ScienceBlogs 1 Million Comments Party at Farmacia

That would be Ronnie, Becca, Clare, and Andre, who joined me at Farmacia in Philadelphia this past Sunday for a delightful brunch and lots and lots of good talk. Many thanks to the benevolent Seed overlords for subsidizing our little get-together.

I had the frittata.

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The food was wonderful. I had a blueberry-pomegranate sorbet that was unbelievably delicious - intensely flavorful and silky smooth, not at all grainy or icy. They make their own ice creams and sorbets. Nice job! We sat in our booth throughout the brunching hour and well into mid-afternoon; the waitstaff was gracious and did not make us feel like we ought to be moving on.

Andre and Clare live in downtown Philly, so they merely had to walk on over and join us. Becca and Ronnie drove in from central PA (Hershey/State College). I can't thank them all enough for setting aside a Sunday afternoon to get together and talk about all things sciencey and bloggy. Our talk ranged widely, but I did capture a few bits on video. I asked what they like best about ScienceBlogs. "Community" and "the drama!" were two big positives...but don't take my word for it, see for yourselves what they had to say.

Next, I couldn't help it, I was curious. I wanted to know why Andre reads TSZ. Or,as he put it, why he reads it "as a man".

Finally, turnabout is fair play. They turned the Flipcam on me and asked why I like ScienceBlogs. By the way, benevolent Seed overlords, thanks for that Flipcam, it is way cool. (Ignore the dorky start to this video where I am giving Flipcam instructions. Also please ignore my overall dorkiness in general.) It's all very staid till the surprise question at the end.

Once we finally got off our butts and left the restaurant, we decided to walk about the city a bit. We passed an interesting display case near the Bourse. Who knew Richard Dawkins was so versatile???

The weather cooperated and it was not raining, so we had a nice walk. Unfortunately for me, by the time we had just about made it from the restaurant at 3rd & Market to the Ben Franklin Parkway, I began to develop a migraine. So I had to say goodbye to everyone and head for the regional rail station and home. I left the four of them still walking around and I hope you guys did not get caught in the rain, because when I got off the train back in the 'burbs, it was pouring.

If you were familiar with our planned agenda, you'll realize that we did not make it all the way through. Didn't make it to the museum, didn't make it to Capogiro (though we had dessert, as mentioned, at Farmacia). We had so much fun talking with each other that we almost really didn't need more stimulation than that for a delightful afternoon. At least that's the way it seemed to me, and I hope so for the others.

We missed Lab Cat, who was sick, and thus unable to join us. Let's get together when you are feeling better!

And that about wraps up the Zuska-hosted ScienceBlogs 1 Million Comments Party. I dare say it wasn't as extensive or wild as some of the others may have been but it suited us just fine.