# A few AGA comments



## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

...oh, don't mind my rambling. There is no logical order here  

AGA is over and I am now starting to recover. It was an all out event to say the least! I was really nice to put a face behind many of the people I met. there sure are some really cool people in the hobby. Without naming anyone specifically (since there are so many that helped), I want to say big thank you to all the ''behind the scenes" people for all of your hard work!!!

All the freebies and discounted items really made for a nice carepackage to take home....how I loved when the airport security had to open up my suitcases cause they saw more than a dozen cylinderical things in my suitecase :lol: ..all them free ferts. 

...and plants...now I got to find room for the new goodies in the tanks with no room


Also wanted to say thanks again to Shawn for him and his family hosting me on my homeless night! Quite a treat to sleep in the "tank room" 

can't wait to save up for the next AGA!!! Hopefully it is a wee bit closer to me 

...on a side note, one bad thing did come out of the AGA meeting. I had the misses take care of the tanks.....feed the fish and top of the nano from evaporation ...well...it seams that she didn't find my normal bottle for top off (treated water I keep for this purpose)....Seems that the nano turned into an 8-10% solution of Seachem Excel!!!!!!!!!
:shock: All the shrimp and snales are obviously dead....lets hope the plants survive!!!!.....about a dozen water changes later 


oh, and thanks to all the comments about my tanks


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

For those that did not attend, Gomer has very nice tanks and is a nice guy. 

regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Thanks Tom. You aren't so bad yourself  what is the name of the algae again LOL I told you I would forget


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## ElizaH2O (Nov 16, 2004)

It was nice to meet both of you. 

Sorry to hear about your nano tank, Gomer.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

LOL Gomer.... You actually carried ferts on the plane?? I can't imagine why they checked that.... :wink:


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Definetly nice tanks Gomer! Congratulations. It was great meeting all of you.

Giancarlo


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

JanS said:


> LOL Gomer.... You actually carried ferts on the plane?? I can't imagine why they checked that.... :wink:


Isn't nitrogen an ingredient used in bombs?


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

I was packing liquid ferts. There is no bomb issues there at all. What you are confusing it with is a mixture of diesel fuel and Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3).


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Gomer said:


> I was packing liquid ferts. There is no bomb issues there at all. What you are confusing it with is a mixture of diesel fuel and Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3).


They even watch for the liquid stuff if it has the right ingredients.
Trust me, I know about the ANFO mixture in my field of work. I have to be extremely careful in airports in case I have any traces on my shoes or clothes..... :shock:


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

KNO3 is also the main ingredent in model rocket propellent, not sure about the others. Plus, it makes you feel bad if you inhale some of the dust when you are sealing hte bag up


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## C_perugiae (Feb 26, 2004)

I had a ton of fun... I've been to marine conventions, but never a plant one. It was more enjoyable hearing stuff that directly affects my part of the hobby for once (I'm not much of a salt person). Maybe next year I'll be more vocal and actually introduce myself to more than a couple people.

You brought ferts on the plane?! I was afraid to buy plants or get the freebie ferts because I thought they wouldn't let me have them. Oh well... Vincent says he's gonna send me a bunch of cool stuff, anyway.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

And you didn't introduce yourself to me? ..I'm hurt....or did I forget that you introduced yourself :lol:


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## C_perugiae (Feb 26, 2004)

You might've seen me hanging around, but I didn't really talk to anyone except Diana Walsted and Tom Barr. I kinda regret that I didn't say hi to more people, but it seemed like everyone had their groups that they hung out with; I didn't want to intrude. 
-Sarah


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## Robert B (May 25, 2004)

I felt the exact same way. It seemed that if you were not part of the good ole boy group than no one really wanted to talk to you. I tried to introduce myself to a couple people and they seemed pretty uninterested to talk so I gave up early but on the other hand I meet some really nice people too. Next time I will make more of an effort to meet people.

Robert. (bobo31)


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

If anyone felt shunned by the GWAPA folks please understand we were running around like chipmunks on crack to make sure everything ran smoothly. We are a friendly bunch and want to chat and make friends. Heck I even let some deadbeat californian sleep in my fish room Sunday night. :wink: I still think my plant inventory looks a little light since then.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Just to chime in...I've never worked so hard and yet had so much fun while doing so. Yeah, I missed all the speakers presentations but Amano's, but I'll catch the dvd and use email to ask questions. I met so many people it became a blur after a while. Normally I am content at an event such as this to be a wallflower but something compelled me to walk into group and introduce myself. Not once did I feel like I was intruder either, which is pretty darn odd for me. By my reckoning there were upwards of 30 APC folks there. Yet the group picture only has about 12. Next time we'll need to organize that better. 

One of the reasons is most of us had never met and since we mostly use nicks instead of our names we had no idea of who is who. A few of us wrote our nicks on the badges and that helped a little. And some one said they used the avatars to ID some folks. Maybe it is time to put some faces behind the names, an idea was floated in chat about setting up a facebook. A poll would be in order to see if there would be interest. 

Saving for 05 AGA, don't want to miss that, where ever it may be.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Just thought I'd share a small excerpt from a GWAPA (Greater Washinton Aquatic Plant Association) email that was just sent out.


"I've been to a lot of conferences around
the world - Poland, Moscow, Japan and this
is the best one I've been to." 
- Takashi Amano

:shock:


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## ElizaH2O (Nov 16, 2004)

> Just thought I'd share a small excerpt from a GWAPA (Greater Washinton Aquatic Plant Association) email that was just sent out.


Wow! Did he say what about it made it better? I thought it was excellent, but as my first one I had nothing to compare it to. Although I've gone to several Master Gardening symposiums and it was on the same level as those or better.

I went to the convention not knowing anyone at all. I knew who certain people were, especially if I had read their books or talked to them on forums, but I didn't know anyone well enough for them to also recognize me. Plus, some well known people I didn't know at all... I sat at lunch Friday with Oliver Knott and the Senske brothers and only figured out mid-conversation that they were convention speakers. Oh well... I'm a newbie!  I talked to a lot of people and found everyone delightfully friendly and helpful. Of course, I did try to talk to people when they weren't running around like chipmunks on crack. Some of them I never saw when they weren't in that aggravated state, so I steered clear and just appreciated the effort they were making.

I was also staying with friends and the hour and a half commute in the morning and hour back in the evening was not great. Next time I am definitely shelling out the money for a hotel room. If I wanted to manage even the 3-4 hours of sleep I was getting I had to leave shortly after the last event and missed out on the hospitality suite discussions. Seemed like a great way to meet people.

Eliza Holcombe


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