [ttdm] Thanks, Vokle looks useful for topical production, but looks a bit outside of the scope of our halfbaking interaction (?)
I'm not really prepared to set up an event, was just hoping for some means of connecting with remote halfbakers a few at a time. Any other ideas welcome...-- csea, Jan 18 2010 Empty tin cans and string might do the trick.-- blissmiss, Jan 18 2010 [bliss] You've got mail. I'll be coming down a bit early. I had been planning a trip to the Bay Area and this just gave me the incentive to make it so. Sounds like a hoot.
I hope [2fries] shows up so I can give him back his "funny money" that nobody will take here.-- Klaatu, Jan 19 2010 Excellent. There's a baker from Jamaica who might be able to get here as well.-- blissmiss, Jan 19 2010 Hey! I just realized I had been offline for a long time. Looks like I picked a good time to look here again. I'm in SF and I should be able to go to this.-- hob, Jan 23 2010 Yipee. How close to Danville are you? Walnut Creek?-- blissmiss, Jan 23 2010 I'm wondering if jutta has purchased the stuff to make the croissants yet? Cause I'm sure she is making them by hand.-- blissmiss, Jan 24 2010 So if this is brunch-ish, what kind of time range are we talking about? On a weekend, the whole day often seems like brunch to me. This Saturday though, I probably can't stay past early afternoon.
For location details etc., [bliss] could you email me - click the first of my two website links & then "contact info" - thanks.-- hob, Jan 25 2010 11am ish, if that is doable for everyone else. I know it's early in the day. We could do a noonish and just have a shorter brunch, and just longer for those who want to stick around and do something. The weather, they say, is starting to look better.
I hope the local bakers can be vocal about things to do. I've just moved here. I do know Mt. Diablo is supposed to be nice, and we can leave our cars here and all take one or two cars there. It's a short distance, less than 10 miles, as far as I know. I am on Diablo Road, so it can't be too far.-- blissmiss, Jan 25 2010 Can someone from San Fancisco suggest a good way to get from the Emryville Amtrak station to the meeting place? (My email is in my profile.)-- gisho, Jan 26 2010 [blissmiss], why not pick a public place where we can meet near your place, and have an opportunity to forcibly eject any impostors, socially reprehensible ... (oh, never mind, I guess any baker reading this is likely to be OK!)
This way, you wouldn't have to post your residence, and we could still carpool to wherever.
[gisho], I could possibly give you a ride from Emeryville, as it's on my way.-- csea, Jan 26 2010 It looks to me like there will be 2 or 3 cars coming up the hillside. Klaatu is coming the day before and camping out so he doesn't count in the count. That leaves gisho with you, csea, in the car we will call half-baker1, jutta in halfbaker2, and hob in halfbaker3. Looks like just 3 cars up in the drive and that will be okay. We can meet at the Country Club Entrance, that way people will think I'm rich and have connections. No for real, it is the last sort of big landmark-ish place.
So that looks good, and findable, the Diablo Country Club. Just don't go inside and try and sit down. They'll throw us out. There's a place to park there for a spell and wait for others.
It's very easy to find on most maps, I think too.-- blissmiss, Jan 26 2010 If they'd just quit giving my loto 6-49 winnings to other people...I'd charter a bus gisho.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 26 2010 Noon's way too late for me, sorry - that's when I'll have to leave.-- jutta, Jan 26 2010 10ish?-- blissmiss, Jan 26 2010 I was hoping for something like that, yeah. 10:30? Mt Diablo is nice and would make a great outdoor picnic venue, just not necessarily on a rainy January morning.-- jutta, Jan 26 2010 10:30 is perfect, and you can drive up and park at the house and stay dry. I'll email you the address, if you'd like.-- blissmiss, Jan 26 2010 Can someone send out the Skype details for this?-- hippo, Jan 26 2010 Email away. (To bakesperson@gmail.com - bakesperson@halfbakery.com is currently out of service.)I'll bring Skype (account "bakesperson"; wait til 10:30 on 1/30/2010 to try it, though).-- jutta, Jan 26 2010 Sounds good - & I'm hitching a ride with [jutta] so that's one less car. (I was tempted to get a Zipcar and bring along a giant dog, but in this weather it's unlikely that the car would survive carrying the mud-beast)-- hob, Jan 26 2010 Oh yeah, there is one catch, I have the worlds badest bad boy dog here, too. He is the life of the party, and he gets drunk and has to be put to bed every time. He's a Corgy sort of breed, with some German Shepard thrown in. Small, mean and really, really, bad.
