BloggerCon 5/Oktoberfest

Val and I joined a sizable contingent of bloggers and many other people at the Central Terminal Saturday for the Oktoberfest and BloggerCon 5 and had a great time. As usual, excellent conversations, often with people we've never met or really talked to before, sprung up. LC Scotty, Mike and (I think) Shades of Gray had fun talks about coffee, beer and food, and Buffalo Pundit and I had some fun discussing things of various natures and shared interests. And yes, Geek, pizza frequently came up, including the upcoming taste test.
Derek and Amanda Punaro, who basically served as our hosts as well as worked for/with the Central Terminal Restoration Committee, did a great job and deserve thanks for making us bloggers feel at home, including with signs for BloggerCon 5 reserving our table. They were busy throughout Oktoberfest, and Amanda deserves applause for wearing her "German beer wench" outfit, as, someone called it.
The Central Terminal remains a real treasure and a building worth fighting for, and Derek, Amanda and their cohorts with the CTRC deserve thanks and credit for leading a good fight that must also be a long, hard and sometimes discouraging struggle. Buffalo Pundit and a few other people made the smart observation that the Central Terminal is so much better a place for large gatherings than the Buffalo Convention Center, which has all the charm of a correctional facility and livestock pen.
But the fun of the evening is what we all remember; while my drinking days are long gone, I was fortunate to spend time as a member of the Buffalo-Dortmund Sister City Exchange in Germany, and fondly remember the beer, especially dark beer, as well as singing rounds of "Ein Prosit." Thank you again to everyone who contributed to the fun.