As suggested in the US Meet post I think it would be a little easier to just have local meets. With all of the new owners that might not have the technical knowhow (like me) and maybe don't have all of the equipment to get their players working effectively (like me again) I think it would be beneficial to anyone participating, not to mention the friends that could be made.

I am propsing a Dallas Meet, there are a few locations we could go...several new malls with large parking lots like Stonebriar or a movie theater parking lot. Any suggestions would help. I'm sure there would be people from other surrounding cities that might be interested. Please put your input on this post so I can see if this is a possibility.

Thanks,

Jeff

I live in Houston and would consider driving to Dallas for a meet if others were interested.

-Jeff

I live downtown, also Terminator lives up north I think, probably in Richardson.

Meeting anywhere off of 75 would be ideal (I'm still new to town).

g

I can travel up from Austin, just make it close to Grapevine so I can hit the Bass Pro Shops and make the drive even more worthwhile...

I'm in the Austin area too, and I'd have no problems going to Dallas (assuming whatever weekend is open for me...).

60 Gig Blue MK2a in Toyota 4Runner (soon!)

There are 5 (five) empeg owners (including a Mark 1) who all work together in Dallas at Ensemble. (2 miles south of the I-635/I-75 interchange). 3 or 4 of which might be interested in a meet.

I'm in the Houston area, and would be interested also.

I live right down the street from there!

I need some feedback from everyone as to what a good date and time would be to do this. I think the sooner the better and on a Saturday or Sunday.

Also what kind of activities need to be planned if any. And where everyone wants to meet. It will probably be up to the Dallas guys to suggest locations unless the austin & houston guys know dallas really well.

There are several good places i know of.

Stonebriar Mall parking lot.
Main Event in Plano
Showplace Lanes in Garland
Malibu Speedzone in Irving
Or any large Mall Parking Lot

Let me know if you want to do this or if you want to go to any of several bars around town and just liquor it up.

I am really looking forward to this, maybe I will be able to learn alot from everyone. Hopefully I won't look as stupid as i think i will .

I've been off the hard-jar for several years (beer during UT football, though), so I'd probably be a wet blanket at a bar.

A weekday afternoon/morning would be good for me. I save the evenings for the wife. And it's easier to see installation stuff during the day anyway.

Speaking of installations, there'll be no laughing over home-grown stereo installs. There's only so much you can do with a Roto-Zip on the balcony of an apartment complex. I don't believe in paying an installer several thousand dollars to do something nice and shiney that I could do myself (just not as pretty)., and still sound just as good.

Why don't we get a list of people who are interested and where they live ... maybe we can plot this on a map and find an ideal location for everyone.

I'm right in downtown Big-D, literally. I could walk to work if I weren't going to school, and felt like getting mugged.

Greg

I'm in Flower Mound. I'll come to wherever.

I live in Plano, with ANOTHER WRX. I'll come as long
as there is advance notice.

I'm horribly busy so I'd have to get some kind of advanced notice if I were going to make it, but this would be great. I don't drink, so I wouldn't be any fun at bars either. I'm not sure I if i will be able to make it, but I definately can't run up to Dallas on a Sunday, we would have to do Saturday. I hope it works out.

-Jeff

I'm in Austin also, a drive up will be a good excuse to go see Monolithic at Italy on the way!

I'm in Austin as well
sounds like we almost have them outnumbered
besides, austin is in CENTRAL texas heh

Jason
20GB mk2a in 2000 Viper (with cool little homemade Viper boot logo)

i'm south of san antonio... so i'd personally prefer an austin meet...

or here... i have "facilities" to host a meet ranging from parking for about 30-50 cars on a nice 30 acre plot on I-37... to parking for unlimited cars on over 650 acres with actual bathrooms, enclosed building in case of inclement weather (barn), etc. just off HWY 16 S in Poteet...
--
sancho
selfish

I'll be near Dallas for QuakeCon this hear, and thats August 15th to the 18th. I'll probably be going to Houston sometime either before or after that, and after seeing Austin last year, wouldn't mind stopping there.

You have to promise me the people there will drive properly on the highway though

just off HWY 16 S in Poteet...

Oh oh! This sounds good! On the highway to Choke Canyon Reservoir for big bass fishing and near Poteet for the Strawberry Festival!!! (April 12, 13, &14)

"You have to promise me the people there will drive properly on the highway though."

Uhh ... yeah Drakino ... we'll get right on that ;-)

g

Wherever we meet up, Dave you have to promise to bring the dog. I can't wait to meet him.

g

Oh boy, I actually have two dogs, and long car rides are not their strong point. Boomer (the pictured one) is cool with it, but Pepper can hardly handle a trip down the street without trying to take off out the window after anything that moves. Depending where it is, I'll have to see.
Boomer is my special buddy, he's got epilepsy and I have been through hell with him to get it managed. Lots of medication and he is one of the mellowest 125 pound black labs in the world now... Four years of 2x/day medication and a seizure every 4 months or so to keep life interesting so far...
See the attachment for one of my favorite photos of the two...

