Clan Tuttle recently traveled to Phoenix for a swim meet, and had the good fortune to visit with St_PatGuy.

I wanted to warmly and publicly thank Sean for being so gracious and so generous with his time.

My wife refers to my periodic Axiom meetups as my “online dating”. While Sean and I do clearly have a budding long-distance bromance, we are both spoken for. Sean continues a long-time Axiom forum custom of being obviously not worthy of his lovely and charming SO.

Due to some pretty bizarre and ultimately unsatisfying swim-team decision-making, we ended up meeting for dinner with my family at Gameworks on Friday night. I had never been to Gameworks before, and fortunately did not misplace any items for which I must return. Those of you that have experienced Chuck-E-Cheese will understand when I tell you that Gameworks takes that particular Hell to a whole new level.

Ambiance notwithstanding, we had a very enjoyable meal. Of course, it is possible that my assessment of the food and drinks was skewed by the high quality of the companionship, but we had a good time. Big mugs of beer with pizza and burgers. What’s not to like?

Sean generously invited me to his home for a listen on Sunday. His lovely home made me wistful for the days when there were not multiple creatures leaving items scattered willy-nilly all over my residence.

Sean is clearly much more into audio than I am, and I cherished the opportunity to experience his systems and to learn from him. I was impressed by his knowledge and experience, and especially his approach

I got to hear his Dodd Audio 120W monoblock tube amps with his Odyssey Lorelei speakers. It is a magnificent system, and certainly changed the way I perceive not only tube systems but also two-way speaker designs. The Loreleis reached surprisingly low and presented a very detailed yet rich soundstage.

I also got a nice tour of Sean’s very impressive home theatre setup.

Mostly, though, we just drank beer and became friends. I liked that a lot. It's fun to be around smart people.

Thank you, Sean, for a very fun and memorable visit.

Sean, what did you think of Tom? You mentioned to me when we met that he was one of the ones from the board you would like to meet. Did he live up to the hype? :p

Tom, I'm glad you got to meet Sean. I would have enjoyed taking up more of his time.

Cool write-up, as usual, Tom! You are a fine story-teller. You were indeed right to issue me some "neener neener"s, for getting to meet Sean first, as you have set the bar high. I'm sure that Sean will think that I am a troglodyte by comparison.

Anyway, I'll be arriving in Phoenix one week from today for a conference and staying two nights.

Sean, I need to PM you further to get your cell/contact info.

Looking forward to seeing you and checking out your sweet set-up!

And my movie script research continues.......

Seriously though. Very cool that some of you get to meet up in person. In my job, I normally preach the dangers of Internet relationships but I don't rule it out either. I dare say this group of veterans has a pretty good read on each other by now. Still, great that you first met in a public place. I'd be willing to bet my well being on meeting Tom or Sean just about anywhere but I get involved in some scary cases (mostly teens) where people didn't 'follow the rules' and bad things happened.

OK, I'm babbling. Time for another coffee from that place that send me ranting earlier this morning. heh heh

I still think we could all meet up somewhere in the middle of the country.

We could all wear "Bose Blose" T-Shirts.

We could all carry Medusa-head carry-ons.

And, at some point, we could ::all run away crying::

I say we all crash at Randy's house in two weeks.

He said it was OK.

Can't we choose a place that isn't haunted?

Plus, his projector is only 720P.

Mark, you are particularly witty today. Did you get a good remodeling bid or something?

No. JP fixed me up with a "Witty" prescription. He called them "Maggie-Do-Alls" or something....

I have Axiom meet-up envy. Let's all move to Bend, Oregon and start a commune.

Great story and write-up, Tom.

I think if Axiom held an owners' club get together in/around their facility, many of us would make the trip to be there. In the interim, if any Axiomite is passing by Connecticut, I would greatly enjoy getting together for beer, pizza, chatting, and some Axiom listening (but, please give me several months advance notice to rearrange my clinic and call schedule) .

I think it would be a riot to meet up with a group of you guys.

I say we just drop in on JC some time and call it an Axiom get together.

I have deeply enjoyed the company of every single Axiom forum member I've met up with (I think I've successfully stalked 11 of you now). Not an axe murderer in the bunch. Yet.

Wow...I haven't even met one.... ::sniffs armpits::

::runs away crying::

I was hiding the axe. Next time...

Thank you for the kind words, Tom, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and your wonderful family.

Ha ha, Gameworks was an interesting place, but, hey, at least they serve beer there! Oh, and now that I think about it, that may have been CV on that dancing video game. Charles, why didn't you wave back at us?

Tom came over on Sunday afternoon for some true audio nerdiness and brought some quaffable (is that even a word?) beverages with him. We searched through my quirky music collection for something that Tom was familiar with and we settled down for a brief listening session. Tom, I'm glad you liked my system. Thank you for the generous words.

Like Tom said, in the end it was more about enjoying the beer and the company. Tom is just as charming and eloquent in person as he is on the boards. It was fun sharing our philosophies on stuff and having good conversation.

