In general, I am about as far from being a reality TV fan as a person can get. I watch mostly the channels on history and science and my sci-fi movies of course and that is it. Ask me about the news and I can barely tell you a thing about what is going on in the world. But, this past month I broke out of my shell and headed up to LA to the convention center to see Geoff Notkin at Reality Rocks. It was a weekend long event about reality TV. There was a long list of celebrities in attendance, but only a few names even seemed familiar to me.
I work Saturdays so my wife and I headed up there on Sunday. Paul and his wife drove up also and that was fun. The four of us had not gotten together in a number of years. Sara and I arrived a few minute before it started and were standing outside the entrance as Geoff arrived to open up his booth.
Sara had talked to his staff when buying me some gifts over the last couple years. And Geoff had emailed her a few times. I think she was pretty excited to finally meet him. I was happy to be there too for I could see the crowd was not going to be very large and had hopes of actually getting to talk to him for a few minutes. Geoff being the gracious individual he is spent a few minute there outside with us. And it was actually more time then we had spoken in maybe five years.
The only time I ever see Geoff is at Tucson and there is just no way to have more then a hello and goodbye conversation there. He is doing important business and is working hard. And ever person at Tucson is an opportunity for him to be the Ambassador of Meteoritics. That’s really important for all of us in this small world of meteorites. So at Tucson we poke our heads in the door of his room and wave at him. I was already pretty thrilled to have had a five minute relaxed conversation outside the convention.
Sara and I headed to the table to get our wrist bands and then made our way into the event. Geoff’s booth was right next to the booth of Shorty and Hercules from Pit Boss. We got to pet Hercules and take some pictures of the two of them. Sara had fun talking to Shorty and got a couple autographs. But, we were there to see Geoff and he had a great booth. Kind of a combination Aerolite Meteorites and Meteorite Men booth.
He had brought a fine selection of meteorites to sell. Campos, Sikhote Alin, and material found on the TV show, T-shirts and just a vast variety of other fun stuff. I have some nice Vaca Muerta meteorites in my collection, but I found myself intrigued by his bottle of small fragments that I had watched he and Steve collect on the show. Sara fell in love with a piece of meteorite jewelry so we got those items from him. At the time we were the only ones standing around the booth. What a change from Tucson.
So other folks came by so we took a fast walk around the convention floor. There was not much activity. Actually the attendance was very small early on; though in a couple hours as we were leaving we passed a good number of people coming in. So, it may have gotten better later in the day. It was the first time this event has been held and that may be some of the reason that there was not yet a big crowd. After making a trip around the floor looking at the other booths we returned to Geoff’s. Paul and his wife were coming toward us and we had a cheery greeting. They checked in with Geoff and had some time talking to him. Geoff came over to chat between customers and fans. We caught us on family info in between chatting with Geoff. We found out what kids are doing what and whose graduated and whose still in school and all that good stuff. Our wives had not talked in a while. Paul and I kind of just stepped out and let them catch up.
Geoff was on a panel discussion on the stage a few feet from his booth at 11 am. We got nice seats at a table close by and listened to that. He was on with some very recognizable TV personalities. Among whom were auction show stars and the a hollywood treasure dealer and several storage unit warriors. Geoff gave a great presentation on the collectability of meteorites and the thrill of discovering the oldest stuff on Earth. Meteorites after all make any other antiques look brand new by comparison of their ages. The panel discussion lasted about an hour and we enjoyed it. We had gotten a good opportunity to talk to him, but then he took a break from his booth and we walked outside the building to a kind of open patio area. We all just stood and chatted for about an hour. What a treat. We heard some stories and told some stories. It was great to get to catch up a little and renew our friendship in person. We email and that is OK but it was just wonderful standing there laughing and talking. Of course all great things have to end and he was there to meet and greet his fans so we said good bye and headed home. My little bottle of Vaca Muerta is now connected forever in my memory to a great day of fun with some really fine friends.
Geoff was off the following weekend to the NEAT convention on the east coast. The third season will keep him running I’m sure later in the year. Next Tucson will be like years of the past. He is just one busy guy. But, we had a great opportunity to spend some time with him at Reality Rocks 2011.
