A group of list members and friends gathered yesterday in the San Jose area. Godfrey, Bruce, Marnie, John Francis, John Celio, Patsy and her friend William, Marco, myself, and some strange bloke with a peg leg and wearing a black cape got together to share stories, take pictures, exchange and share equipment, and have a good time.
We all got along well, although we asked Godfrey to leave early as he was creating a fuss with the caped stranger. Patsy has a wry sense of humor, and constantly harangued John Francis, who, at one point, ran home to get his wife, Wendy, to protect him from the humorous onslaught. Marnie was her usual charming self, but felt a bit out of the loop since no one spoke much with her as she's a Canon user. No way we could let an "infiltraitor" <g> participate fully in speculative discussions about future Pentax camera and lens releases. Marco was ever the gentleman, quietly taking pictures with his istDs and showing us the images on the LCD screen. Most images were unflattering, and Marco demanded small sums of money in exchange for a promise to keep them off the list. He made about $1.75 since most of us didn't care. John Celio brought his new Pentax 67 and his Pentax 110, both outdated antiques, but John, for some reason, kept showing them off. This is the digital age, John, let's get with the program. Bruce, and to a lesser extent, John and Godfrey, earnestly tried to enable me to the digital side by showing me all the features and benefits if the two Pentax DSLR cameras. Bruce was especially pushy as he insisted I use one of his istD's for the entire day, which I did along with a variety of K-mount, A-series, and auto focus lenses. Nice try, Bruce. I just ordered a Leica M4 .... pffft! to digital <LOL> Over dinner we mostly discussed other list members, and had especially good laughs when discussing Frank, Bill Robb, and, since he left early, Godfrey, as well.as other list participants. Overall we had a great time ;-)) Shel
