Some (we’re a bit slow gettin’ this goin’) on our Alabama group want to get together so we will on November 19th, over by the Galleria on I-459 and Hywy 31 in Birmingham. We’ve not settled on where we’ll meet, but it will be around 2pm, to grab a bite to eat & chat with each other, bring our spouses so they can meet us all, etc. Then if anyone wants to go shopping at either Costco or Sam’s, both places are very close by and will be open till 6pm and we’ll be glad to take those of you who don’t have a membership & help you shop.
I’ll post here the final plans when we get to that point, but we wanted to extend the invitation to anyone who will be in the area from surrounding states who might want to join us. This will be extremely informal, no ‘agenda’, just get acquainted & show our support for each other’s efforts toward protecting our families & our communities.
Just wanted to let the rest of you know! :-)
I forgot to add that if you need to reach me by email:
Im.Workin.On.It@gmail.com
should do it. I have a note to myself to check it twice a day.
I’ve put the date on my calendar. Will be looking for further information.
JustAnotherPrepper – at 23:23 glad you’ll be there!
I decided that it would be easiest to eat at Jason’s Deli (very versatile menu) on Hywy 150 “behind” the Galleria — very easy to get to, usually has plenty of room, we can have plenty of chairs, cheap good food, etc.
To get there you’d get on I-459 if you’re on I-65 or north of I-65, like on Hywy 280 or I-59 or I-20, and go south to the Galleria exit. There’s a specific exit for the Galleria (I need to look up the exit number — it’s new). That exit will circle around behind the Galleria and the back of Costco will be on your left & you’ll see the new shops on the right and the road will intersect with Hywy 150 at the second or third light (can’t remember which) and you’ll see Jason’s on the opposite side of the road on the left.
If you’re coming north up Hywy 31, you’d turn left onto Hywy 150 and go beside the Galleria to the 4th traffic light and turn left into the little strip shopping center where Jason’s Deli is.
If you’re coming north on I-59 you’d get on I-459 North, you’d take the Hywy 31 (Hoover Galleria) exit, drive past the front of the Galleria and then turn right onto Hywy 150 and go to the 4th light….see above paragraph.
I’ll fix a bundle of balloons and attach a fluwiki sign on it and set that on our table so you’ll know where we’re sitting — maybe the sign will attract some other people who happen into the restaurant — or not — at any rate you’ll know it’s me if you see fluwikie!
Sounds good to me! My husband and I will be there and are looking forward to it.
Wonderful Debbie, lookin’ forward to meeting you!
Wife and I are planning on it. Do I recall correctly that it’s your husband who was in the Air Force?
Yes, ssal, he was. During 1982–1990. He was a navigator in a KC-135! Maybe y’all will have some things to talk about!
We’ll take a headcount later in the week — just to get a clear picture of who might show up.
I’m thinking I’m going to do a little ‘ice-breaker’ quiz type thing (don’t panic, your life won’t depend on it) after it appears that everyone has arrived to try to draw the spouses into the conversation and for those who don’t have spouses to jog their memory about topics we’ve discussed here, or just things they know, etc. We’ll see how it goes, just want it to be pleasant and fun for everyone.
bumpity bump
You all have fun. I’m in the Mobile area…I can’t make it.
Hey, my husband was in the Air Force too - mid to late 70′s for 4 years. He was a lab tech stationed at March AF Base in Southern California. The guys will have a lot to talk about!
The quiz is a great idea! Sounds like fun.
Well, we can have an AF reunion - 84 to 88 myself. I’ll be bringing the wife and 2 kids.
FOUR of us?! 69 to 73 for me.
An annoucement of the Sunday meeting is also posted on my Web site.
Yep, guys, we’re still on for our meet and greet on Sunday — let’s firm up 2pm at Jason’s Deli on Hywy 150 “behind” the Galleria, which is just off I-459 and sitting on Hywy 31. Actually if you’re facing the front of the Galleria, it’s at the NortWest corner of the Galleria building.
Anyone is welcome to join us, bring a friend, bring a spouse, whatever.
I’ll be there around 1:30-ish and I’ll be wearing my natural straw hat with a cat pin on the front and the back, AND I’ll have a neon yellow sign under some balloons sitting on a table. That should be a dead giveaway.
So far here’s the list of possible attendees:
repomadman + wife
ssal from Southside
VJay
JustAnotherPrepper + friend +possibly another friend
BusyInBama
myself + my husband
If anyone else already knows that you’ll be there, please log on here and leave me a note — so I’ll have enough nickname tags to go around.
I hope that by our gathering together we’ll be able to maybe show friends and family — or ourselves — we’re not AS crazy as they may think we are, and those of you who are coming by yourselves play a very important role in demonstrating that this is NOT just a ‘protect the family’ type thing just for married families. This is something that EVERYone needs to understand and respond to.
I haven’t planned any direction for our get together other than to try to determine what I’d call a ‘baseline of understanding’ about prepping for a pandemic flu by asking you to answer some questions — it’s not a TEST — but it’s a quiz-of-sorts with door prizes and you won’t be penalized if you don’t have a spouse or a friend with you, so don’t let that keep you from joining us.
