Looking back at Joint London Girl Geek/Geek dinner with Dr. Sophie Kain

The latest joined Girl Geek/Geek dinner was a blast. The venue was much better than the last few we used (although slightly warm and lacking natural light and windows). Quite a few people showed up to see Dr. Sophie Kain and to say thanx/goodbye to Ian who is moving to Manchester.

Melinda and I spend the whole afternoon looking for some presents for Ian’s birthday but I think we did well. Nicole made a nice binary cake surprise and a couple of people made a video which I hope to see online sometime soon. For now here are some of the photos.

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under geekdinner | 1 Comment

Big Geek Day Out: Alton Towers

During the first Geek Meet we got to think about organizing big day out to places outside of London. So, Neil Crosby came up with the idea of a Big Geek Day Out. The first one will be on August 2nd, which is quite far away, but at least you can now mark it down in your agenda already. Here is the plan for now:

Summer’s coming up, you say? And you like Theme Parks? Come and meet us at Alton Towers on the 2nd August then.

More details about possible train deals you can use to get there once the train companies get their acts together and publish this year’s deals. Tickets normally cost £25 for an adult off t’web (plus obviously your cost to get there), but I’m sure that the normal 2 for 1 deals and the like will appear as soon as summer comes along.

This fun day out is open to all (not just geeks). Come one, come all - come to Alton Towers!

When: Saturday, 2nd of August
Where: Alton Towers
Cost: TBA
Upcoming: 495352

April 22, 2008 | Filed Under geekdinner, geekmeet | 1 Comment

Looking Back at Geek Meet #1

So, Sunday we had the first Geek Meet and it was quite a success for an unorganized, social meetup of geeks. We started out at the Starbucks behind County Hall and after 2 hours of lounging and chatting about Net Neutrality, Flickr Video, and other geek stuff, we headed out for a walk past the Thames.

We had quite a bit of luck with the weather and eventually ended up at a bar near Borough Market where we had some food. We will have another Geek Meet soon, maybe on a Saturday, maybe with a theme. Let us know if you have any ideas.

Below are some of the photos we took.

April 22, 2008 | Filed Under geekmeet | 1 Comment

London Geek Meet 1

I’ve had a good response to the idea of a London Geek Meet event, so I’m going ahead and announcing the first one for this weekend. The idea is to meet-up in a cafe, hang around there for an hour or so and then go somewhere with the group.

For this first one, we’ll meet-up at the Starbucks near County Hall behind the London Eye for an hour to discuss and determine where we’ll exactly go. We’ve got a couple of options: walking along the Thames in the direction of the London Bridge or walking towards Buckingham Palace. In the case of very bad weather, we’ll stay in the cafe or go to London Aquarium (if people are interested in this though, I’d rather book it in advance and try to get bloggers discount).

When: Sunday, April 20th, 11:00
Where: Starbucks County Hall (Google Maps)
Nearest Underground: Westminster, Waterloo, Lambeth North
Activity: Sightseeing
Cost: Food and coffee on buy your own basis
Upcoming: 473635

Please use the upcoming link to indicate your interest in attending. If you have trouble finding the place or are running late, you can phone me (07521 294 391) or Twitter me directly (mseckington).

April 15, 2008 | Filed Under geekmeet | 2 Comments

Geek Dinner IRC Channel

Geek Dinners is going retro!

After some fun during the “Over The Air” conference (some people were playing keynote-bingo) we decided to launch our own IRC channel. Why? Because we can. Plus, it keeps those lengthy discussions between Geek Dinner attendees away from your Twitter feeds.

Where? irc.freenode.net, channel #geekdinner. Everyone is welcome and you are allowed to talk about anything! If you’ve never used IRC before (which means you were probably born after the introduction of the World Wide Web) feel free to ask us over Twitter/MSN/email for instructions.