Met up with a number of Copenhagen bloggers at a sushi bar. Geek Dinner, in the tradition of Hugh McLeod, the New York blogger and cartoonist. Hugh has put up a wiki – [The Hugh Page](http://thehughpage.com/):
> to give **bloggers** a place where they can **centrally collate** their **links** for whatever reason: Work, jobs, love, sex, networking, friendship, apartments, furniture, cars, **arranging geek dinners** etc etc.
One Copenhagen blogger, Henriette, arranged a geek dinner. [Here is its page](http://thehughpage.com/Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner), so that you can see how agile the form is.
Had some fine vegetarian sushi and some engaged discussion on dynamic programming languages.
The waiter kept calling everything vegetarian. Vegetarian coffee?
In the room with a group of 25 rather loud meetup people were also two other people. I recognized the woman at that table, and went over and chatted a bit. It was Anna, the Lund commuter, with whom I was train buddies when I did the Lund-Copenhagen commute. Her man was there, an Axapta specialist (Danish proprietary ERP system, with good money in it for specialists – a system with its own language) whose office had been relocated to Brøndby. Anna’s still working in Lund. They plan a move to Malmö. Nice bumping into them. Serendipitous.
The evening meant I got to meet and talk to the people I read. Web ninja Anders Pollas, pragmatic hacker Christian Dalager, blog advisor Jacob Bøtter, magazine editor and old hand at “misc programming” Line Ho Young Kjær, new media consultant Henriette Weber Andersen and her longhaired programmer man Thomas Kristiansen. Jon Froda came just in time for the food, fresh from evangelizing blogs and social software. Didn’t get a chance to chat with the blogging sysadmin Daen. Seemed like a nice guy.
My buddies Peter Brodersen and Mike Ditlevsen were on the participants list, but I noted that just an hour before the event took place. Talking with Mike, and professing my friendship in a sincere and heartfelt manner, was a good experience. I was on table water, as well, taking a smart route, as I wanted to be able to talk to everyone. Still, me and Mike were best buddies.
The evening ended at Line’s apartment, with around 15 people (out of an original 20+ of us, that is good cohesion), after a lightning decision after a local bar was too full and smoky.
I’m pleased it turned out so well. [Geek Dinner Copenhagen 2.0](http://thehughpage.com/Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner_2.0) is already in the making. The wiki works its magic, and a venue will be found. I think I’m gonna post a requirements list for the venue now. I’m making Luisa join us next time — everyone was asking about her, and urged me to bring her next time.
**Related:** My friend Tobin Harris is leading the attempt at making a meetup called [Leeds on Rails](http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/Leeds+On+Rails) in the UK. Good on him!
**Update:** On a sour note, there appears to have been [some disorganization](http://thehughpage.com/Talk:Copenhagen_%28_Denmark%29_Geek_Dinner_2.0#We-could-do-betters) in the money-handling, as the money bundle was 1500 DKK short of the bill for drinks. “Next time, individual drinks orders.” I hope my mineral water (instead of alcohol) was included in the cover fee.
I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you too, Olle – the dynamic programming discussion sounds interesting. I used to program in polyFORTH, back in the mid 80s, so it would have been interesting to hear your perspectives. See you at the next dinner, if not before! — D.
Hey Olle,
Thanks for a nice evening:)
/Line
Thanks Olle for the run through. I am looking forward to the next event:) It seems from my perspective and (multiple flickr accounts) that the “group momentum” was deduced from its diversity as well as plenty of Sapporo:))