It's NET Gathering eve

It's Saturday night and with luck, by this time tomorrow, most of us will be at Camp Winnebago in Maine, settling in, getting to know each other and negotiating over who gets to sleep in which bunk bed.

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Curt Holman and I'm a staff writer for the alt-weekly newspaper Creative Loafing Atlanta, and I also keep a Livejournal blog (see below). During the retreat I'll be writing blog posts, interviewing people, sitting in on meetings, taking notes, summing things up and generally acting as a kind of "recording secretary" for the event. I've never been as far north as Maine, nor did I ever go to summer camp, so I'm excited about the retreat.

The day Mark contacted me about attending the event, Atlanta was at the tail end of a heat wave of 100+ degrees days. The weather in Maine promises to be a little different. According to Weather Underground’s web site for Fayette, Maine, the forecast is:

Sunday: High of 76 degrees, low of 51 degrees (Sunny)
Monday: High of 81 degrees, low of 54 degrees (30 percent chance of rain)
Tuesday: High of 71 degrees, low of 46 degrees (Partly cloudy)

So in addition to cool weather clothes and sleeping bags, you might want to bring a rain poncho, just in case. I've been advised to bring bug repellent to the woods of Maine, but have also been told that the worst time for insects is in May.

Anyway, to everyone who's traveling tomorrow, I wish you best of luck, arrive early to the airport and bring something good to read. I look forward to meeting you all face-to-face.

By the way, if any of you has suggestions for things to bring on woodland camping trips (in Maine or otherwise), or, for that matter, for things that are handy to have when NET members get-together, be sure to mention it in a comment on this post.

Added later:
The Creative Loafing URL is
Atlanta.creativeloafing.com
(or Google Creative Loafing Atlanta)
and my Livejournal blog is
curt-holman.livejournal.com
(Or Google "Loud, Honking Dignity")