From john at szakmeister.net  Tue Nov 25 11:20:37 2008
From: john at szakmeister.net (John Szakmeister)
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:20:37 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
Message-ID: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>

I'm looking to start one in Columbia, Maryland.  I've already spoken
with the Howard County Central Library, and am getting ready to
reserve the room.  Just looking for some interest so that I can
honestly say we expect to have 10 people or more. :-)

Let me know if you're interested!

-John

From waterbug at pangalactic.us  Tue Nov 25 15:59:55 2008
From: waterbug at pangalactic.us (Stephen Waterbury)
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:59:55 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
In-Reply-To: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>

John Szakmeister wrote:
> I'm looking to start one in Columbia, Maryland.  I've already spoken
> with the Howard County Central Library, and am getting ready to
> reserve the room.  Just looking for some interest so that I can
> honestly say we expect to have 10 people or more. :-)
> 
> Let me know if you're interested!
> 
> -John

Hi John,

You're free to start a new group, of course, but there is one
in your area: the BACON-PIG (Baltimore, Columbia, and Other
Northern DC suburbs Python Interest Group :).  The BACON-PIG is
newly formed, and had its first meeting on October 23 at the
Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Current plan is to have the next BACON-PIG meeting on January
19th at the Visitor Center.  If you'd like to propose a
BACON-PIG meeting at the Howard County library, please feel
free to do so on the bacon-pig mailing list (see below) and
on python-announce (to see if new people might be interested).

The BACON-PIG site is here:

http://pangalactic.us/bacon-pig

Mailing list:

https://pangalactic.us/mailman/listinfo/bacon-pig

Cheers,
Steve

From DeSmith at ngs.org  Tue Nov 25 16:01:14 2008
From: DeSmith at ngs.org (DeSmith at ngs.org)
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:01:14 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Dave Eugene Smith is out of the office.
Message-ID: <OFF43C91E4.11456AFD-ON8525750C.005282D3-8525750C.005282D3@NGS.ORG>


I will be out of the office starting  11/24/2008 and will not return until
12/08/2008.

If you need assistance please contact Brian Talbot or Lauren Brandstein.


From john at szakmeister.net  Wed Nov 26 03:54:59 2008
From: john at szakmeister.net (John Szakmeister)
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:54:59 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
In-Reply-To: <492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>
References: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>
	<492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>
Message-ID: <a1c1f4750811251854h5640b763ubc92f9df7a12fd59@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Stephen Waterbury
<waterbug at pangalactic.us> wrote:
[snip]
> Hi John,
>
> You're free to start a new group, of course, but there is one
> in your area: the BACON-PIG (Baltimore, Columbia, and Other
> Northern DC suburbs Python Interest Group :).  The BACON-PIG is
> newly formed, and had its first meeting on October 23 at the
> Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD.
> Current plan is to have the next BACON-PIG meeting on January
> 19th at the Visitor Center.  If you'd like to propose a
> BACON-PIG meeting at the Howard County library, please feel
> free to do so on the bacon-pig mailing list (see below) and
> on python-announce (to see if new people might be interested).

I'm rather disappointed that I missed this.  I haven't been watching
python-announce (which appears to be the only place this was
announced).  Why not list it on the Python Users Group blog
(http://python-groups.blogspot.com/) or in the Local User Groups area
of the Python Wiki (http://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups)?

> The BACON-PIG site is here:
>
> http://pangalactic.us/bacon-pig
>
> Mailing list:
>
> https://pangalactic.us/mailman/listinfo/bacon-pig

I certainly don't want to step on toes... on the other hand, Greenbelt
is right on the edge of how far I'm willing to go.  So I'm at a loss
for what to do. :-(  I'd love to actually attend a meeting though.  As
far as hosting on of your meetups at Howard County Central Library,
it's certainly possible... but you have to get on the schedule and
it's currently 3 months out.  Which is why I started prodding around.
By the time the holidays are all done, the time would be here.  I've
been getting some responses through several other forums, so I'll poke
around and see if those guys are willing to go to Greenbelt at all.
I'm certain I'll be in touch in the not to distant future.

