The first Philadelphia XO Users meeting took place this afternoon at 30th Street Station. Eight users, with six XOs, met and had a great time. :o)

Update: Here's a link to a group photo taken at the meeting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmccleary/sets/72157603665076663//

That photo is the one that will be sent to Dr. Durbak, a psychologist who works with the UN and who knows Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the OLPC project. She even was there to see the first prototype machine being demoed to the UN several years ago. The prototype was larger than the final model and had a crank on the back to charge the battery. It was one of those "God provides" moments that she happened to be in Cosi, waiting for a train and checking her email on a Blackberry, when the XO users came filing in one by one for our meeting. She is very involved with educational projects and asked if she could publish the photo in their newsletter.

My Nerd Gene is all happy about these things. :o) We're planning to have monthly meetings in the same place, to help us learn about the device and to help spread the word that the OLPC project exists. The "Give One, Get One" might not be going on right now, but that doesn't mean that people can't help the project by making a donation.