Brendan, Aaron, Dave B, Dave C-C, Jeff T, Paul Stenquist, Mark Roberts, Vic MacBournie, Wendy, Stuart Something-or-other who's not around anymore. I'm missing at least one or two people. Oh yeah, Stan Halpin. Now, some of these people aren't on the list due to divesting in Pentaxia, but they're still honorary TOPDML members (just for those who don't recognize all the names).
I've also forged some pretty good on-line relationships with many more members, many of whom I'll get to meet at GFM.
The point of all this is that there are many many wonderful people on this list. I haven't met anyone in person who hasn't been terrific (okay, not counting Dave Brooks <g>). So, your comment on what a great time you had is not surprising at all, John.
But, I'm still glad to hear it.
cheers, frank
"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
From: "John Coyle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Pentax-Discuss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: First Brisbane PDML a huge success! Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 11:32:49 +1000
Tanja, Ryan, my wife Jan and I met last night for the first
Brisbane/Queensland PDML meeting, and a great time was had by all, despite
not starting until late, and finishing at 1:25 a.m.!
Tanja was later than expected after a disastrous day shooting a wedding
(I'll let her fill in the details, but Tom, watch out for your record as an
equipment destroyer!), so we went straight out to a local restaurant for a
much needed meal, which unfortunately was not as good as the reputation of
the place suggested, but that didn't stop anyone from enjoying themselves.
Helped a little, perhaps, by a bottle of 2001 Ballandean Estates ( a
Queensland wine-maker) Viognier . Tanja is as good company in the flesh as
her emails suggest, and Ryan is just such a nice young man, it was a
pleasure to be in their company. We managed to avoid talking equipment for
most of the meal, but once the main course was over, out came Tanja's *ist-d
with FA* 50mm 1.7(?), Ryan's MZ5-n with Tamron 28-70/2.8 and AF 1.7x
adaptor, and my MZ-S with Sigma 18-35 AF 3.5-4.5 and AF330FTZ mounted on a
bracket with the FG adaptors and cable. A formidable bunch of gear, and
there was then a lot of enjoyable comparisons made and photos taken with
various permutations of people by various permutations of gear.
We left the restaurant for coffee at my place, where yet more enjoyable
discussion, gear talk and photography took place, eventually repairing to
Tanja's car to make sure she got back to her motel and had at least some
sleep before catching the 6:00 am flight back home to Russell - but then we
probably stood and chatted there for over 30 minutes!
As I said before, a great time with really nice people, to be repeated soon!
John Coyle Brisbane, Australia
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