Hey tv, Thanks for that very entertaining account! I think you've just about made it as cosy as it can get for anyone who didn't go. Did you actually keep a log as you went? Certainly appreciate the detail.. great stuff. Some comments:
Almost missed you there in the background- http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-190500-1426.htm That's some shot! Would have liked to see a face though.. http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-201424-1452.htm It wouldn't be PDML Central without a blimp!! Classic! http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040607-023546-4946_std.htm No offence, Norm, but that's just wrong. :) http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-095742-4864_std.htm That's a great portrait.. http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040605-193934-8152_std.htm The koala's so cute!! Those furry toys clipped to his hat too.. http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040607-024754-4956_std.htm Cheers, Ryan PS. Still waiting for everyone else's pics and accounts to snail in.. ----- Original Message ----- From: "tom" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "pdml" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 4:28 PM Subject: gfm 2004 > I'm going to start this a little early as my GFM experience started with Tan > arriving on the 29th. (Aussie, pronounced 'ozzie', translations in > parentheses) > > 5/29 6:20 am - Drive to Dulles (dallas) to pick up Tanya (Tan, sheila, or > "the mouth from the south"). Realize car smells like feet and mayonnaise, > pull over to a gas station (servo) to do a little last minute cleaning. Walk > into terminal, spy a tall red haired woman at the atm. Figure this > particular woman couldn't possibly be Tanya, as she had enough baggage for a > circus troop and their monkeys, but sure enough, it was Tan. > > Did I mention it was 6:20 am? (whinge) > > Go home, take a nap. Wake up, Tan offers up the first of her vegemite > concoctions on buttered toast, and a box of Tim Tams. > > Tanya accompanies us to band practice. She only cries a little bit. > > She seems to be fitting in pretty well - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040602-223052-1396.htm > > 5/30 - Sleep in as we're doing a late wedding today. Tan and Ash head out > and get hair cuts. I, of course, don't notice, and I haven't heard the end > of it yet. > > Tan makes vegemite on buttered toast with cheese. > > Head out to wedding in Alexandria. Wedding was sort of hipster funky - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040530-200140-5621.htm > > Not at all a typical american wedding, but she seemed to enjoy herself. She > did get a little snippy (narky) when she missed out on the wedding cake. She > managed not to drop anything, so she earns the official designation of #16. > You can see her observing here - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040530-185412-5406.htm > > She's way in the back to the left of the painting. > > 5/31 - Ash, Tan and TV head over to Ash's dad's house for a family memorial > day cookout. There is no vegemite to be found. > > Australians make good guests - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040602-223518-1410.htm > > I don't think I did any dishes while she was here. > > 6/1 - Sleep in, then head downtown for the dc tour. Tan is detained by the > federal government for 30 seconds for attempted destruction of property - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tom/images/soup.jpg > > Tan decides to cook us a good australian meal (aussie tucker). This turns > out to be spaghetti with meat sauce (spag bog). She also made a dessert > called self saucing chocolate pudding, which basically exploded in our too > hot oven. Since it was chocolate we made an effort to eat it anyway, and > piled on the ice cream. Tan is amazed at the black specks in the vanilla > which she mistakes for dirt. She's not bothered by dirt and digs in. > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040602-223446-1407.htm > > After dinner we headed downtown to the Black cat to see Beulah. Tan seems to > have fun, but is annoyed at that guy at every concert who dances > spastically. > > 6/2 - I have to work today, and Tan is too nervous to take my car out, so > she contents herself by taking pics of a rose in my kitchen - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/rose.jpg > > Yes, she spent a day in dc photographing a flower in my kitchen. Yeah, she's > like that. > > She seems to be highly entertained by the coffee we have on hand - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/nuts.jpg > > Ha, nuts, get it? > > Tan screws up enough courage to take a cab to the mall while I meet a > client. She's late calling me to pick her up, so I go to the mall and get a > haircut. She calls while I'm getting shampooed, and shows up during the cut. > It's at this point she starts cracking on my incipient bald spot. (twit) > > Decide to buy some pants, go to the Gap, see a "vintage" t-shirt that says > Australia on it. Tanya travels 10,000 miles from Australia and I end up > buying an Australia shirt at the Gap. > > 6/3 - Cotty calls to say that he has accidentally broken the British air > traffic control system. Something to do with his mac...they're only too > happy to see him leave, so they send him to NY. > > Norm calls to see if it's ok if he passes out in the bushes when he gets to > GFM. I tell him I don't mind. > > Tan and I drive to Dulles to pick up the van, and she manages to drive my > car home without killing anyone. And she only stalled 3 times! Crikey! > > Some sort of girly ritual occurs at this point - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040602-223558-1412.htm > > Or maybe they're comparing stomachs, I'm not sure. > > Get ready to go out to Marrakesh - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-190500-1426.htm > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-190638-1432.htm > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-190654-1433.htm > > Head to Marrakesh restaurant where we meet Christian and wife, Dan and wife, > Geoff and girlfriend, Stephen and beer. We eat with our hands (feral), and > watch a belly dancer - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/040603-201424-1452.htm > > Head to National airport to pick up Cotty. Tan teaches us how to walk like > models by leading with our pelvis', and we swish right up to Cotty and whisk > him home. > > Cotty has to open his gear - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/boxes.jpg > > Tan always does a little dance when people open presents - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/dance.jpg > > The obligatory self portrait - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/selfcottan.jpg > > And try out Cotty's Pentax 50/1.2 on my 10D - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/gfm2004/50.jpg > > > 6/4 > > 9 a.m. - Get up, start packing. Geoff and Wendy show up, and we head over to > Ledo's to pick up the 15 pizzas. While waiting we buy an ungodly amount of > junk food and beer at Trader Joe's. Cotty and Tan decide that Trader Joe's > junk food isn't junky enough, so we go to 7-11 for fritos, oreos and > slurpees. Mmm, good. (nice) Cotty forgets to pick up Certs. > > 11:30 - The road trip starts. > > 12:30 - We drive down 66 a ways and stop for lunch at Hardees. > > 2 - Guts start churning. > > 5 - Stop near Mt. Rogers for gas, and we're able to show Cotty and Tan a > Piggly Wiggly sign. I feel my work is done, but we continue. > > 7 - Stan calls to see where we are. Of course, we're at the Jehovah's > Witnesses drive-thru waiting for Tan to get over her car sickness. Where > else would we be? > > 7:45 - We arrive at PDML central and just about everyone but Mark Roberts > has headed up the mountain for the first presentation. We help Geoff pitch > his tent while there's still light. None of us has had the 3 month training > necessary to pitch this particular model, so it takes us 10 minutes, and we > nearly poke out 2 eyes. > > 8 - Before introducing the speaker, Don congratulates Tanya for being the > furthest traveled attendee. She's not in the room. > > 8:05 - Arrive at the lecture hall, sneak in under the dimmed lights. Even > though it's dark, we recognize Frank from 20 feet. > > 9 - Lecture ends, and we finally get to meet everyone. As usual, it's great > to see old friends, and it's just as great to make new ones. > > 9:15 - Head to PDML central. In attendance at some point or another are > Adelheid, Jostein, Doug, Bill and Phyllis Owens, Cotty, Frank, Cesar, > Graywolf, Steve and Debbie Desjardins, AnnSan, Bruce Dayton, Marnie, Mark > Roberts, Stan, Cory, Bob S and wife, Geoff Moes and Wendy, Tom Reese, > Charles Braswell, Tanya (I refuse to call her fairygirl), Don Delurker, the > rest of the Delurker men, tv, and some other lurkers who shall remain > nameless. I'm sure I've missed someone and I apologize. Gimme a break, I > drank a fair amount of that rotgut rum (bundy) - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-124820-4898_std.htm > > 2 - Amble off to bed, fall asleep though it sounds like there are 2 grizzly > bears mating outside the window. Oh wait, that was Doug snoring. > > 6/5 > > 5 - Gate boy awakens. Realizes Tan is sleeping in the van he needs to drive > down to the gate. It's early, so he doesn't really care. > > 6:30 - Stan comes down to get Tan to take her shooting. > > 6:40 - Tan returns for camera. > > 9 - Before introducing the speaker, Don congratulates Tanya for being the > furthest traveled attendee. She's not in the room. > > 12 - Pizza boy starts cooking, and soon starts serving - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-024824-4805_std.htm > > Afterwards we do a group photo - > > http://groups.msn.com/BillOwensPhotos/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID= > 80 > > 2 - Tan and I go to the the sanctuary to look at the animals - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/deer.jpg > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/otter.jpg > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/tv.jpg > > Cotty and Frank meet us. Tan goes back to the van to get more batteries. 5 > minutes later she comes back to ask where the van is. I suspect Frank took > some interesting shots here. > > 3 - Norm shows up, and turns out to be the funniest person on the PDML. Sexy > too. Almost pretty. > > 4 - Head up to the top of the mountain to check out the swinging bridge - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-060242-4852_std.htm > > Head down for dinner, and sit at a table with a Pittsburgh equities trader. > We explain the whole pdml thing and she is completely amazed. Or dismayed. I > can't read people that well. > > At this point a few pdmlers who aren't hardcore landscapers decide to skip > the 7 pm presentation by Bill Fortney (which I had seen 2 years previous and > is excellent). It sort of snowballs out of control and about 10 of us end up > at pdml central - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040607-023546-4946_std.htm > > 7 - Before introducing the speaker, Don congratulates Tanya for being the > furthest traveled attendee. She's not in the room. > > 7:30 - I realize one of the reasons Tanya came all this way was to learn to > use strobes, so we pull the AB out of the bag and have a mini workshop. Norm > helps us nail down our exposure - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-095742-4864_std.htm > > And Cesar agrees to be a model - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040605-193934-8152_std.htm > > 8 - People start to go insane. About 4000 pictures are taken with *ist-D's > without any viewfinder usage. > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-125016-4899_std.htm > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-145822-4938_std.htm > > 9 - Gate boy sells his soul to Mark Roberts to get him to do gate duty the > following morning. > > 11 - Doug and tv get out the guitars. The crowd is in awe and shows it's > appreciation by telling us to get off the coolers as we're blocking the beer > - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040606-141932-4927_std.htm > > Later, Mark Roberts shows us how to play and sing a proper song. > > 6/6 > > 8 - Wake up and go to breakfast. Tan puts ketchup (tomato sauce) on her > bacon. > > 9 - Settle into the auditorium to listen to presentations. Don has learned > his lesson and doesn't say anything about Tan. > > 11 - Listen to Doug and Mark present the winners and dishonorable mentions > for the contest. Doug is really good at this. > > 12 - We're all disappointed Frank didn't place. We're pretty sure there's a > conspiracy. > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040607-024754-4956_std.htm > > 12:30 - Tan starts to get introspective - > > http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tan/040607-023706-4951_std.htm > > And we start saying our goodbyes. Tan gets a little teary at times... > > 2 - The DC contingent hits the road. > > 10 - Arrive home. Look for vegemite. > > So anyway, there it is. Tan was dropped off Monday am with a few tears, > Cotty was dropped off Monday night with a few laughs. > > As usual, it's hard to leave GFM. Once you go it's hard to stay away. Hope > to see you all next year. > > tv > >
