[Al C.risafulli]

I was there, and I did have pizza. Barry's timeline is correct, it was a Net54 thread that I think happened on Thanksgiving Day of 2007 that precipitated the whole thing, and I seem to remember it being really cold outside, so it was likely that winter.

I had a lovely conversation with Barry, who it was a pleasure to meet in person for the very first time (leading off with "I don't like the Beatles" is probably not the best way to make a first impression). I also recall having a chat with Keith, who is a fascinating guy and a pleasure to talk to each of the handful of times I've been fortunate enough to be in his company. Michael Sarno was also there, it was the first time I'd met him and he's turned into a good pal over the years.

If I recall, not only was the meeting not secret, it was pretty widely discussed on the boards. I don't remember how I wound up at the meeting, but I remember being flattered to have been included. Jim was trying to figure out a way to get the bad cards out of the hobby, and while his intentions were good, I remember leaving the meeting thinking that it wasn't going to be possible to fix this from within, because every collector's idea of which people are ethical, and every collector's idea of what was ok to do to a card, was filled with shades of gray.

Aside from getting to be in the esteemed company of Barry and Keith, and meeting a guy (Michael) who turned out to be a longtime friend, as you can see from where we are today, we unfortunately accomplished zero.

-Al