Social media is a wonderful thing. I use it to connect with people who I haven't seen in years.After seeing a Facebook status update that I would be in San Fran, Dustin told me to give him a call so we could go out for a beer or two. To be honest, we ended up going out for a few more than that. We watched Oakland beat the Red Sox in 12 innings (damn!) and then he took me to Chinatown (yeah?) for a few more beers.
Dustin and I worked together on the League of Conservation Voters Environmental Victory Project. It is always great to see other EVP alumni. My first job in the environmental field was with LCV and the people I worked with that year were great people.
I've also met lots of great people from my use of social media. A short list of people I've met through my blog include Bev, Melissa, Chris, Missy, and Deece. I met Rick MacPherson about two years ago on my blog (or was it his blog?) We've traded comments back and forth over the years and we both participate in Carnival of the Blue. Rick even helped us get letters to President Bush asking him to declare the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.I finally met Rick yesterday. We chatted for about two hours in his office about how to rule the world using zooxanthella-powered ray guns and then we went out for beers with some of the staff from Coral Reef Alliance. He's a great guy. Reminds me a lot of George Hasselback on Saipan, but funny (sorry, George). Seriously, you two might be long lost brothers.
Hmmm...one of these days I'll meet Mona in Seattle.
Bev is one of those people I met online. I met her in December of 2006 after I found that she had copied pictures from my blog onto her blog. Pretty soon she was volunteering for Beautify CNMI and coming to our blogger meetups. I know Greg from working with him on Saipan. He was a NOAA Marine Protected Area Specialist for almost three years. They both moved out to San Francisco just as the monument issue was heating up.They took Ike and me to an El Salvadorian restaurant somewhere in town (don't ask me where). It was great seeing them. Greg even came to the awards ceremony today and was our cameraman.