-John

From waterbug at pangalactic.us  Wed Nov 26 16:40:22 2008
From: waterbug at pangalactic.us (Stephen Waterbury)
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:40:22 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
In-Reply-To: <a1c1f4750811251854h5640b763ubc92f9df7a12fd59@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>	
	<492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>
	<a1c1f4750811251854h5640b763ubc92f9df7a12fd59@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <492D6DE6.5040305@pangalactic.us>

John Szakmeister wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Stephen Waterbury
> <waterbug at pangalactic.us> wrote:
> [snip]
>> Hi John,
>>
>> You're free to start a new group, of course, but there is one
>> in your area: the BACON-PIG (Baltimore, Columbia, and Other
>> Northern DC suburbs Python Interest Group :).  The BACON-PIG is
>> newly formed, and had its first meeting on October 23 at the
>> Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD.
>> Current plan is to have the next BACON-PIG meeting on January
>> 19th at the Visitor Center.  If you'd like to propose a
>> BACON-PIG meeting at the Howard County library, please feel
>> free to do so on the bacon-pig mailing list (see below) and
>> on python-announce (to see if new people might be interested).
> 
> I'm rather disappointed that I missed this.  I haven't been watching
> python-announce (which appears to be the only place this was
> announced).  Why not list it on the Python Users Group blog
> (http://python-groups.blogspot.com/) or in the Local User Groups area
> of the Python Wiki (http://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups)?

Good idea!  I'll do that.  (I hadn't been aware of those locations.
I've been a Pythonista for many years but haven't kept up with
some of the newer venues. ;)

I would definitely recommend subscribing to python-announce --
it's relatively low-volume.  I thought everyone did!  :)
That's basically why I didn't look for other places to post.  ;)

>> The BACON-PIG site is here:
>>
>> http://pangalactic.us/bacon-pig
>>
>> Mailing list:
>>
>> https://pangalactic.us/mailman/listinfo/bacon-pig
> 
> I certainly don't want to step on toes... on the other hand, Greenbelt
> is right on the edge of how far I'm willing to go.  So I'm at a loss
> for what to do. :-(

Nothing you do will step on any toes -- not mine anyway!

> I'd love to actually attend a meeting though.  As
> far as hosting on of your meetups at Howard County Central Library,
> it's certainly possible... but you have to get on the schedule and
> it's currently 3 months out.

If you want to have Python group meetings in Columbia, we will
be drawing a lot of the same people anyway, so my idea was just to
go ahead and propose whatever meetings you want through any channel
you want, including the bacon-pig list, and you can lead them.
I don't consider BACON-PIG meetups to be "mine" or "ours" as opposed
to "yours" -- they're just people interested in Python.  (I
*certainly* will be happy to have anyone else lead a BACON-PIG
meeting!  That's definitely not an ego thing for me. :)  If you want
to have meetings in Columbia, go ahead propose that, and propose them
for any date you like -- it doesn't have to be on the schedule we
came up with on the bacon-pig list, especially if you have new
people who also prefer the Columbia location.

> Which is why I started prodding around.
> By the time the holidays are all done, the time would be here.  I've
> been getting some responses through several other forums, so I'll poke
> around and see if those guys are willing to go to Greenbelt at all.
> I'm certain I'll be in touch in the not to distant future.

I see that we seem to have a lot of forums that don't inter-communicate
... a typical internet-age "problem".  I only see it as a problem in
that each meeting could have more people if it were more widely
known among local pythonistas.

Please feel free to start a group of your own with its own name, etc.
if you want to!  Even then you are still welcome to use the bacon-pig
list either as your group's list or at least for meeting coordination
discussions, since I'm sure many bacon-pig folks (including myself)
would be interested in Python meetings in Columbia -- that's why
we called it the Baltimore, Annapolis, Columbia, and Other Northern
blah blah blah.  (I see I forgot about the Annapolis part last time. ;)

Cheers,
Steve


From john at szakmeister.net  Wed Nov 26 17:19:28 2008
From: john at szakmeister.net (John Szakmeister)
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:19:28 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
In-Reply-To: <492D6DE6.5040305@pangalactic.us>
References: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>
	<492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>
	<a1c1f4750811251854h5640b763ubc92f9df7a12fd59@mail.gmail.com>
	<492D6DE6.5040305@pangalactic.us>
Message-ID: <a1c1f4750811260819u5cca6ba4l29ce2fd604e62c66@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:40 AM, Stephen Waterbury
<waterbug at pangalactic.us> wrote:
[snip]
> Good idea!  I'll do that.  (I hadn't been aware of those locations.
> I've been a Pythonista for many years but haven't kept up with
> some of the newer venues. ;)

It's hard to know about them.  I wouldn't have known if I hadn't of
pinged Steve Holden when I was thinking about creating a group.  Well,
I did know about the LocalUsersGroup page, because that's where I
started in trying to research whether there was one in the area. :-)

> I would definitely recommend subscribing to python-announce --
> it's relatively low-volume.  I thought everyone did!  :)
> That's basically why I didn't look for other places to post.  ;)

