I was just thinking of that one earlier when reading one of Catman's posts above.

Or the "brilliant" idea that was conceived for the PDX Brewers Festival back in 2002 when geo1004 thought it a great idea to talk several of us into flying into SEA (because US didn't fly to PDX), renting an RV, and driving to the DO. And then geo1004 "pulled a geo" and bailed out which prompted more mischief.

1. Mustard Pretzels
2. Jailer stealing my Omni Award
3. Knowing Matt Wald before he became Kokonuts
4. Knowing Matt Wald's nickname before he became Kokonuts
5. Watching auh2o failing into the bushes
6. Being lonely in Seattle and ending up in the NW club.
7. Mr Limo and myself having a lot of free drinks in the CO PC @ LAX pretty much every 2 weeks.

And the Best....having my first Sidecar with Rudi

1. Meeting Old Gold for breakfast in TUS... and receiving a Sootkase tag.
2. Meeting Punki and Hunki in Seattle for Dinner. Mrs. AZ even had a good time that night.
3. Receiving a Concorde memo pack from johna just before his passing. (RIP, John.)
4. Meeting Randy and his staff at HOM.
5. And, of course, realizing that it makes perfect sense to fly SFO-AMS-ATL just for the miles.

Not only was United Connection better than the existing UAL.COM, it was better than any website booking engine I've experience.

I am glad, AZ_MISMAN, that your wife had fun at dinner. We also enjoyed the evening.

Hopefully, we were able to convince her that that not all FlyerTalkers are crazed hatchet murderers.

...that today is your birthday?

(HB, by the way!!! :-: :-: :-: )

No, just those on OMNI.

Agreed. I still miss it. It found connections most reservation systems had trouble locating, ie AMS-EWR on SQ.

Lets not forget your great SanDo - I had been lurking on FT for a few years and finally got to SAN to meet some of the wildest, nicest, friendliest people I have ever met. That day in Summer 2001 changed my travel habits forever

I think Newself would fall into that category.

Actually we had a MUCH higher percentage of business travelers back in the day. At the early DO's (before we called them DO's), it was about 1 in 10 who traveled for fun. The rest of us were pure business travelers. I recall meeting someone (was it Horizons?) who only flew for pleasure, yet he was a 1K and elite on some other airline too. AND he had a day job. That was impressive, but rare back then on Flyertalk.

That was at the PIPP (Party in Pseudo-Paradise) at Madisons in LGB. However who here remembers the first "Do" which actually came before the PiP?

I need to find those pants...

I attended several FlyerTalk events before the PIP.

My first was in Chicago in July of 1999. In attendance were mauld, AnnaS, comicwoman and I.

My second was in Seattle also, I do believe, in July at the NWA club. In attendance were newself, jamiel. Get-on-Board, and Punki.

My third was the first SEA-DO in August of 1999, which was hosted by MileageAddict and me. I met Catman, auh20, TravelWeary, Michael, MileageAddict, Shadow, AusTXHiker, and MWeiss at this party. newself, Hunki, Get-on-Board and I were also in attendance, but I already knew all of us.

The fourth was a trip to the circus with my elder brother Rudi, Hunki, Peregrine and my daughter, Khaela, who was not then a FlyerTalker, and I.

Then, fifth, came the party in San Francisco, with Rudi in his Swiss outfit at the Top of the Mark. That is where I first met Johna, RIP, ScottC, dgolds, Karen2, and her hubby, Einer.

The sixth was in NYC in October. In attendance were PremEx, Catman, Burkey, Flyme2, AnnaS, Nature Girl (a/k/a Andrea), and Punki. It seems like AusTXHiker may have been at this party as well, but I am not 100% sure of that.

Then came the greatest party of all--The PIP! How much fun was that. ^ That is where I first met Randy and all the HOM staff who were most generous and supportive of the early FlyerTalk gang.

IIRC there were also parties in San Antonio and Boston before the PIP, but those I did not attend.

I know baobab went to the Boston party. Remember the "tree" picture.

I am sure surprised that I remembered all of those parties in order. There have been so many more since then, that it would take some serious concentration to remember them all.

Stimpy... you are correct about Newself... who was actually an "Acting Commander Catcop" (until he got fired for accepting a bribe of beer!) Shame!

I think MIleage Addict got fired for the same reason.

I didn't know there were also considered Sergeants at Arms.

FYI PUnki: I think Baobab organized the Boston "do" which was I think the first significant FT get together.

Maybe someone like Randy needs to put some of these memories down in a book or something for future Flyertalkers to see how far we've come.