Meetup across groups

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR OB LOCATION: please do NOT use the Meetup site's map, it is WRONG! The place where we meet is *IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN* and therefore cannot possibly have an address, but the stupid Meetup site asks for an address and generates its bogus map based on that. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it (other than move away from this Meetup site altogether), so please just bear with us.

Here are the directions for getting to our meetup:

1. First and above all, totally disregard the map, directions and "address" provided by this stupid Meetup site. If you can't help it, try printing it out, then shred and burn it -- maybe that'll help.

2. Go to www.mapquest.com (it's the only map site which I know for sure shows the OB Pier, don't use other sites like Yahoo maps). Type "Ocean Beach" in the city field and "CA" in the state field. Leave the address field blank. Hit the Search button.

3. You will see a map of San Diego with a red star somewhere on the coast line. Zoom in to the street level.

4. Once you are looking at Mapquest's map of Ocean Beach at the street level, look at the land-water boundary. Somewhere in there you should see a long T-shaped thingie that juts out into the ocean. That's the Ocean Beach Municipal Fishing Pier, and that's where we meet.

5. If you are driving, you can park on pretty much any of those little streets you see on the map. It's all free parking, just drive around a little bit until you find an unoccupied spot. If you ride public transit, take San Diego bus 35.

6. Whether you drive or take the bus, to get to our actual meeting location, you have to walk on the pier. They don't allow vehicles on the pier for obvious reasons. Remember that T-shaped thingie on the map, the one that juts out into the ocean? Well, get on it and walk on it, walking from the land out into the ocean. It isn't too hard or scary, you can handle it.

7. As you walk down the pier, you will eventually see a big sign that reads "Ocean Beach Pier Cafe". Immediately behind this sign you will find public restrooms, and right behind those there will be a bait shop. That's where the exopolitics meetup is.

I truly sincerely apologize for the complicated directions, but the place is really awesome, and I think it's worth the trouble of foregoing Meetup-generated maps and addresses and following old-fashioned directions instead.

If my directions still aren't clear, please call me on my cellphone: [masked], and I'll be happy to guide you to our location from pretty much anywhere in Southern California.