Yup, Boomer's the one. Probably don't remember but I asked about his status last summer. I'm glad that it comes for him as infrequently as it does these days.

Hope to see y'all!

g

Oh yeah, I completely forgot... Sorry 'bout that...
I'll make sure you get to meet up with the Boomdawg!

Well, I didn't expect such a large amount of interest. I was really wanting just a Dallas area owners meeting, but maybe I helped get the Austin and Houston owners a little interested.

Well let me ask this:
Would it be preferable to have separate meets? Likw one in Dallas/Forth Worth, one in Austin, and one in Houston...or One big Texas meet?

I would prefer one in Dallas but I am up for anything.

I'm willing to travel to Dallas or Houston, but Boomdawg would rather have it local to Austin...

I'd say one big Texas Sized meet, make things more interesting. I'm in Houston, but I could drive to Dallas or Austin for the meet.

In reply to:

---

just off HWY 16 S in Poteet...

Oh oh! This sounds good! On the highway to Choke Canyon Reservoir for big bass fishing and near Poteet for the Strawberry Festival!!! (April 12, 13, &14)

---

we'll be barbecuing and such out here anyways around the time of the strawberry festival... and we're just a couple miles from the grounds...
--
sancho

Do dogs take the same medications that humans do for epilepsy? Isn't that very expensive?

Calvin

Do dogs take the same medications that humans do for epilepsy? Isn't that very expensive?

Yes the meds are the same and from the same pharmacies. Phenobarbitol (Pb) is the first line of treatment, which is what is commonly used in humans, but if the seizures can't be controlled effectively, they add Potassium Bromide (KBr) to the mix. KBr used to be the sole medication for treatment of humans before Pb was discovered/created. KBr has a narrow range of effectiveness vs toxicity, so they don't use it in humans much if at all anymore.
Boomer is on both, and there are side effects, hind-quarter weakness and possible liver damage are the two main ones. The meds are about $80 for 3 months worth, vet bills were outrageous when it first set in, but he's worth it to me... Liver screens are required to make sure liver damage isn't occurring due to the Pb. that's a bit expensive, but are only once a year. I keep a journal and links (which are rather outdated at this point in time) of the ordeal. I am going to move my website and update it all someday.... BTW last seizure was last Thursday night, hopefully it's not until July for the next one, I would prefer never, but it beats the 4 week intervals we used to be on... (Sorry this is so off topic now)

Maybe we should take a vote to see where the most popular location would be I will end the poll on Friday and we will go from there:

Well I vote for a Dallas based meet.

My gf's dog has epilepsy as well. He's on phenolbarb as well... So far, so good. Only problem is he is now 17 years old and on senility medicine (Anipril) as well as having to have 100cc's of fluid injected (by me) every 2 days. Kidneys are starting to shut down. He's currently on 2 other meds for a bronchial infection as well as valium, as this helps /w the seizures. As he gets older, the seizures are getting more frequent and they last longer. Danna freaked out last week because he siezed, then wasn't able to walk for like 4 hours. Ahh, the things you do for those little guys...

See the attachment for a mug shot.

My dog has a $1000 a week heroin habit. I'm gonna have to start cracking down on him though cause lately he's been sharing needles with the neighbor's cat.

Hey, look everyone, here's Funny's cousin, Not Funny.

Sorry about being a smart[censored], but I just got a bit ticked off right there.

Oh, to try to make the post semi-on-topic. I don't mind traveling to either Austin or Dallas for the meet.

Actually, I thought that was pretty funny. Poor taste, perhaps, but pretty funny regardless.

I thought it was an absolutely ridiculous comment, which has lowered the tone of the entire BBS.

I mean - a dog has no opposable thumb, so how the hell it is supposed to shoot up?

Everyone knows dogs prefer to snort coke.

Rob

PS I can't make the Dallas meet

Well, I try to find humor in most all situations, and I thought Rob's comment was funnier, but I find that one of them (not Boomer) like the green stuff better, not that I do that anymore... much.. on days that end in "y"

Anyways, I wouldn't wish this on anyone (or their dog/cat/snake/ferret/bees/etc). It's a drag, but like lectric said, the things we do for these little guys, or in Boomer's case, BIG guy.(Cool mugshot too lectric!) Unconditional love is what they give you, no matter what the case. The vets office has a sign that reads:
The highlight of my day is coming home to my dog.
And it's true!

As for a Texas meet, I'll travel anywhere in the great Republic of Texas, just depends on the date...

