ML

Hi you!!

As a matter of fact, I just got an email yesterday from The Office of Letters and Light that I am the ML for the Modesto area!! Nothing like leaving it till nearly the 11th hour, huh? (wink)

My name is Viki (online name: mermaidslair but everyone calls me Mer) and I mostly hang out on the Geezer's thread....Last year, I was SO disappointed that there wasn't a local ML and no local events arranged (I would have had to drive 85+ miles to attend any in Stockton) and that was why I volunteered to ML for Modesto.

I just moved from Modesto over to the West side (Patterson) two weeks ago, I work in Stockton, and spend a lot of time in Turlock and Modesto. I won NaNo last year--my first time--and this will be my first time as an ML--so I'm excited and really hoping for a lot of suggestions and ideas from all the rest of y'all.

I'm going to download some flyers and begin putting them around town and the West Side. Would you be interested in helping get the word out and perhaps planning a pre-NaNo meet-up so that all of us local November-madness aficionados can meet and commisermerate.....uh....er...... I mean, encourage and incite (yeah, that's better!) each other to greater heights of language brilliance in the coming weeks?

Please, all of you Modesto and out-lying area NaNo veterans- all of shy and/or nervous NaNo newbies (been THERE!)-- please say HI and introduce yourselves here and send your input about what sort of NaNo events you'd be interested in attending and WHERE.....I'm looking for suggestions on a meet-up place(s) that will be conducive to all AND keep gas costs in mind. And of course, one with good coffee and wifi, yes??

This is gonna be so fun!!! (-_~)

~Mer/Viki

maybe borders, but i am not sure if they support wi-fi. starbucks shops are generally okay but smaller; it depends on how many people wanna meet up. i live in modesto and work in turlock... but i'd rather do meetings in modesto (that's the home base, after all).

Hi my name is Sinh (pronounced sin) and I'm a newbie. I think borders works. Queen Bean Coffee on 14th would be another good place. They open pretty late (10pm?) and have wifi and a nice outside area. I'd be up for a pre-nano meeting. Since you are the ML Viki, what time and day of the week works best for you? I'm pretty much free all day as I work graveyard but I'm not sure about everybody else here. Let me know how I can help. Right now I'm trying to spread the word to people I know online. Other than that, I'm just playing with my outline and working. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in person.
Sinatra

Hi Sinh!!

WELCOME!!

Thanks for the suggestions--I'm familiar with Queen Bean, and I know that most Starbucks have wifi--as does a new place called Paneras in Turlock...I'm not sure about Borders and Barnes and Noble, but I'm probably safe in assuming that they do too--I seem to see lots of people on their laptops in both bookstores.

I'm not sure how many people in our area have signed up for NaNo and just haven't found their way to the Regional threads yet--so I'm thrilled that you're already doing some PR. I am printing some flyers to post in the local library branches and colleges and I'm preparing a press release to send to the Modesto Bee.....good on you to already be getting the word out!!

--as for what days/evenings and times that work for me--I work in Stockton at a law library four days and week and don't get back home until 6:00 Tue-Fri........so any evening after 6:30 or so works for me and either day on the weekends....(I've let my family, friends, co-workers (even my boss) know that November is mine!!!)

Why don't all of us post what days we'd prefer, and we'll narrow it down from there. I'm thinking of a Kick-Off Party--I'm going to be out of town from the 17th till the 24th--so we could have it either day that weekend (25th/26th) or we could have it during the week.....even Friday, Oct 31st (and yes, that IS Halloween)....whatever works best for the rest of you!

I think there are other NaNo folks who live in outlying areas from Modesto (like me, I live in Patterson as of two weeks ago) but work and/or go to school in Modesto, so hopefully we can snag a few of them too. There are some fun ideas from The Office of Light and Letters for write-ins and meet-ups that I'd like to implement for all of us too.

Great to hear from you--can't wait to put names with faces at the meet-ups!

~Mer

~ Come on in, the water's fine.

~"Put 'em up! Put 'em uuuuup!"

~If you haven't grown up by the age of 50, you don't have to!

~Be kinder than necessary--use every day as if it was your last chance to make someone happy.

Sounds great! We will draw those local people in! "Put 'em up! Put 'em uuuuup!" Haha nice! Cowardly lion from Wizard of Oz?? One of my favs! I adore Judy Garland!

my schedule varies from week to week thanks to work (actually i work at borders in turlock, i think we just have t-mobile hotspot but you have to be signed for that with the provider) so i can't give you any set days. weekdays would need to be evenings for me no matter what since i have school in the mornings and afternoons.

if you set up a day now i should be able to tinker with my schedule. but it would need to be now.

Hello! I was looking through the Regions, and I didn't expect for Modesto to be listed!! That's awesome. :D

I don't know if I'll be able to meet up, but I'd love to chat with anyone in the region! :)