(Gary left, Yours truely right)
Well it isn't everyday that you have the honor of meeting someone that you only know by correspondance, via modern technology and forums such as these. Gary Slaten happened to be in Asheville, North Carolina on business and found time to get together with me, so that we could shake hands and put faces, so to speak, with the posts on our network. Let me tell ya Gary out of those photos taken this is the only one that turned out to be good. Next time we need to find a restaurant with photographers as well as waiters.
Let me tell you, this is a great guy here. Why he even bought dinner, what more could you ask for. We stopped in at the China Palace, across from the Asheville Mall.
Thanks again Gary! We talked over the forums and microscopy techniques and most interesting of all was Garys work with AFM's (Atomic Force Microscopes). Gary explained to me what these scopes were used for and how the one he was working with is applied in digital disc applications. Really an amazing piece of equipment.
We also chatted and shared a little bit about our own backgrounds, be it microscopy or world travel and some of our favorite places to have visited in our travels. Gary seems to be an easy going kind of guy, well traveled and a great conversationalist and really enjoys good food.
Thanks once more Gary for an enjoyable afternoon and for the dinner. Hope to see you again when you are in the area. Next time it will my my treat.
I hope that more of our members will take the chance of meeting one another if the opportunity arises or presents itself. We are a widely scattered bunch and opportunites are rare I know but like with me and Gary here you never know! 
