‘Twas A Busy Weekend, Part The First: Philadelphia WordPress Meetup/Blogger Bash

This past weekend was an absolutely packed one, moreso than a usual weekend in the Stewart household. My wife, son and I arose relatively early on Saturday morning, assembled ourselves and headed over to Aron and Heather’s house. Heather is in her 9^th month of pregnancy with “Spud”, as the next-gen has been nicknamed, and, as seems to be the case in such situations, there are many, many baby-related projects that remain in an un/half-finished state. Thus, we volunteered our services to help Aron and Heather get a bit caught up on said projects.
We arrived and first helped clean out their Prius and install the infant travel system in the backseat. Then, it was time for me to head off to the March Philadelphia WordPress Meetup. I practically had to twist Aron’s arm to come along and we were released by the collective wivery to attend, should we fulfill some simple obligations: 1) stay for an hour or less and 2) return with a meal from Vietnam. We heartily assented and headed off for our destination, the Ten Stone Bar & Restaurant.
Aron and I arrived with a few minutes left in the “official” WordPress meetup and sat down with Bobby, Andrea, Owen and his wife Berta. After brief introductions, we settled down into some easy conversation and were soon joined by the Philadelphia Bloggers Meetup crew (full list of attendees over on Philly Future). The most interesting part of the PBM, at least in my opinion, was the arrival of Democratic candidate for Senate Alan Sandals and his campaign manager. Sandals is running as the “real” Democrat in the primary in May and hopes to knock Bob Casey down a peg or two. Apparently Sandal’s campaign manager is hip to the blogosphere and clued him in to the potential offered by a blogger meetup, so they decided to drop in, shake some hands, ask some questions and solicit some opinions. He asked if anyone blogged (extensively) about politics and several sheepish/accusatory fingers immediately pointed in my direction. With a bashful grin, I acknowledged their classification and proceeded to ask Alan a few questions. It was an interesting experience to meet a candidate so diametrically opposed to my voting issues and get a chance to sit down and chat with him about politics and the issues facing younger professionals in PA (jobs, DMCA, etc.), although Mr. Sandals definitively failed the Hank Hill Weak Handshake Test.
Our time up, Aron and I said our goodbyes and headed out, wended our way from South Street up to China Town, circled the block a few times in search of a parking spot, ducked into Vietnam and grabbed four #30’s (with chicken) and then headed back to Jersey and the wives (and kids, born and unborn, I might add). The Vietnamese food was enjoyed by all and then we resumed work – Aron and myself in taking out assorted baby furniture-related trash, moving furniture about and finishing the final coat of poly on the rocking chair Aron had been working to stain and finish, the wives on straightening up and getting “Spud’s” room in order.
Quite a full load for a Saturday.