This was about the only picture I got out of my camera that night. The batteries that came with the thing had died. The camera had AA battery holes, so I figured I'd try my rechargables. Turns out they held just enough juice to take this picture. After that the camera flashed when I pushed the button, but none of the images I camptures were usable. The information needed was simply not there. Due to camera failure, the event turned out to be a private party.

In the invite I said "the main event is chatting with the many different people I'm hoping to see there in a warm and friendly place." It worked out as I planned. There were maybe 5 birds from San Jose Bike Party, 4 greens from the Santa Clara County Green Party, and a sprinkling of other people like Thomas from Ish and a former Mayor of Mountain View. The biggest it ever got to was maybe 18 people, but all of them were interesting, and many of them hadn't met each other.

At one point there was a go around. We all had to answer the question where did you meet Tian? I answered "at birth." Cameron said some Statewide Green Party meeting back in the '90s. Susan said "in Millwaukee." Sally said "in Mountain View." Pam said "on the Campaign Trail when my husband and Tian were running for City Council." Cheryl said "through Thomas, but maybe on the way to Burning Man." I forget what Thomas said. Brian said "at a Bike Soiree ride." Amber said "on a Bike Soiree ride, maybe a year ago." Amber's friend said "right here tonight." Laura said "maybe the first time I ran for city council, but Tian supported me last time I ran." I had to mention that she used to be Mayor of Mountain View. I felt so honored to have her at my party. Bob said "on Caltrain coming south after a critical mass ride in San Francisco." Barry showed up a the end of that, after missing most of the other speeches. I think he said "when we had a table at the Mountain View train station for Bike 2 Work Day." There were a couple of people that left before we did that, and a few more that didn't show up until after the go around. I forgot the rest.

One surprise for me was that Barry knows a lot of the same people I do. Barry knows Eric Mystic, some of the birds, and a couple of the others. He said his new headlight is almost shipping. He's going to have a product release bike ride in San Francisco. I'm thinking that's when I'm going to get a new headlight for my bike. I'd say be looking forward to hearing about that ride if you know Barry.

When all way said and done, Guy Velo from bike party helped me get all of the stuff back to my condo from the clubhouse. Among the left overs was just enough corned beef for one yummy serving. Same with the humus and eggplant/yogurt dip that Pam brought. I had the rest of the chicken sprinkeled on other food over a two or three day period. It took a couple more days to finish off the pumpkin pie and eggplant. As I type this it's a week later and I'm still working on the macaroni salad. Next time I'm going to skip that stuff. Other than that, all of the leftovers have been a pleasure to eat.