The Habari community has been discussing for some time an event at which we can all meet one another in person, work a little bit on Habari, help new users learn about our little project, and get to know one another better in a more social context. To that end, we're planning Habari Party 2009 to take place on Saturday, September 12 in lovely Columbus, Ohio. I've secured the Downtown Technology Center as a venue for us, and I'm looking forward to meeting some good friends for the first time. We plan to have Habari-specific discussions and activities in the morning and early afternoon, followed by dinner and drinks somewhere nearby.

We'd like to make this event open to the general public, but we're not entirely sure how to do that. So I'm looking for feedback from the broader blogging community. If you're not currently using Habari for your blog, what sort of events might encourage you to attend our little party? Would you like in-depth walkthroughs of Habari features? Would you like to see Habari installed and configured, with explanations of the process along the way? Would you like the opportunity to speak directly with Habari developers about the features you desperately want from a blogging platform?

If you're a developer, would you be interested in learning how Habari works under the hood? Would you like to discuss plugins and how to write them? Would you like to engage core Habari developers about those aspects of your current solution that are overly complex, in order to influence Habari's future development in your favor?

If you're a themer, what sorts of conversations would you like to have with the Habari community?

Habari is much more than just a blogging tool. It truly is a rich community of passionate users. I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know people in the Habari community, and I want very much to share that experience with others. Please leave a comment with suggestions for things that might entice you to attend Habari Party 2009, so that we can include you in our community!

At a party this weekend, I met That Guy. We've all met That Guy. You know the one. He walked into the party with a group of friends. His friends proceeded to the basement to get right to work playing Beer Pong, while he stayed upstairs with us in the kitchen. (Everyone knows that the kitchen is where the party really is.) That Guy announced to us that his friends were lame, that he was tired of them, and he was looking to hang out with us. We smiled politely as he introduced himself, and then shared a quiet laugh when That Guy promptly left the room to find something else to do.

Incidentally, we never did see That Guy's friends again. They stayed in the basement playing Beer Pong, and we stayed upstairs not playing Beer Pong.

Throughout the evening, That Guy would occasionally circle into our area, and try to engage someone -- usually one of the women in the room -- in some conversation. He was overly aggressive, and didn't take hints. He approached Andy and I and asked, conspiratorially, whether Dawn was seeing someone. He noted that Dawn had "the best personality" but didn't want to get ahead of himself if she wasn't available. I noticed almost immediately that while he was talking about Dawn, he was in fact pointing at Beth. I questioned him on this. As it turns out, he had gotten their names confused, and it was Beth about whom he had been speaking. "That's my wife," Andy said, with a hint of menace in his voice. That Guy quickly changed gears and begin inquiring about Dawn.

Dawn kept him at bay for awhile, so That Guy shifted his attention to Hannah. At first she was polite, though noncommittal toward his advances: she didn't jump into his arms, neither did she really push him away. I think she was hoping he would get bored and wander off on his own. Alas, that didn't happen. He stuck around, and continued to ask things like "Do you like what you see?" as he lifted his shirt to reveal his belly. Hannah firmly rebuffed him, but to no effect. After several iterations of this, Hannah finally announced loudly that she had no interest in him whatsoever, and that he needed to leave her alone. Several of us nearby overheard this exchange, and simply stared at That Guy as he stood there mute for several moments. Finally he left Hannah, and circled back toward Dawn. Things got slightly worse from there, and we ended up leaving soon after that.

I've always been terrified that I'll end up being That Guy. I've been terrified that I'm going to inadvertently piss off someone's husband or boyfriend, or that I won't pick up on what should be an obvious clue. As such, I've historically been the wallflower at parties, too timid to engage people even if I wasn't trying to flirt with them. After seeing just how badly That Guy behaved this weekend, though, I don't think I have anything to worry about.

I hosted a Halloween costume party last night, the theme of which was Dr. Horrible. I told the invitees that they needn't use a character actually seen in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but could instead make up their own villain that might be a member of the Evil League of Evil. All I can say is that I've got a great group of friends, and they really applied their creativity!

As usual, I waited until the last minute to prepare my own costume, and I was completely shown up by all my friends. I decided to introduce myself as "The Preserver", and had scattered a number of jars filled with various things like rubber fish bones, tiny skeletons, and giant glow-in-the-dark bugs. These were all well received by everyone. I had decided to announce that I had been Dr. Horrible's roommate in Evil Graduate School, and this earned a couple laughs, but there's no doubt that my costume was the weakest of the bunch.

Mike and Martina were first to arrive. Mike chose to dress as Captain Hammer, and Martina came as one of his groupies, complete with Mike's face on her shirt! Martina was asked several times through the evening if she "did the weird stuff", and every time it was met with a lot of laughter.

Amie and Duffy showed up next, dressed as The Tooth Fairy and The Intoxicator. Amie had a tool belt chock full of nasty tooth-removing equipment, and Duffy had his trusty bottle of vodka.

Next came Mike, Lauren and Jeff. Mike introduced himself as "Bolt!", and explaied that when trouble occurs, he's the first out the door.

Lauren was "Fraulein Fright", and when asked why she responded by shouting "Boo!". Jeff explained that he had suffered a horrible accident that fused him with an evil Magic 8-Ball.

Julie and Adam were next to come in. Julie was Captain Papercut, covered with bandaids and small scraps of paper! Adam was The Bluetooth Bandit, and was absolutely covered with cell phones!

Tom and Kelly joined us in a great couples' costume: since Kelly is due to deliver a baby in December, she was given permission forego the Dr. Horrible theme; she and Tom came as Juno and Bleaker from the movie Juno!

Finally, Mike showed up as the Evil League of Evil HR guy, complete with employee badge and a handful of resumes of would-be ELoE applicants! These were absolutely hysterical, and a terrific bit of detail to include in his costume.

We had an absolutely great time! The whole evening was filled with raucous laughter, jokes and smiles, and a real sense of friendship. I'm a lucky guy to have such clever, funny, and supportive friends. We drank a ton of beer, ate a lot of pizza, and thoroughly enjoyed a viewing of the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog. After this folks started to trickle away. I broke out the Zombie Fluxx, hoping to entice folks to stay, but it just didn't work. Amie, Duffy, Jeff and Mike did join me for two rounds of Zombie Fluxx, and it was reasonably fun, but it was also clear that Jeff and Amie were struggling to enjoy the game given the ever-changing rules. It didn't help that our first game was one of the most complex games I've ever played! I should probably have started the game earlier, to get more people playing in order to keep the silly vibe going.

You can see all the photos I took of the Horrible Halloween Party in my Flickr page.