I do miss the opportunity to have good conversations though. My old roomie and I would have good conversations, and that's something I don't get a lot of here in Springfield - I try to IM friends every now and then, but it's just not the same.
Oh, and I went to the planning "meeting" of the LUG that I was complaining about, and I now realize why the meeting sucked. They spent almost no time planning, and ended up having tons of tangent conversations, while accomplishing almost nothing. They're also planning sessions based upon what they think they'd like, rather than what the general member might desire. This is like the choir singing for itself on Sunday morning, rather than for the congregation. I do appreciate that at least one person listened to my suggestion that they need to take a survey or solicit feedback somehow so that they can plan future sessions better.