And I also have a cute, endearing, lovely, little Bechon, too. They are other people's pooches, I'm really more of a claire the cat person. But she decided to stay back in Connecticut.-- blissmiss, Jan 26 2010 Looks better. I dunno. It's a temporary arrangement. She and I.-- blissmiss, Jan 26 2010 A Corgi Shepherd? Wow, this I have to see.-- hob, Jan 27 2010 //A Corgi Shepherd//Corgis were bred to herd cattle, so you get the best of both breeds.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 27 2010 I don't know if I'll be able to skype to the real thing, but last night I dreamed I was online with all of you.
Of course, the night before that I dreamed I was on the run from the law on horseback. There's probably some correlation there.-- normzone, Jan 27 2010 What would stop you from being with us Saturday, via Skype? Jail time?-- blissmiss, Jan 27 2010 No charges on the books for this boy. Honor and diplomacy works wonders ;-)-- normzone, Jan 27 2010 <Sigh> I'll have to give this one a pass as well. Any chance of a cheap boat ride home doesn't happen for another week. Airlines either want ridiculous amounts of money or they want to fly me all over western North America for 8 hours before arrival. And my reliable old pickup isn't so reliable any more. I was so disappointed I didn't even check with Greyhound or Amtrak.
So ,to all who can make it, have fun, drive safe, take lots of photos, and perhaps take a moment to raise your glasses toward the Great White North. (feel free to include that other guy who's a little south of North - hi 21Q!)
<note to csea - thanks for the tip about Allegiant, but Saturday seems to be a 4-letter word to them>
<note to Klaatu - had I been able to attend I was all set to bring along some of those utterly Canadian delicacies you miss so much, but they'll have to wait until next time, my friend>-- Canuck, Jan 28 2010 Hopefully I will hear from my home owner between now and tonight. If I don't, we may need to relocate. If they had to leave Baja earlier than planned, they'll be back sooner than I thought, and there would be too many cooks in the kitchen, if you get my drift.
We could certainly still brunch in beautiful Danville.-- blissmiss, Jan 29 2010 Hello everybody.. I will not be in attendance but wish everybody a happy halfcon. I will be in Vancouver this weekend, though. Canuck, if you want to go for a pint or 2, give me a shout!-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jan 29 2010 That was great fun, if a little digital ;-)
Thank you all
Norman-- normzone, Jan 30 2010 No captions yet, but still uploading more pictures. You should be able to figure out the players from the previous HalfCons. [linky-linky]
('Bakers wishing copies of pictures may request at e- mail in profile. Those wishing their pictures deleted may send cash directly to me.)
Update 22:18 Zulu - City of Danville wi-fi seems to be having issues with uploads. I'll try to post more photos later.-- Klaatu, Jan 30 2010 update - soon blissy ;)-- po, Jan 30 2010 Perfect day, great company, homemade baked goods, and a lot of hawks. I just don't think a half-con could be nicer. But it's my first. I still wanna meet up with you, and the others across the pond.-- blissmiss, Jan 30 2010 I second that. I've been to London once, fun town indeed.
Idea spawned by today's halfcon (linky).-- normzone, Jan 30 2010 What a great morning. Thanks everyone. And thanks [Klaatu] for capturing it. (Those pictures remind me: I really need to schedule the surgery to detach my hand from my forehead.)-- hob, Jan 30 2010 NICE hawk silhouette, [Klaatu]. Having burned a thousand frames of 35mm or more on such efforts in the pre-digital days, I know how many culls one gets doing that.
Your photographic specialty of getting the shot just as people put food in their mouths and close their eyes is a tough niche market to make money in, though ;-)-- normzone, Jan 30 2010 Blissmiss ... I've experienced some nice days in January in the SF Bay area, but this one was truly spectacular.
Many thanks to all for hosting, delicious food, and agreeable company! I hope to see you and others again at the next SF HB-con.-- csea, Jan 31 2010 It was good to meet y'all (or meet again.) Thanks for putting up with us, blissmiss!-- jutta, Jan 31 2010 Twas my pleasure.-- blissmiss, Jan 31 2010 Would it be rude to ask for some names-to-faces annotation on those [Klaatu] pictures? My first thoughts on seeing them were "What a beautiful day!" My second thoughts, "Now, *that* must be [normzone] ... or is it?" and so on.-- pertinax, Jan 31 2010 Contemplating and eating food in picture #17, L. to R. are [gisho] and [jutta].
