It did have a bit of a surreal quality to when coasting referred to "BikeForums" in his funny accent.

Otherwise, it was fascinating talking to someone who you've learned quite a bit about online but never connected with in the physical world. What to expect? He claims that I sound basically as he envisioned. I don't know what he based that on. For my part, I had no specific expectation on the voice of the real world coasting, but the tenor of the conversation didn't come as a surprise.

[Spoiler alert: be on the lookout for a picture of deer on Wednesday.]

The other thing that struck me was technology's rapid transformation of communication. Here (on the forum) we have become used to firing off messages instantaneously to people around the globe. But as recently as 20 years ago (which I'm old enough to remember) communicating with people on other continents, while possible, was a somewhat pricey encounter. Now all you need to do is download software, hook a microphone up to your computer, and chat away.

It's remarkable how the world has--in some ways--shrunk.