Last night’s first ever Consumerist meetup went off like gangbusters. At least 75 people showed up to Botanica Bar in New York to drink our beer, mingle with one another, watch movies, and celebrate prolific commenter GitEmSteveDave, who has been asking for a labcoat in the comments for months, receiving said much-desired and deserved labcoat. More pictures and highlights, inside… UPDATE: Adding new event pictures, courtesy of commenter NYBiker!
It was really cool to see everyone last night. People were right there when we started at 6pm and by 7pm the room was packed and filled with an excited and enthusiastic energy. I met several people who said they read the site for years, even since it began. Commenter Jpropaganda was there. He told me about a cool project he is doing called Mustachebet.net where he and his friend are competing to see who has the superior mustache. Tweet your vote and for every vote each guy gets, his opponent donates a penny to fighting cancer. Pretty rad. Reader Chris, whose story we ran last year, was there too. I met three couples where the guy was always sending the girl Consumerist stories. Jody read the site for 3 years and was only in town for two weeks and wanted to make sure she hit the party. By the end of the night I saw Consumerists who had never met before giving each other big handclaps in farewell. Many thanks to Botanica Bar for providing such an excellent venue and being great hosts, and thanks to Rooftop Films for providing the high-quality A/V equipment rental at a good price. I’m very happy with how things went and look forward to throwing the next one! (perhaps we’ll come to your hometown next!)
Dallas and Raf of Internets Celebrities present their awesome videos.
I do a little dance.
Commenter GitEmSteveDave prepares to qualify.
The presentation of the labcoat.
Meg is overcome with emotion.
This guy! He has labcoat!
The donning.
Does it fit?
It fits!
Readers throng to receive free Consumerist tshirts and free subscriptions to ConsumerReports.org.
Take some pics last night? Send ‘em to ben@consumerist.com and I’ll add them to the post.
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That is awesome. Yay SteveDave!
I hope no one received bad customer service there…I mean, who would they write into to complain?
@donnie5: Actually, I did have a Camel cigarette rep lie to me and tell me the cheap Chinese knock off lighter he was giving away for my soul was a Zippo. You shouldn’t tease a Zippo collector like that.
HAHAH! The long-awaited lab coat! That is SO awesome!
@MissPeacock:
What’s the labcoat thing?
Does GitemSteve wear the hat in New York? Brave.
@ARP: He’s a backup singer for the Naked Cowboy when he isn’t commenting on Consumerist.
ah I wish I could have drank your beer
WOOOO HOOOO!!! GO GITEMSTEVEDATE!!!!
Okay, so who is next in line? Catastrophegirl? Trai_Dep? Eyebrows?
By the way, we had a mini-meetup on Skype while these guys were downing beer.
More than 3 people showed up, and a couple of them even stayed till the end!
Oh and I got a 9/10 … on accent.
It was a fun – though exclusivist – affair. Not intentional though. We just werent sure if it would be a good idea to give out original skype ids, so we created alternate ones, and by the time we were done, it was too late to let anyone know/plan for it.
Though we WILL have the skype meetup again in the near future. And this time it will be better organized.
For starters, add mostly.harmless.42 to your skype contacts, and IMPORTANT: mention that you are from Consumerist, so I dont ignore you as spam.
Warning: Inanity Might Ensue.
@MostlyHarmless: hooray!
@MostlyHarmless: As soon as I get a Skype account set up, I’ll let you know.
@MostlyHarmless: Yes, it was very fun.. and I liked the exclusiveist part..
Allthough I would like to include some others to the exclusivity.
..Word.
@MostlyHarmless: Just out of curiousity: Do you live in Denmark and used to play an online game called Utopia?
@rwakelan: no. and no. though i’m now interested in knowing what made you ask that question…
I missed something– why did GitEmSteveDave receive a Consumerist Labcoat?
@SPENCERG: Because he’s GitEmSteveDave. That’s all that needs to be said
@Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: I understand now. Thanks!!
Yay, GitEmSteveDave! I presume we will now find you offering free medical exams throughout the city?
@Cogito Ergo Bibo: Bring your own glove.
So, did anyone hook up?
@Applekid: Almost. Until someone asked to check someone else’s receipt. Followed by a poorly-aimed slap, that hit a 2-year-old kid by mistake (his fault, he just got off an airplane). Which, owing to the fact that the boy had a conceal-and-carry permit, was, in retrospect, unfortunate.
One of the resulting ricochets bounced off a shelf, which since it was imported from China, collapsed due to shoddy construction, spilling three tubs of oatmeal onto the floor. The good news was that that bullet was stopped by a mound of Snuggies, but the bad news was that it awoke whatever dark, malevolent presence was napping there.
The last thing that anyone remembers was a feral black blur of hyperactive, antic motion that crossed from one side of the bar to the other, scattering both people and the carefully-placed stacks of free KFC vouchers. The blur dissipated a half hour later, only when the last flake of oatmeal was hoovered up in a purring, mewling, caterwauling of determined satisfaction until, like a fluffy djinni of yore, gathered itself up into a small furry bundle of sated cat, who promptly napped.
I’d normally guess the crowd would be stunned by all of this. But it’s NYC, so everyone shrugged and said, “Meh – another Wednesday night, huh?”
@Trai_Dep: that was beautifully done
@Trai_Dep: I think you’ve earned yourself a Consumerist labcoat, my friend.
@Trai_Dep: I couldn’t help but imagine the Police Squad theme playing after all that.
Yay … glad to see the event went well
It all sounds so interesting… Did no one take a camera to the meetup? can someone post some pics?
Has that labcoat been tested for flammability?
@Lez Lemon: See, now this is why I need a lab coat. I may be the only one here who has actually caught a lab coat on fire in the coarse of my day – so I can be a tester!
Not only a lab coat, but your own tag as well?
I am officially (even more) jealous.
The best thing about GitemSteveDave’s labcoat is that he even wore it to the diner after we left the consumerist meetup! That guy should seriously write a book with all the crazy stuff he comes up with BTW.
@nybiker: I realize that’s probably the truth but it’s not as much fun. So there.
Now we know who GitEmSteveDave *really* is: Manhattan’s very own naked cowboy! right? amiright??????
Great pic. Looking forward to more.
Ah, I’m glad to see it was a fun time for all. I guess I’ll go to the one in a little under a year when they’ll let me into bars. Underage, and all.
Looks like a good time had by all and everyone looks soooo young!
Awwww! Looks like fun. I’m sorry I couldn’t go.
those ears make great handles for…
WEST COAST::: All of us in the North Bay need to come together at this this juncture – fun is to be had – we need a Nor Cal Consumerist Meetup – Meg and Ben – any plans to come out this way – before holidays? After?
That’s me and my formidable forearms off to Mr. SteveDave’s left, by the way.
So, when are they having a meetup in DC?
@Toffeecake: Seconded!
Dudes… We need captions on those pics. Well, I know who GitEmEtc. is, and Ben and Meg. But the others?
@ElizabethD: You’re asking me to remember things after drinking. Ok, the pic with the 2 guys on the couch (one is raising a toast): They are Dallas and Raf of Internets Celebrities. Below that photo is a photo of the their director and his girlfriend (Ann, IIRC).
Speaking of free subscriptions to ConsumerReports.org, I never received mine for taking the survey. I sent an email to the address we were told, and no response. It’s a bit disappointing considering, well, you know… :-/
@floraposte: forthcoming.
@pecan 3.14159265: I just hope that it is a test tube that is in his pocket.
@MostlyHarmless: Hrmm. Never done Skype. Perhaps it would be worth a shot. Can people mute me if I get too drunk and obnoxious?
@MostlyHarmless: @MostlyHarmless: LOL
@MostlyHarmless: I admit, I am waaay down the list on seniority, so I didn’t say I should be next…but I am a sad scientist without a lab coat of my own, truly. So I was just putting a request in to be on the list…that’s all. Even if I am at the bottom of the list. Meanie.
@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: HOO-RAY!
HIP HIP!
@LeChiffre: Yeah…that’s kinda creepy…I’m going to ask you to stop now. Thanks.
@LeChiffre: This is amazing. You should write this up as a feature article.
@TheSpatulaOfLove: What’s this Consumerist thing?
@GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure: Congo rats!
PROTIP: another reason to stay away from gitemstevedave.com (you are part of my iPhone autocorrect apparently) is that you might see him wearing only the lab coat.
@GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure: The coat and hat go perfect together. You’re a labcoat cowboy!
@GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure: You’re certainly not the quietest person I’ve ever met.
@GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure: Thank you for the apology
@qcgallus:
For He’s a jolly good fellow.
@Caged Wisdom: probably both!!
@Caged Wisdom: He might be feeding his horses.
Or, as I did, he slept in late.
@madog: With friends like you guys and gals, who needs enemas?
@GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure:
Go git’em!
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Ok, I’ll ask the question, because I know nothing about making footwarmers or sewing or knitting. But 20 pounds of cherry pits into footwarmers? How does that happen? How does one go from seeds (pits) to footwarmers, which I imagine need thread?
Or did I miss the joke entirely?
@nybiker: …and which ones to, ahem, “hold for future use”…
@TheWillow: T-shirts AND Lab Coats?!!! Not much makes me miss living in NYC, but that sure does!!!
@TheWillow: lol, Ive never seen someone so impressed by a small t-shirt!
@nybiker: LOL, you make a small pillowcase shape out of 100% cotton flannel, and you fill it, loosely, with cherry pits (which you can buy online from a place called cherrypit.com or something like that; cherry orchards and cherry processing plants often sell them locally, too, nicely cleaned and all).
Then you nuke the footwarmer in the microwave (that’s why the fabric has to be 100% cotton) and the cherry pits hold the heat for ages and ages, AND they smell like cherry pie when you heat them up! (The cherry pie smell eventually wears off, but not the heat-retaining qualities.) You can take them up to bed with you, or go put them in the bed about 30 minutes before you go to bed if you’re organized (which I’m not). They’re lovely. We have about five around the house that we use both for cozy sleep toes, and that we hand out to guests after cold hikes and things. (I’m also going to try, when it gets colder, letting it warm up the baby’s crib-sleeping-spot before he goes to bed, though of course it can’t stay in there with him.)
I did them for Christmas presents for all my relatives a couple years ago and it was FAR more economical to buy the 40-lb. bag of cherry pits than to buy several 2-lb. bags, but the upshot is I have 20 lbs. of cherry pits sitting in my attic waiting for me to make more footwarmers.
@nybiker: It’s an insult to the fine AMERICAN made lighters Zippo makes. Except for their new butane lighters, they are horrible.
@nybiker: Jameson and ginger was just okay, but I have a feeling that Jameson card game was stacked. STACKED I TELL YOU!
@jeffbone: Unfortunately, there are no such pix. Maybe if there was a bigger bar tab, we could have drank more and then….
@Rectilinear Propagation: We didn’t bring any 2XL t-shirts, so that could be construed as fat-bashing.
@Laura Northrup: You’re talking to a guy who sticks a coffee cup to his roof for an experiment. Yours is tame compared to mine, which got me pulled over trying to get in the tunnel last night as everyone was honking trying to get my attention.
@H3ion: We’re under orders from Meg not to care unless it’s the Cubs.
@JPropaganda: So are you saying the cards were stacked?!
@Laura Northrup: Tell Meg that if she’s a toddler, she might live long enough to see the Cubs win a Series. Or maybe not.
@JPropaganda: not THAT tag.
THIS tag: [consumerist.com]
@TheWillow: Not a dull minute with him, though.
@katstermonster:
Skype couldn’t “find” you when I just tried to add you.