An unsuspecting Big Apple played host to a Galactic Watercooler Fall Meet-up on Thursday, October twenty-ninth, and while Snake Plissken was a no-show, the I and the other attending NYC Crüemembers had no trouble making our way across Manhattan’s fashionable West Side. And as usual… making our own fun, too.

We kicked off stage one of the meetup morning, as I met up with GWCers ATGreat, Raemani and we made our way by (still no GWC private jet) trains and automobiles into the city. After arrivals at Grand Central and Penn stations, we met up at Times Square and obliviously blocked the sidewalk for some time to chat, laugh, and catch up. After tweeting the news of our initial success, we set off up Broadway in search of a spot to sit and snack. ATGreat’s sense of direction knows no equal, and he navigated the city flawlessly. We arrived at Pax Foods, which fit the bill nicely. The conversation was, predictably, heavy with BSG, sci-fi, technology, life, the universe, and con stories (with Raemani clearly winner on that subject).

Noon (and stage two) quickly approached, and with that we left to meet the rest of the gang at a nearby corner.

Soon from the bustling sidewalk hordes emerged familiar faces: StevieSpin, Yorick, and Frakkintalos. Along with them, someone new: GWC producer Solai, whom I hadn’t yet met! Handshakes and hugs ensued. Within moments we were chatting it up on a myriad of topics. Speaking with Yorick about the Ares I-X and getting his thoughts on the recent launch was, as you might expect, amazing. Also amazing: hearing Solai’s voice (which I knew well from his multiple call-in appearances on various GWC podcasts) coming out of an actual face!

After more catching up we moved out to grab some lunch. Solai announced that we had an important task to complete beforehand, and with that our group swiftly made its way to an impromptu recording studio — the entrance foyer of a nearby Wachovia Bank — so he could call in to the GWC studio. In the relative quiet provided by heavy glass doors and somewhat stunned ATM customers, we passed the phone around for a quick hello to Chuck and Sean, who’d just finished recording a killer (and secret) interview for this week’s discussion of Contact. Mission thus accomplished, we set off for the deli, grabbed some bag lunches, and made a beeline across Columbus Circle for Central Park.

This was my first time in the park, and it rocked! To walk instantly from crowded big city sidewalks packed with towering skyscrapers to a grassy field strewn with paths, trees, sunshine and quiet felt surreal. We hiked a short way in and found a picnic table in the sheltered lee of a huge glacial boulder. Unpacking our lunches, the conversations began anew: Watercooler, The Guild, Star Trek, BSG, Glee, SGU, Firefly, The Plan, Twitter, blogging, Halloween (the holiday, in this case) — typical geek heaven. A bit of people and pet watching, Stevie’s search for the soft drink vendor craftily hidden in plain sight, and more animated conversation wrapped up lunch.

Several of our party had to return to work in the city, and we resignedly walked back to the edge of the park. Along the way, Talos got his Shatner on, and we enlisted a couple of friendly passersby to take some group photos. We passed and juggled cameras and cellphones, shutters clicked, and then it was time to say goodbye (until next time) to Talos, Solai, and Yorick.

Stevie walked AT, Rae, and me northwards down a sun-speckled path along the west side of the park, pointing out a few landmark areas as we went. We strolled underneath bleachers under construction for the upcoming marathon, through a tunnel swathed in red fabric, and passed by John Lennon’s Strawberry Fields. Fall in Central Park is beautiful, and the changing leaves and lush vegetation seem to leap out to the eye, a colorful living foreground contrasting the towering gray skyscrapers that rise like angular mountains from behind the distant tree lines. I can’t wait to see Central Park again.

Soon it was time to say goodbye to Stevie as well, near our final destination: the Museum of Natural History. If you’ve ever visited a world-class museum, you’ll know what the next several hours were like, looking everywhere at once, marveling at the incredible displays of humanity’s history, culture, and the animal kingdom’s incredible, infinite diversity, and wishing aloud repeatedly that there was more time to see it all. More than once we lamented that Audra wasn’t with us, recognizing how much she’d enjoy the exhibits. And, true to our roots, we also attended a showing of the Hayden Planetarium’s new Journey Through Space show, which quite literally made me gasp during the opening sequence as thousands of stars sped across the domed screen above our heads.

Afterward we explored the space wing of the museum, slowly walking along an elevated curving pathway that depicted the expanse of billions of years of time from the big bang until now, reading the placards, noting the diagrams and pictures, and feeling (at least in a cosmic sense) very, very small. All too soon five o’clock arrived and the museum closed. With the now-patented GWC reluctance to say goodbye, we stood in a hallway adjoining the great entrance hall, talking, recapping the day’s events, and setting the stage for the next meet-up. We then made way to our respective trains, and headed home. Chalk it up as another very successful GWC meet-up!

(thanks to Raemanai, Solai, Stevie, and ATGreat for the use of their great photos!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 5:29 pm and is filed under GWC Meetups. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.