Great People = Great Blogs

The Scoop attended a social gathering of mainstream Missoula bloggers tonight and had a blast!

What I thought had the potential to be as boring as a high school AV club reunion ended up being a fun, educational and entertaining time.

In addition to the Scoop, Missoulapolis, Rabid Sanity and Dave Budge were in the house.

The Salacious Scoop:

1. Budge ordered the appetizers. They brought them to the table with a forklift. It became quickly evident why he hosts The Spoon.

2. Missouliapolis walks her talk; she really does drink Dancing Trout and is as down-to-earth as you would expect.

3. Rabid was full of life. He gave us some advice on how to get out of a DUI, although I’m not sure I’d remember any of it drunk. I think he should immortalize this advice in a permanent post, or better yet, in a tatoo on my hand.

4. Scoop had to leave early so I could go home and put Mr. Googles to bed. Nobody had a lampshade on their head when I left, but I wouldn’t completely rule out that the evening didn't end that way.

The Slightly More Factual Scoop:

1. All of us value independence. You won’t see team blogging from this group, at least not yet. None of us are willing to give up the satisfaction and experience of running our own show, and the authenticity of being ourselves and reflecting our own unadulterated ideas.

2. We all have full time jobs and blog as a hobby. Daddy Soros didn't pick up our tab.

3. We are a mature cast. Average age…somewhere in the mid-40’s, although I think Rabid has had a face-lift, so it’s hard to tell. We are definitely a lot older than the 20-something net rooters running around the blogsphere in their diapers.

4. Politically, opinions represented life on the center right political spectrum: from moderate to conservative (fiscal, conservative, neo) to libertarian to ex-hippy. Some of us change colors depending on the issue.

5. At least two of us were disaffected Democrats and one a disaffected Republican. Not a lot of pure party politics in this crowd.

6. We did agree on one thing - Lefty bloggers lack a sense of humor. They are way too dark and serious. They lack any passion for normal life beyond their spitting, straight-from-the-talking-points opinions. Of course, this made us laugh a lot.

To my new blogger friends…thanks for the great evening. I’m looking forward to next month.

And, I can tell now why these folks have such great blogs; they are great people.