Present: 4D, CS, Agatha, Coyote
Guests: Pandora, Woodsy
Featured Guest: Megan
Absent with lame-O excuse: I-O
Late: Chair
4D distributes vitamin D to all but Woodsy.
4D offers to take minutes so that they will be done right.
Pandora suggests that 4D also draw pictures of those present like court reporters do.
Our Consultant, Megan, arrives. Conch Shell is introduced and gets up to go."Any word on posting?" she is asked.
"Very, very soon. Like this weekend." And she leaves.
Megan settles in. 4D checks to see she is wearing the top that makes her breasts look shockingly large, but he cannot tell. And surprisingly, manages to refrain from public comment on the topic until typing these minutes.
We ask: Do you need a flip chart stand? 'No.' Laser pointers? 'No.'
Megan: You've fixed all your blogging problems.
Agatha: Oh, should we talk about the Bank Street people then?
Megan: The Bank Street Blog? ...Irony without earnestness.
Megan and the ESIs share thoughts on the Bank Street Blog. 4D announces that he will prepare a posting welcoming them to the blogosphere after he does the minutes.
Coyote: Or after Conch Shell posts. [to general laughter]Megan: Maybe before...
What to do about Conch Shell?
Megan: Is there something she could do that doesn't involve posting?
Coyote: There's the tagline under the ESI title banner.
Agatha: But she wouldn't do that. We could post for her...
Megan: Or you could trick her. Email her a question?
Coyote: Does Conch Shell answer email?
4D: It's rare.
Agatha: Or a phone call.
Megan: And I guess it would only work once.
Pandora: Maybe it could be Conch Shell's job to never ever post.
Consensus: This would be workable and the worst that could happen is that the Oppositional Defiance Disorder prevalent among the ESIs would result in her actually posting.
Back to the ESIs
4D: Agatha, you were the one who first suggested we engage Megan as a consultant. What did you think she could bring to us?
Agatha: I've been feeling our group is too insular, it would be good to bring in people from outside. I would ask: What should we do more? What should we do less?Megan: Just more of what you're already doing. One theme I've liked is the searching for a new muse. It's entertaining. Does it have to be only Ottawa?
[The Chair arrives. 4D asks if we should have any concerns about the in-a-delicate-condition T and her husband. "The one who pissed his pants?" asks the Chair. This brings up the issue of us creeping bloggers out. 4D shares a story of a blogger - a young woman who doesn't blog so much any more - who, at the coffee shop she always blogged about, had a fan appear and sit down with her. It creeped her out. "It wasn't me," 4D clarifies.]
Guest Bloggers
Megan agrees that the Andrew ZRX posting was a tremendous success. Pandora suggests that we could auction off the chance to post on our blog. The Andrew ZRX story is patiently explained to Pandora and no one says anything like "Where the hell have you been?" Perhaps because our guest consultant had everyone in such a lovely mood from her compliments and she is an ettiquettist after all.
Megan suggests we could have a contest with a skill-testing question to award the opportunity to be a guest blogger and the skill testing question could be the sort that makes them prove their worthiness for a guest posting.
Chair: Maybe we should turn into a Cat Blog.
Agatha: I love Duncan.
Megan: I would read anything Zoom wrote.
Consensus: Zoom has the best blog in Ottawa and we should do something to recognize that.
Chair: Or we could bring in Cousin Oliver [and then explains that Cousin Oliver was the kid brought in to revive ratings on the Brady Bunch, generally held to be that show's Shark Jump.]
4D: Maybe you could take on Cousin Oliver as a new persona. It might revive your interest in blogging.
Megan asks the Chair why he hasn't been blogging.
Chair: The City is getting boring.
Megan: The Mayor just got arrested!
4D: You have to understand, the Chair has been jaded for about 20 years.
Coyote: And before that he was just apathetic.
4D announces that he is ready to stop taking minutes.
Agatha: I'm just overwhelmed that Megan is here with us.
Chair and Coyote: We are not worthy! ... We are not worthy! [with the bowing and hand gestures]
Megan: Just do more of what you're already doing.Official portion of meeting is adjourned. General conversation takes place in which further compliments are exchanged. The ESIs also interact with other patrons of the establishment, one of whom introduces himself as a reader. 4D's does a brilliant thespian portrayal of a person who is ignorant of the Elgin Street Irregulars, but the fellow persists, points out that we're sitting with AsteroideaPress and tells the 4th Dwarf that he is the 4th Dwarf.
And who are you? Asks the Dwarf, wondering why he is the only one who ever gets outed.
davewoods.ca says the young man. Who then insists he is not part of any group blog. Even though 4D narrows his eyes the second time he asks.
"Perhaps we should stop addressing each other by our aliases when we're in public," says the Dwarf after the young man rejoins his dining companion.