I’ll have some paper and pens there if you want to share contact info or anything else after before we leave.
Also, if you’re reading this, but not posting, please at least bump the thread for the next couple of days to keep it near the top of the forum — thanks!
If you need to get in touch with me for directions or anything else you can email me at:
im.workin.on.it AT gmail DOT com and be sure and put the word “flu” in the subject line — I get from 500–1000 SPAMS on that email address a day so I search for the word flu before deleting the messages in bulk.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Rose
Bump
thanks for the bump VJay!
Last night the fluwikie forum was down for awhile….I found this opportunity to chat this morning & think it would be good for us to sign up there as a backup for sharing info, not only during relaxed times, but also if stressed because the wiki goes down agin……a backup plan if nothing wlse, but I expect it to be active daily & I’ll do my part — hope you all will too — go sign up so you’ll be set!
I’m going to post a notice over there too of our meeting, in case anyone else pops in there who hasn’t seen our messages here.
16 November 2006 farm girl – at 20:22 I’ve been wanting to chat with so many of you here at the wiki that I started a new forum with a chat room. The link to it is (in a roundabout way): http://tinyurl.com/sefa5
Rose, You can add me and my husband to the list for Sunday. We’ll have so much to talk about, they’ll probably have to throw us out at closing time.
Yep you bet! I’ve been over at FarmGirl’s chat room chatting — you should sign up!
The wife and I will be there along with the 2 kids. Looks like we can have our own Air Force section. Launch Officer on the Minute Man III from 84 to 88 myself.
Repomadman – at 18:05 GREAT!! How old are the youngsters?? Maybe I can do something for them to make it fun!
bump
I’m-workin’-on-it - you don’t have to do anything, they will be fine. Regardless, the daughter is 11 and the son is 7.
bump
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Hi all, sorry those of you who couldn’t make it to our lunch, you missed a fun get together. I want to tell you about it as best I can while still protecting everyone’s identities, ages ranging from 30′s to 60′s.
First of all, I want to thank each of our servicemen who were present — no matter how long ago you were active, one or 2 stints to our 20+ years of service Marine, all of you who served played an important part in keeping us safe and we all thank you for your sacrifice to our country.
It was soooo nice to put a face with a “nick”name of all the people I met today. Repomadman and his wife and children, Debbie in Alabama and her husband, Busy in Bama, VJay and her husband, and Ssal was with us in spirit - -hope your wife is recovering from her illness. Thanks, ssal, for calling to let us know you weren’t going to be there! And thanks to the nice stranger at the register who typed your number into his cell phone until the cashier could find a pen for us to write with……hope you don’t get strange calls because of that! :-) And Galt, we missed you too!
I think our biggest challenge was sitting at a table with multi-colored balloons attached to a Pandemic Flu Discussion sign floating over the table and ignoring the stares we received. :-)
We didn’t have any trouble getting acquainted with each other over our meals ….. then we did a couple of quizzes to test our knowledge of areas of preparedness, as well as clue our spouses in to the fact that they’re not married to someone who’s the only person in the world that wants to prepare for long term emergency conditions. They were able to sit with other real live prepping people who hold normal jobs & play and have fun, but also want to ‘save’ for a rainy day.
I think everyone won a prize for something --- even our youngest & our least prepared :-) Prizes included anything from candy to canned meat, candles to Kleenex. And I stumped ‘em with a prepping item for them to identify but no one could — yea me!
Questions on the quizzes brought out discussions about everything from preps and PCs, to preparing other people, to pump repair. Most everyone at the table didn’t feel certain that we would have any problems during this flu season, but felt that it could happen within a year or so and that the financial impact would be disasterous.
I believe I understood that only one of us has talked with a city official “officially”, and because some of us were so burned for our Y2k efforts or some equilivant of Y2k, that our own families haven’t even paid much attention to us, we’re even more reluctant to discuss the issue outside of a small group but we would be willing to try when the opportuity arises.
Ssal encouraged us by phone to band together, since some of us live near each other, if we want to distribute literature to help minimize the project so it’s not overwhelming….I think I have that right. I think as a group we’re not ‘on fire’ yet with being activists, but we’re sincerely dedicated to doing what we can in small groups for our own families & neighbors, if they’re receptive.
One of us at the table is married to a spouse who has, for years, been an emergency planner of sorts for a large entity. Good things are happening in that environment to prepare for a large number of people who would be stuck in our downtown area, including the foreign population in their group, who would not be able to return home during an emergency of any kind. This was extremely good news to hear!
We all hope that others will join us from around Alabama —it felt really scary that so few were in attendance from such a big city and a larger support group would be nice. We’ll meet again before long and post invitations to let you know when!
Thanks to everyone who gave up their Sunday afternoon to be there! Your presence was greatly appreciated — you’re wonderful people with strong family ties and strong spirits and it was a pleasure meeting each one of you!