I just had a drink with GlobalVillage!

[StoryTeller]

She's in town, and we tried to get together last night, but she had the flight from hell and got in late. So I scooted over to a restaurant where she and her work friends were having drinks.

The restaurant is downtown in an old, narrow brick building, and the dining room is actually on the second floor. So when I walked into the restaurant, there was a bar and some high tables and chairs. No waiters, just a group of people enjoying some drinks.

I didn't have GV's last name. So I just walked over to a nice-looking older man and asked, "Is this a private party?"

He looked a bit strangely at me and said, "Well, not really. Sort of."

I figured my chances were pretty good for it being the right group. So then I asked, "Well, I'm looking for (GV's first name) who is from out of town."

He and another woman stared at me hard, like they were trying to figure out if they should reveal GV's identity, or call the police on me! I couldn't figure out what to say that would sound at ALL reassuring (oh yeah, like it would help for me to try to explain "I just know her from the internet...") so I just brazened it out. They must have decided I looked fairly harmless and reluctantly pointed her out to me.

By this time, most of the people in the room were watching. I introduced myself, and to my INCREDIBLE relief, got a huge hug from a very sweet GV. She introduced me to everyone and said, "This is my other Omaha friend and it's her birthday!" (Which it is.) And then they all relaxed and were nice and friendly.

And GV offered me a chocolate martini, but it was a bit strong for my taste. I don't drink much, but it did seem rather silly to have just plain old water on my birthday. So the waitress talked me into a strawberry daquiri. Haven't had one of those in ages. :)

GV and I sat and chatted about you all--how sweet you all are, and how fun it is to get to know you on the boards here. And she heavily recruited me to come for The Birthday. I'm not sure I can actually afford to come, with plane and hotel fare, but it would be awfully fun.

Anyway, it was great to meet her in person! It made me miss all of you! :)

Thanks for the drink, GV!

[Luftmensch067]

1. Happy Birthday!!!

And GV is the coolest! :-)

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. Globalvillage is one in a million

I'm so glad you got to meet her, and I sincerely hope you can meet the rest of us someday too! It sounds like you guys had a great time - and happy birthday!

[wisteria]

3. Happy Birthday! And,I am happy you got to meet GV. She is a really

a wonderful person and very devoted Kerry supporter. Very well read too. She beats me by a mile on her book knowledge. I hope you do get an opportunity to come to the Party. I am considering going myself this time. It would be wonderful to meet you.

[TayTay]

4. GV Is an Ambassador of Goodwill for this group

And is an incredible, lovely and gifted person. We aregraced with her presence here, as we are with so many other amzing people. There really and truly is some sort of synergy going on here.

I swear, whenever we have a 'mini-meetup' with people from this group, it's like you are greeting an old friend, not someone you just met. It's just a fantastic thing because of all the wonderful and fantastic people on this forum. It's also rare and I treasure it.

I'm so glad this worked out well for you. And I totally agree, GV is a tremendous Ambassador for us.

[MH1]

5. What TayTay said!

GV rocks!

I'm glad you got to meet her., Storyteller! Luckily for me she comes to the Philly area pretty often, and we've gotten to meet up a couple times.

It's always nice to meet folks from this group!

[karynnj]

6. Happy birthday!

I've never met GV, but have met others in the group and I agree with everything said - it's great to meet anyone here.

[ProSense]

7. That's so cool! I've never met GV,

but would love to if a free drink is involved! Kidding! :)

Great story! GV managed our paver project, so I know she's cool!

Belated Happy Birthday Storyteller!

Imagine getting to spend part of it with a fellow Kerrycrat, that's very cool!

[Island Blue]

8. GV is the best!

I'm glad you had the chance to meet her!

[globalvillage]

9. Happy Birthday StoryTeller!!!

:party: :party: :party:
Sorry for not posting a birthday message to you last night, but chocolate martini, and all...
:toast:
Thank you for stopping by to meet with me, that was so cool.
It was so wonderful to see you and to talk to someone in Omaha who shares my political viewpoint and, of course, my great respect and admiration for a certain senator. I really think there are more than a couple of you, but some of the others are just not ready to say it yet. NE's great, but you do need to work on 'blue-ing' it up a bit (advice from PA, land of the country's worst senator).
Funny, one of my co-workers that you met makes a point of calling Sen Kerry my 'friend', as in "hey, your friend is in the news again today." (LOL, I'll have to ring up the Senator later and see if he wants to hang out.) Honestly, I think the guy's jealous since his dude turned out to be such an incredible failure. I'm working on him, he may not be beyond hope. Actually, I'm working on all of them. I've even got this one to call him Senator Kerry rather than just Kerry, and the snarking has reduced considerably. Hey, it's a start. Republicans. A very strange people.
It's been a great, though quick trip to NE and I'm hoping to get through today's meetings and arrive home one piece, after Monday's truly awful flight and a very minor accident in my friend's truck yesterday(pre-martini, so simple bad judgement). I was thinking of just having someone step on my foot or something to get today's incident over with before my flight home.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for stopping by to meet with me, it was the highlight of my trip. Hope to see you again soon.

BTW, I won't tell J. you called him 'older'. I think he's my age.
:-)

[_dynamicdems]

10. GV is awesome!

She's a really nice person and fun too.

Kerrycrats generally are! All the ones I've met have been aces.

Happy Birthday!