{"id":442,"date":"2009-07-13T14:19:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T14:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2009\/07\/13\/a-mad-tea-beer-party\/"},"modified":"2009-07-13T14:19:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T14:19:00","slug":"a-mad-tea-beer-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2009\/07\/13\/a-mad-tea-beer-party\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mad Tea Beer Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got to meet another of my favourite bloggers yesterday! (That’s three blog meet-ups now, and they’ve all been great. I highly recommend it).<\/p>\n

This time it was Mad Hatter<\/a>‘s turn. She’s in town for a few days, and had a long enough window in her busy schedule that I got to take her kayaking! It was a very windy day for this time of year, so my promised “leisurely paddle no more than 20 metres from the beach” turned into a solid two hour workout, during which we had to fight to get the boat to turn back towards shore from the middle of the harbour. But despite being a novice kayaker, Mad Hatter paddled like a pro and didn’t let the wind or waves phase her. She even claimed to enjoy herself! No eagles out yesterday unfortunately, but we did spot a seal, some cormorants, a tern, and assorted gulls.<\/p>\n

Meeting a blogger is a bit of a weird experience, with elements of both a blind date and a catch-up with an old friend. You really can get a decent impression of what someone’s like from their blog, and indeed Mad Hatter was much as I expected her to be – smart, funny, and with lots of common ground to talk about! Our animated conversation about blogging, science, pets, and life in general continued after the kayaking, on Vancouver’s best patio…<\/p>\n

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…and the four hours we spent together simply flew by.<\/p>\n

Thanks mate! I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay!<\/p>\n

Unanswered questions:<\/span><\/p>\n