Just a reminder of the informal Texas Meet on June 21, at the Oasis restaurant on Lake Travis in Austin. We are meeting at around 11AM in the parking lot across the street from the restaurant. A map is available on the website linked above.
I will be there early so look for the black Dodge RAM, can't miss it... Looking forward to meeting up with some of you!

I'll be there

I have a wedding to go to at the same time. How long will you be there? BTW - I have an unused 12GB player for sale. If I get the chance to drop by I'll bring it.

How long will you be there?

We are planning on lunch and hanging out for awhile. It's really informal so it's hard to tell how long we'll be there. Of course we could crash the wedding reception and make it an empeg wedding...
If you're really interested in trying to make it let me know and I'll PM my cell phone # to you and you can call and see if we're still around there.

I will be there, I just printed out my directions, so hopefully I will not get too lost

I'm getting on a plane at 8PM tonight. I get to hang out in the President's Club and drink free booze, so it's not all that bad.

I get to hang out in the President's Club and drink free booze, so it's not all that bad.

Just don't take any of the presidential cigars. You don't know where they've been.

On the other hand, maybe that means you do want the cigars.

Wow.. I keep forgetting that one has to pay membership dues at many of the USA airlines club lounges -- even the ones that DON'T have complimentary booze etc..

Here's where I normally hang out, where available. Otherwise, it's a UA Red Carpet Club (no free booze) or First Class Lounge (free everything).. all courtesy of frequent flier points.

This is likely my final year for all that, though. I haven't been in the air nearly enough to requalify for 2004.

Cheers

Well, I am not exactly a member of the Continental President's Club. I have an Amex Platinum card and it allows me in these clubs. I like to feel like a high roller, so that's the main reason I have the card. I also have a Diner's Club Card so I can get into even more airport clubs.

Cool, very cool. Probably even cheaper than the regular membership rates, too! I've gotta remember that for Zurich -- not sure if there's a Star Alliance lounge there (pretty likely, I suppose), but I also have a Diners Club card (free).

Cheers

but I also have a Diners Club card (free).

How's that? I pay $89/year for my DC card.

The cost of the Amex Plat and President's Club membership is about the same. The Amex is a value when you consider that you can also go to Delta's club, and you get all kinds of benefits on top of it being a bling bling credit card. I had 2nd-row seats to see Guns N' Roses because of the card. I didn't even have to pay an inflated price for the tix.

My Diners Club card originally cost something like CAD$80 (for a year) when I got it last year --> they had a promo on for 15000 Aeroplan (Air Canada) miles at the time, so I figured good value. It also pays one mile per dollar charged, and has the usual fringe benefits -- CLD, etc..

I wasn't going to renew it this year, as beyond the bonus it duplicates my Aeroplan VISA card -- when I called them up to "not renew", they offered to waive the fee, and tossed in another 1000 bonus Aeroplan miles, so..

Cheers

The thing I like about the Amex Plat is the consierge service. I used them for hunting down rare books, and I like giving them challenges.

Thanks for the easter egg reminder Mark!

not sure if there's a Star Alliance lounge there

Fear naught.

(At least for now! I heard yesterday that Singapore Air is cutting 4-500 jobs. Will SARS abate and the glocal economy recover in time to Save The Lounges?)

You're welcome! Have fun all!

-ml

>Fear naught.

Ahhh... How civilized!

See you at Amersfoort, Jim!

So here I am, the night before the empeg meet, frantically trying to sort out all my MP3 files so I have a nice, clean empeg to show off to everybody else there. I delete all the old junk, carefully tag and rearrange things on my computer, and then I do the math.

45GB of MP3 files / 10Mbits/sec --> 10 hours, optimistically

It's a three hour drive, which means I need to hit the road in, oh, 6.5 hours or thereabouts. Any thoughts on whether it's safe to unplug the empeg when it's only half-way through synchronizing itself?

I was just browsing the boards while installing the latest Hijack.

I saw the this thread and didn't bother reading it because I live in Chicago and Texas is a bit far...

Then Hijack (v340) finished installing, booted up and said "Texas Meet 2003". That seemed like a good enough sign for me to read the thread

Now I see that the meet is today. Any more easter eggs, Mark?

>Any more easter eggs, Mark?

Easter was months ago..