In picture #13, [blissmiss] is holding a camera, and the two guys doing synchronized coffee drinking L. to R. are me and [csea].
[Klaatu] took all the pictures and isn't in any of them, but someone got one of him I'm sure.
[normzone] was a little invisible voice inside [jutta]'s laptop.-- hob, Jan 31 2010 Thank you.-- pertinax, Jan 31 2010 what [pertinax] said.-- FlyingToaster, Jan 31 2010 Sorry to have missed it - I couldn't get to my computer to Skype into it at the right time.-- hippo, Jan 31 2010 Ditto what [hippo] said. I tried, later on, to contact the bakesperson through Skype but to no avail. Glad you guys had fun.-- Jinbish, Jan 31 2010 I would so liked to have seen you guys again, and to have met you in person blissmiss. It looks like you couldn't have picked a better day for it.<makes mental note to find out what skype is>-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 31 2010 Now I'm really sorry I couldn't make it. It looks like everyone played nice and didn't get rowdy. (or are those photos coming later?) Perhaps with a bit more notice I'll be able to attend a future meet-up?
<I was going to suggest the caption for the box of yummy-looking croissants should be "Mmmm, flaky!" but then I realized that could also be applied to any shot of the group. I'M KIDDING! : D >
Sorry, iron_horse, this weekend became filled with family obligations.-- Canuck, Jan 31 2010 that's OK Canuck.. if you ever get out to the kootenays then do drop in.-- afinehowdoyoudo, Feb 01 2010 Wow Klaatu, having time now to really look at the photos you took, wow, you did some masterful work. Photo #11 of the hawk, when you zoom in, that shot could be a poster for some sort of wildlife magazine or something. Gorgeous. Thank you for capturing that, forever.-- blissmiss, Feb 01 2010 //Wow Klaatu, having time now to really look at the photos you took, wow, you did some masterful work.//
I would **LOVE** to take credit for the hawk pictures, but [hob] took all of those with my telephoto lens. The one picture that I tried was so shaky as to be a total blur. Credit where credit is due, eh?-- Klaatu, Feb 01 2010 So sorry, I was so busy looking at the hawks I didn't see who had a camera in their hand. I just saw who linked them.
Well goes to show, hob can not only draw well, he does great wildlife photography too. Not to mention his sweet demeanor. Your's too, Klaatuey.-- blissmiss, Feb 01 2010 Did anyone else take photos? I had a pocket camera along, but didn't manage to take any pix.-- csea, Feb 02 2010 I put some up on flickr, I think. There ya go, mate. A link just for you.-- blissmiss, Feb 02 2010 I wasn't gonna say anything because I wasn't totally sure if that bird picture was one of the ones I took, but I guess so - that was just a really lucky shot - thanks [Klaatu] for letting me use your camera!-- hob, Feb 02 2010 I posted a link to the Techshop which is a chain of inventor's work shops here on the left coast that allow access to cnc milling machines, vacuum formers, injection molders, laser engravers etc etc etc.
I go to the one in Menlo Park but a SF location is opening up. I would suggest there's not a single solitary Halfbaker that wouldn't love this place.
There's people from all walks of life there building robots, movie special effect props, various inventions, lots of electronic stuff etc.
They have special events all the time and it's an incredibly creative environment. I'm guessing they'd love to host some kind of Halfbaker's weekend.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 21 2010 At first glimmer, I thought spam. But I checked the for-said link and surely enough, that is the most incredible place I think I have ever seen. And I would go and make something, a few things, many things, in a heartbeat.-- blissmiss, Jun 21 2010 // I'm guessing they'd love to host some kind of Halfbaker's weekend.
They probably have tables that you could use if you showed up there, same as anyone else, but I wouldn't expect or want them to go beyond that.
The crafts/maker movement in the San Francisco Bay Area is much, much bigger than the halfbakery audience. Between the Tech Shop, the Crucible, the Maker Faire, the Burning Man participants, the various hacker spaces, and specific material-related places like the BAGI and the SFCB there are tens, if not hundreds, of meetings and classes every month that host people with weird ideas, interesting skills, and quixotic temperaments, each of which individually is larger (and likely a lot more productive) than a halfbakery meet-up, which generally tends to be about three to four introverts who awkwardly make conversation for about two hours, most of which seemed to center around ornithology.-- jutta, Jun 21 2010 ornithologistology?-- FlyingToaster, Jun 21 2010 random, halfbakery