I hadn't realized that much of this stuff happens there.  I'm
subscribed now. :-)

[snip]
> If you want to have Python group meetings in Columbia, we will
> be drawing a lot of the same people anyway, so my idea was just to
> go ahead and propose whatever meetings you want through any channel
> you want, including the bacon-pig list, and you can lead them.
> I don't consider BACON-PIG meetups to be "mine" or "ours" as opposed
> to "yours" -- they're just people interested in Python.  (I
> *certainly* will be happy to have anyone else lead a BACON-PIG
> meeting!  That's definitely not an ego thing for me. :)  If you want
> to have meetings in Columbia, go ahead propose that, and propose them
> for any date you like -- it doesn't have to be on the schedule we
> came up with on the bacon-pig list, especially if you have new
> people who also prefer the Columbia location.

I may propose that, but I'd like to get a real feel for how far it is.
 I've only been down to Greenbelt a few times, and you're a little
closer to the DC area, which may be a bonus for folks coming from that
direction.  FWIW, I don't consider it mine or yours either.  I'd love
to help anyway I can.  My goal is just to have more of a Python
community around here. :-)

[snip]
> I see that we seem to have a lot of forums that don't inter-communicate
> ... a typical internet-age "problem".  I only see it as a problem in
> that each meeting could have more people if it were more widely
> known among local pythonistas.

More people would be a problem?  Is that because of the hosting
facility?  FWIW, the Howard County Central Library room is huge.  Max
capacity is something like 184 (which would be very uncomfortable!).
Perhaps the library down your way has something available if the
current location gets too cramped.  I can say that you'll have at
least 2 new people at the next meeting... and perhaps 5.

> Please feel free to start a group of your own with its own name, etc.
> if you want to!  Even then you are still welcome to use the bacon-pig
> list either as your group's list or at least for meeting coordination
> discussions, since I'm sure many bacon-pig folks (including myself)
> would be interested in Python meetings in Columbia -- that's why
> we called it the Baltimore, Annapolis, Columbia, and Other Northern
> blah blah blah.  (I see I forgot about the Annapolis part last time. ;)

I'd rather have one larger group than several smaller ones.  You get
more topic diversity, a bigger pool of people to pull from for help,
etc.  Like I said before though, if you need help with anything, let
me know.  I had committed myself to contributing, whether it's through
another group or BACON-PIG doesn't matter to me. :-)

I hope to meet you at the next meeting!

-John

From waterbug at pangalactic.us  Wed Nov 26 18:10:37 2008
From: waterbug at pangalactic.us (Stephen Waterbury)
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:10:37 -0500
Subject: [group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?
In-Reply-To: <a1c1f4750811260819u5cca6ba4l29ce2fd604e62c66@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a1c1f4750811250220m2267c5dexf1e00f14dd6add9e@mail.gmail.com>	
	<492C12EB.6080800@pangalactic.us>	
	<a1c1f4750811251854h5640b763ubc92f9df7a12fd59@mail.gmail.com>	
	<492D6DE6.5040305@pangalactic.us>
	<a1c1f4750811260819u5cca6ba4l29ce2fd604e62c66@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <492D830D.4020006@pangalactic.us>

John Szakmeister wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:40 AM, Stephen Waterbury

>> I see that we seem to have a lot of forums that don't inter-communicate
>> ... a typical internet-age "problem".  I only see it as a problem in
>> that each meeting could have more people if it were more widely
>> known among local pythonistas.
> 
> More people would be a problem?  Is that because of the hosting
> facility?  ...

Oops, I didn't phrase that very well!  What I meant to say was that it's
a problem if we don't reach everyone, because more people is *better*!
The Goddard Visitor Center can also hold lots of people -- probably
50-100 if we ever get that many.  :)

>> Please feel free to start a group of your own with its own name, etc.
>> if you want to!  Even then you are still welcome to use the bacon-pig
>> list either as your group's list or at least for meeting coordination
>> discussions, since I'm sure many bacon-pig folks (including myself)
>> would be interested in Python meetings in Columbia -- that's why
>> we called it the Baltimore, Annapolis, Columbia, and Other Northern
>> blah blah blah.  (I see I forgot about the Annapolis part last time. ;)
> 
> I'd rather have one larger group than several smaller ones.  You get
> more topic diversity, a bigger pool of people to pull from for help,
> etc.  Like I said before though, if you need help with anything, let
> me know.  I had committed myself to contributing, whether it's through
> another group or BACON-PIG doesn't matter to me. :-)

Total agreement on all counts!

> I hope to meet you at the next meeting!
> 
> -John

Same here!

Steve