Any thoughts on whether it's safe to unplug the empeg when it's only half-way through synchronizing itself?

Your best bet is to leave the empeg running, but disconnect the ethernet cable. Then terminate Emplode and restart the computer.

Eventually, the empeg will time out and mount its drives read-only again (I think, not certain). I don't know how to tell when it's really done this.

I would then do a FSCK and afterward use Emplode to tidy up the errors.

After that, synch the few albums you know you can't live without...

Well Texas Meet 2003 is in the books. We came to the consensus that a 2004 meet would be better in March or April. It's only 94F with 49% humidity as I type this... And of course we all stood in the sun while in the parking lot for the most part. I did find out the Oasis food has improved, and the view was great. Thankfully there was a mister/fan over our tables and a nice breeze as well to keep us cooled while eating and chatting.

Rob easily gets the Furthest Traveled Award. Heck he even one-upped everyone by flying from NY then driving from Houston. The man is an empeg groupie, I tell ya! And his black sleds are slick Get one...

We had 14 in attendance, 10 were the poll so we did better than 100%! Luckily we had room for a few that arrived late and actually managed to find us in the restaurant. I enjoyed meeting up with everyone, and putting faces to those hiding behind their empty avatars

If there's interest in a 2004, I can get off my duff sooner and try to get a spot at City Park, or we can decide on a different venue, (doesn't need to be Austin for me.) Once again, it was great meeting y'all! Thanks for braving the wonderful weather...

Definitely a good meet. Props to Dave for organizing everything! Also, Milton Krueger's stealth install was pretty damn impressive.

(Oh, and believe it or not, the "Cancel" button on jemplode actually did the right thing. I just ran the normal emplode after that and rebuit the databases.)

and putting faces to those hiding behind their empty avatars

And who might you be referring to?

Had a great time, and I hope we get a chance to do it again next year. Got really sun-burned (didn't even consider the fact that we were sitting outside), but it was worth it.

Funniest part was meeting two empeggers who are aware of my program and told me how notorious it is for not being random. Oh well, I'll probably never win that battle!

You'll never convince us it's random! Never!

Seriously though, it was a good time. Next time though, I need to transplant my Empeg into a car with more air conditioning and less vinyl seats.

-Magus

Funniest part was meeting two empeggers who are aware of my program and told me how notorious it is for not being random.

LOL!

Apologies for being the late arrival, I always forget how bad 620 is, that and the helpless staff/greeters at the front of the resaurant who denied seating any empeggers.

I think the only name/avatar I missed was the other limey living in Dallas.

I'll be there for 2004

Err, that woud be me then

And I was actually planning on having the Chimaera there, only it is still on a boat just outside Houston

Thanks for a fun day guys, looking forward to next year!

OMG! You are importing a TVR Chimaera?!?!?

And I was actually planning on having the Chimaera there, only it is still on a boat just outside Houston

Lemme guess. The guy who was importing it for you had to unexpectedly run off to take care of his autistic brother, and somehow ended up getting kicked out of a casino in Vegas for card counting?

That's the plan, there is already a guy in San Fransisco with a Cerbera, and when I came to leave the UK I didn't want to sell it, so I found out what I needed to do to import it.

It looks like I should have it by the end of the week, so next weekend I shall be out scaring Corvettes

Sorry, I don't watch Tom Cruise movies

And no, due to US customs wanting to inspect the car BEFORE it was even put on the boat in the UK, I missed my sailing, and had to wait two weeks for a space to open up

Next time though, I need to transplant my Empeg into a car with more air conditioning and less vinyl seats.

Well did you get a black sled from Rob to do this? It was the perfect opportuntiy...

Thanks, Dan. It was great to show it off to folks who appreciate technological art as much I do. I guess I'll have to actually get off my duff & shoot some pictures to post.
Also big thanks to Dave for getting the meet organized. I hope the fish were cooperative for you today!

Good meet guys. It was worth the trip, but I'm glad to be back home and out of that crazy heat.

There were lots of cameras around, but did anyone actually use the things.??
I put mine away as soon as Gareth started wanting to play with it

Left mine in the car. Doh!

There were lots of cameras around, but did anyone actually use the things.??

Actually, no I don't think anyone got pictures of the group...

i need to browse the boards more often..

Anyone up for a Dallas meet?