Tom, thank you for taking the time out of your busy and short weekend to make time to meet up. I look forward to another meeting! Oh, and my S.O. thanks you for the kind words, as well.

Yes, I am now sporting "Tom FTW" pins!


You and Tom are the only ones from the board I have met so far (JP's on deck) and I've enjoyed both visits very much.

Already taken care of.

Ha ha, yeah, I was going to say, "Who needs a comparison?"

As a famous, funny man once said......


.. Thank god they sell beer in that damn place!

:runs away crying!!!:

OK, here's the belated write-up of my meet-up with Sean (St_PatGuy).

On Friday, after I registered for my conference and enjoyed the welcome dinner buffet (urp!), Sean picked me up in his silver 2001 Acura RSX type S, AZ license plate # NCC 1701. Heh, just kidding about that last part. He is a lazy man who has quit shaving, so he has a beard now. We went to the movie theater across the street from my hotel complex and enjoyed Star Trek, which neither of us had seen yet.

On Saturday, after my conference was over, Taximan Sean again picked me up at the hotel, and we went to the Westgate shopping complex in Glendale, where we ate at Shane's Rib Shack, a chain that neither of us had experienced before. The food was good, and I became infatuated with our waitress, Ari. You're right, Mark, they're all too young for me.

After shopping at Todd Macfarlane's action figure store, we went to Sean's apartment, where we tried out my new Grado 60 headphones. Big thumbs up! Then we listened to Sean's set-up, enjoying Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown (see, Mark, there was good reason you were eager to get to this post!).

We also listened to some REM, and an album that Green Day put out under the (band) name "Foxboro Hot Tubs". I gotta look that up and get it. Thanks for the tip!

Sean has a cool set-up with tube amps. I had never heard of the manufacturers of any of his equipment (preamp, amp, CD player, and speakers). Yet, he was always very friendly and engaging with this n00b reporter. Sean's set-up sounds great, and fun was had by all. Either we didn't play it loud enough, or his neighbors are really cool, because not once did we get warned to turn it down!

After graciously ferrying me to Barnes and Noble so that I could get some reading material for my flight back, we bid adieu. Thanks again, Sean, for the hospitality, and I hope I can return the favor one day!

Edit: Sean's car is not a 2001; I think it is a 2004.

Gotta record these things correctly for all posterity.

Aha! It's a 2003!

It was fun getting to spend time with JP this weekend. We didn't have much opportunity to talk the first night because of the movie. I guess we coulda been rude and carried on a dialogue much to the consternation of those around us?

Like JP said, on Saturday I took him over to Westgate, which is the complex right next to the stadium out here. We did a quick tour while deciding where to eat, and ended up for some tasty Southern cuisine at Shane's. And, yes, JP DID go gaga over our waitress.

Thanks, JP, for bringing along your Grado 'phones. I've always wanted to try Grados out and was very surprised how fun they were. Really had a lot of dynamic energy to them.

So, we listened to music and chit-chatted and had a good time. JP also showed me some of what his conference was about, which was interesting and did NOT put me to sleep!

I'm glad to have met JP in person and would be glad to taxi him around again. For a small fee, though.

Is that also what Ari said?

It sounds like you both had a great time. I'll have to make my way to Phoenix one day. Besides Sean, I do know someone else who lives there. I think I'd be more excited to visit Sean, though. Ha ha.

Somewhere....in the burbs of Phoenix.... a lonely soul ::runs away crying:: ........

Ari, is that you?!

Come back! And bring more ribs!!!

*nom nom nom*

You guys are so rude. Stop having fun without me.

I'm so glad you guys had a good visit!

Though it was apparently void of any redeeming or noteworthy beverage.

I hear ya. Sean wasn't able to enjoy it, but the buffet dinner had an open bar, with a dozen or so bottled beers to choose from. I enjoyed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Ah, my Budweiser.

If you make it onto the SAT question committee, you could devise something like this:

Joe Sixpack:pmbuko::Budweiser:_______________

A. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (correct)
B. Coors Light
C. Natty Light
D. Coca-Cola
E. Joe Sixpack

I loved and hated those. I usually scored well, but sometimes they created some crazy relationships.

Honda Civic : Ferrari F50 :: Patricia Heaton : __________

A. Bar Rafaeli
B. Scarlet Johanssen
C. Anne Hathaway
D. Heidi Klum
E. medic8r needs more work to do

-> modest, sluggish, dependable, family sedan : showy, fast, unreliable, not-family-friendly car.

I'll say, the right answer should be more like a hot porn star or something :P

Isn't that always the right answer?

Well done, you two.

Too bad I don't know the names of any porn stars.

He says with a straight face.

I'll take Patricia Heaton in a Honda Civic over a medic8r who needs more work to do in a Ferrari F50 any day.

Patricia in Heat on a Honda Civic?

Anyone seen my lollerskates? Oh, here they are.

As long as that's all that was straight.......

PS
Love the lollerskates. Image copied and stolen for future needs.

Your Lollerskates got nothing on my roflcopter: