From left: Tom Parker, Tim Garrett, Luke Lefler

So, remember how I blogged, yesterday, about the 98-person waiting list for a podcast meetup group in Portland, Oregon?

Funny story.

I thought it was odd that everyone on the waiting list had joined on the same day, September 24, 2008; the day before I became aware of the list.  Odd?  Yes.  Though not odd enough for me to investigate further.

It turns out that there had been a Portland podcasting meetup group on meetup.com.  As I learned last night, it was run for a short time by some folks at a local college.  It had about 98 members.  The group sat dormant on meetup.com for some time, possibly as much as two years.  Actually, the Portland Podcasting blog site has been dormant since October 1, 2006 (something I was aware of and had also not questioned).

Apparently meetup.com shuts down groups for which the service fee has lapsed and then automatically orphans the group’s members to a waiting list.

Imagine the odds.  I become aware of a 98-person waiting list for a podcasting group in Portland the day after the group of which they were all members shuts down.  Even more funny is imagining the people on that list getting a notice one day that their group has folded and then the next that some crazy Canadian has swooped in and is going to bring them all together.  I love how embarrassing that is for me.

All stories have a happy endind, though.  I had a great time at the Lucky Labrador brew pub last night with Tim Garrett, Tom Parker and Luke Lefler.  Besides discussing our own projects which include Tom’s video podcast about motorcycle racing (motobrief.tv), Luke’s podcasts of open mics and for a local art gallery (couldn’t find links) and Tim’s work at real, I learned a lot about video equipment and video editing.

I’m in Portland to meet with a client and deliver a presentation at a conference this weekend.  When I woke up this morning, I discovered and email from Andrea pointing out that there are 98 people on the Portland Podcasting waiting list.  So, I created the Portland Podcasting and New Media group on meetup.com this morning.

I have time tonight (September 25) and would like to get together with everyone and help you guys kick off your community.

I’m staying near the airport and don’t know the area very well. So, I’m counting on the Portland folks to help pick a mutually convenient location for tonight’s meetup. I put 7pm as the start time as a balance point between those with families and those without. I can meet earlier than that. Oh, and people who can’t arrive at 7pm can definitely arrive late.

Since there are 98 people on the waiting list, we need to find a place that can accommodate a large group. Let’s assume that we could get as many as 40 for this event. If we see that RSVP’s are coming in heavy on the Yes and that 40 won’t be enough, we can scout another location.

Let’s get this thing going!!! Tonight!!!