I was kinda wondering how we got on the subject of geriatric dogs on dope. Kind of strange to me that we would be discussing this in a forum about In dash car MP3 players!
heh oh well.

Would March 9th -10th be too soon maybe just the dallas guys can get together somewhere and swap ideas. Maybe meet somewhere close to the intersection of 635 and 75. I have that whole weekend off and I would like to do this sooner than later.
How about the Best Buy Parking lot in between Park Ln and Walnut Hill? That has a huge parking lot there and it is pretty much in the middle of town for most people.
If the majority of you like this idea then we just need a suggestion on a time to do it. And whether Saturday or Sunday would be better.

How do dogs respond to needles? Do they harbor resentment at being poked?

Calvin

Flower Mound, huh? We are neighbors. I am in Lewisville. I am willing to go where ever as well.

Personally, I am a little surprised that there are as many of us in the Dallas area as there are. I thought I was one of like only two or three in the DFW area. Guess thats what I get for thinking..

As for a state wide meet or a local DFW one, I would almost prefer a state wide one. Oh sure, a local meet would be the easy way out but I would kinda like to get the hell out of dodge for a day and put some faces to the rest of these names. If we opt for a state wide meet, Austin would be central to us all (sorry El Paso!) but like I said, I dont care where. I would prefer a nice warm sunny spring day.

Austin would be central to us all (sorry El Paso!)

El Paso (western end of the RoT) and Orange (eastern end of the RoT) are both about 10 hours from Austin, so it is central...

I can't make March 9/10, I'll be down past the aforementioned Poteet on Choke Canyon Res. doing some fishing that weekend and the weekend after as well...

I know 3, maybe 4 of the empeg owners at Ensemble (just south of the I-635/I-75 contruction, north of Narthpark mall) would probably go to a meet. My only problem is that I don't have my car yet to install the Empeg into. (It's undergoing epa/dot conversion to become legal in the US). If the meet is on a weekday, I'm sure we would vote for something close to the office.

Yea, those M5 wagons are tough to get into the country, huh?

In reply to:

---

Yea, those M5 wagons are tough to get into the country, huh?

---

Yea... It seems I have to deal with multiple government agencies.. all of which have wonderful customer service records and fast turn-around times. <inset manical laughter here> It's actualy not so tough as it is a long gruling endurance thing....

I guess that's the price I pay for wanting a 375 HP Station Wagon. Well I've got patience....

As for where, I'm for Austin, Dallas or Houston as I live in Austin, have a brother in Dallas, and have good friends in Houston my wife and I keep promising to visit!

As for when, I happen to be going to Dallas for my afformentioned brother's birthday party March 10-11! After that, my schedule currently looks clear for Mar 30-31, April 6-7 & 27-28 and May 18-19. Beyond that, I'll have to check.

Otherwise, the major problem I have is that I still don't have my empeg installed! Income tax ate up all my money I was planning to spend (and SO much more!) on the headunit I picked out (Pioneer DEH-P7400MP or something similar, though I'd love a Clarion VRX925VD!!). Oh, well...

Well it seems to me that we have some interest, and a lot of information being randomly passed around.

First things first. Lets decide on if this is a Dallas area meet or statewide. It is appearing to me that there is enough interest in a statewide meet, Austin and Houston have a few 'EmpHeads' that want to meet too. I see no problem.. anyone disagree?

We still need a location and a date. As I see it, we can approach this a couple of different ways.. it started out as a Dallas area idea - we could run with that and ask our Houston and Austin (and anyone else) to join us. We would need someone in DFW to take the lead and come up with a place thats easy for our out of towners to find.

Another way to approach this would be to make it an official state wide meet and pick something like Austin, central to most all of us. We would still need someone (in Austin?) to spearhead and find a place.

Or another way is pick any old city and rotate the location between the three big cities.. one summer here in Dallas, next time in Houston, etc..

In any event, we are at the point where we need to decide. Are we going to do this or not.. its time to S or get off the pot.



The rest will fall in to place

Austin, being the most central of the major Texas cities, would probably be ideal. The longest drive is Dallas -> Houston, so we'd be helping people out by avoiding that.

However, just to toss out a random date, I'll be in Dallas to see my parents on March 28-30, then it's back home to Houston. So, if you guys want to plan something in Dallas, how about trying to do it then?

I started the post, so unless anyone has any problem I will volunteer to take the lead on this.

"Or another way is pick any old city and rotate the location between the three big cities.. one summer here in Dallas, next time in Houston, etc.. "

That is a good idea!
I say the first one will be in Dallas and then every 4 months or so we rotate large cities in Texas (mebbe a few cajuns could join in).

