I had been a lurker in rec.travel.air for many years until someone happened to mention FlyerTalk during the Winter of 2000. I was heading back to PDX from NYC in a few days and it just so happened that a FlyerTalk dinner had been organized in Portland for that week. So my baptism occurred shortly thereafter, where I was priveleged to meet Essxjay, MWeiss, Punki and Joe, Annas, Travelweary an Michael, Quantumleap and Marie, and Shadow and Jackie.