So there I was, a lone drop of testosterone floating in a sea of estrogen …

Here’s how I know that I’m really gung-ho about this whole blogging thing (you know, aside from the fact that I have essentially given up sleep in order to maintain this site):

On Saturday, Wonder Woman, the Wonder Twins and I drove 30 miles to the house of a woman I’d never met in order to hang out with her and a bunch of other women I’d never met, and their families. To say that doing such a thing is out of character for me would be to redefine the term “understatement.”

So why, pray tell, did I do this? Because the women in question were gathering under the auspices of a Boston-area BlogHer meet-up—you know, “BlogHer: The community for women who blog.” Makes perfect sense … except for the part about me having a penis and all.

James Brown once sang “It’s a man’s world” … and perhaps there is some truth to that … but here is another truth: when it comes to parenting blogs, it’s a woman’s Internet. I have accepted that truth, and that acceptance has led me to believe that BlogHer currently is the best place a “daddy blogger” like myself can network with other parenting bloggers. (And, yes, I know about Dad-Blogs.com; I was one of the first members. Those guys are doing a great job, and I hope that one day they become a mighty force to be reckoned with, but you see that advertisement over there on the right? The one with the BlogHer logo above it? Dad-Blogs.com doesn’t have that kind of juice yet, nor do they have the kind of juice it takes to hold a sold-out conference in Chicago, which BlogHer is doing next month, and, damn, I wish I could be there, but I can’t … which is why I settled for hitting last Saturday’s Boston-area BlogHer meet-up instead.)

When I first told Wonder Woman about the meet-up, and asked her if she’d be up for going, she didn’t hesitate to say “Yes,” because never in all of our years together have I ever asked her to do anything of the sort; normally, attending a family-friendly gathering of total strangers would be right up there on my “to-do” list with stun-gunning myself in the balls. And yet, upon learning of the BlogHer meet-up, I felt no apprehension whatsoever—which was all the indication she and I needed that it was the right thing to do.

From the moment we arrived, Wonder Woman (who, god love her, actually wrote “Wonder Woman” on her name tag) spent a fair amount of time explaining to people who approached her that, no, actually, she wasn’t the blogger; her husband was. This was met with only moderately less surprise than if she had said she was married to a platypus.

And yet, despite the fact that I was a one-man minority, I thoroughly enjoyed talking all things blog with my female peers.

Here, let me introduce you to some of them.

The woman in the white sleeveless shirt there is Susan Getgood, the gracious hostess of this sizable get-together. And, really, who can blame her for looking at me like that? I mean, I show up at her home toting two six packs of Corona and spouting some cockamamie story about being a “daddy blogger” and she’s supposed to not be suspicious that I might actually be there to rummage through her bedroom and boost her jewelry? Please. (P.S.: I just spelled the word “cockamamie” properly on the first try despite never having written that word before in my entire life. Yay, me.) (P.P.S.: The woman in green is Cynthia from 360 Public Relations, and, sadly, that is the only photo in which I captured her.) (P.P.P.S.: Look in the background there! What a cute momma and her babies!)

Above, we have (l. to r.): Tania (a.k.a. Chicky Chicky Baby); Doug & Angela (a.k.a. Mommy Bytes); and Sandy (a.k.a. Momisodes) (and hidden in the shadows on the right are Annette K and her son). Doug, Angela and Sandy were my first victims the first folks subjected to my “I’m a blogger, too” spiel, and I thank them for their tolerance.

Moving out to the porch, we see (l. to r.): Megan (a.k.a. A Girl Must Shop), Melanie (a.k.a. The Coupon Goddess), and a third lovely lady whose name I didn’t get, which isn’t too embarrassing, because it’s not like we were all wearing name tags or anything. (Sorry! If you should happen to see this: please leave a comment w/ your name and URL! Susan! Her name is Susan, a.k.a. Transient Travels.)

(Incidentally, Melanie was the latest unfortunate soul to be subjected to my ramblings about Van Halen and Chickenfoot. Thank you for not yawning or nodding off, Melanie.)

Now the shot above is a bit dicey; here we see Roxanna (a.k.a. Miguelina) and the previously shown Tania, as well as Tania’s husband, and I really thought it was bad form on their part to be passing that spliff around in front of the kids—especially the very pregnant Roxanna, who really should be a little more careful in light of her condition. (You’re not really going to make me explain to you that I’m joking, are you?)

This here is Susan’s husband, Dave, and I really hope Wonder Woman wasn’t paying too much attention to what he was up to throughout the party, because if she was, she probably developed some very unfortunate ideas about how much work she should expect from me the next time we have a get-together. Suffice to say, Dave was busting a move nonstop … cooking, cleaning, setting up desserts—you name it, Dave was doing it. Thanks for raising the bar so high, Dave. Much appreciated.

Seeing as how Susan never took her eyes off me long enough for me to get around to boosting her jewelry, I had to settle for the next best thing: a door-prize raffle. Susan (aided by Christy, at right, a.k.a. More Than Mommy) pulled from a tin the tickets we had placed there earlier, and we all looked on with bated breath … some more bated than others:

When all was said and done, the Scratches family cleaned house; Jayna made off with the craft kit you see her holding in the background of the above photo, Wonder Woman and I snagged a bottle of chardonnay, and Zan scored a new lid:

Soon after the raffle ended, Christina (a.k.a. Fairly Odd Mother) and Tania started throwing down gang signs …

… which I’m fairly certainly were meant to intimidate my family and I into forking over our prizes. Fortunately, we were able to escape with our booty still in tow.

(And speaking of booty:

So fine.)

But where was I? Oh yes: leaving the party (where, by the way, I also met, but failed to photograph: Alana, a.k.a. Good Girl Gone Blog; Niri, a.k.a. Mommy Niri; Karen, a.k.a. 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires; and Janice and Liz, a.k.a. Meal Makeover Moms).

On those rare occasions when Wonder Woman and I get together with people we know, I often talk about my blog, and sometimes when doing so, I feel like I’m trying to explain quantum physics to someone who doesn’t speak English (though the lack of a language barrier wouldn’t make any difference, since I don’t know jack shit about quantum physics anyway … but you get the point). I suppose that was one of the reasons I enjoyed Saturday’s BlogHer meet-up: it was a crowd that, by and large, spoke the same language as I … albeit with less bass and more treble.

Thanks for making me feel welcome, ladies!