Like I have said before there are several locations in Dallas to meet.
We need someone from Houston that knows Dallas to Maybe tell me what big locations they know of that would be good for a meet.

My email is:
jeff@jakobstone.com

We need someone from Houston that knows Dallas to Maybe tell me what big locations they know of that would be good for a meet.

I guess that would be me.

We need somewhere that has a restaurant we can all meet at for lunch maybe in a back room, and that has plenty of parking lot outside. I mostly know North Dallas / Addison / Richardson, so other folks should feel free to chime in about elsewhere that might work.

Possibilities:

- Blue Mesa Grill - several locations, but the one that I know is at Belt Line and the Tollway (in the old Sakowitz Village shopping center). I seem to recall that they've got a back room that we could take over.

- Purdy's Hamburgers - 4812 Belt Line in Addison - a generic upscale burger joint (if we want something fancier, there's a Mr. Sushi right next door that's pretty good). Neither place has a back room. The Fudrucker's on the corner of Belt Line and the Tollway might have a back room, but it's got underground parking which could be a problem if people have thumpin' stereos they want to show off.

Nothing else is immediately coming to mind. Of course, there are all the generic chain restaurants (e.g., Chili's) scattered throughout the city. Any of those places, on a weekend, would have all the space we'd need.

(Thinking out loud: do you suppose, if we couldn't get any of the Cambridge crew out for a visit, that we could get them to send goodies to give away, as they've done at past owners' meets?)

I will call all of those joints today to see which ones have a back room and what time and date we could possibly get them.
I have a question, How would I go about getting stuff to give Away at this meet? I am more than willing to ask whomever I need to but I haven't got a clue where to start. And what are we looking for to give out?

Sorry, at Woodside we had two marketing people (and the CTO) present and they brought along the give aways. It was on the Rio Car marketing budget, which no longer exists.

Rob

I'm just curious, what kind of stuff did you give away?

I've got a stack of ARM Powered stickers if anyone wants some...
Though I will not officially (or unofficially) represent ARM in any way, shape or form...

Here's a list of some of the stuff. That thread also gives some good examples (pictures too) of other stuff that went on.

Cheers,
Tim

A restaurant for lunch is a good idea. But I do think that a parking lot where we can show off is a must. I want to see what the rest of you have. I am not the audiophile that a lot of you are so I want to see what one of our players can do in a real setup. Just the thought of my plugging in my unit in one of your cars and hearing something that I am familiar with on real speakers, etc makes the meet worth it to me.

Anytime, anyplace.. count me in.

I called the two restraunts that DWallach Suggested and here is what I found out:

To get the room we need a minimum of 30 people in the party. Friday nights and Saturday nights After 5:00 P.M. it costs $50.00 to have the room.
Blue mesa lunch menu:
http://www.bluemesagrill.com/articles.html?mcat=4
Blue Mesa Dinner Menu:
http://www.bluemesagrill.com/articles.html?mcat=9

Purdy's does not have a back Room but they will reserve tables and it's free they just need advance notice and a head count.
Purdy's lunch Menu:
http://www.purdystexas.com/lunch.html
Purdy's Dinner Menu:
http://www.purdystexas.com/dinner.html

These are good places to eat and There are several Large parking lots in the area to just BS about our CarPlayers.

If no other Dallas folks serve up an alternate proposal, I'd say we should go for the back room at Blue Mesa. If we shoot for lunch on a Saturday, then the restaurant will be (hopefully) relatively empty and we won't have to pay for anything. We'd want to ask the empeg guys to e-mail all of their Texas/Oklahoma/Louisiana/Arkansas customers, which could well get us a decent turn-out.

I was at the Woodside meeting (thanks to a convenient business trip), and it would be fun to try to do something similar. If we can't get any official reps from SonicBlue to make an appearance, then perhaps they might trust some of us to do the honors. In particular, it would be cool to have an HSX-109 around to show off. And, if nothing else, maybe we can get a batch of Rio t-shirts or other random goodies they've got sitting in a closet somewhere. Rob's reading this message. Maybe he'll contact one of the organizers (e.g., jakobstone) and ship out a box 'o toys. Or maybe not.

As I recall, the give-aways last time were a Rio 800 (portable) for the winner of the trivia contest, and a whole lot of t-shirts, polo shirts, and other assorted logo-covered paraphenalia. There were also prizes for RioCar installs, with people wandering from car to car, listening and eventually voting on scraps of paper.

I am from Oklahoma City and I would be excited about a Dallas meet. Assuming my car install is done by then.

I have been out of town for a couple of weeks and just saw the post. I live in Houston and am the happy owner of three Empegs. I will be happy to go anywhere in Texas for a meet. I just need to know when the definite schedule will be.

I have not seen any new posts on this in a few days. Has this meet already happened?