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Ask HN: Are you alone in San Francisco on Thanksgiving?

475 points by MediaSquirrel ↗ HN
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

If you're in San Francisco and alone on this special day, drop me a line. We'd love to have you!

Twitter: @MattMireles Email: iwantbeer@swigme.com

My girlfriend is making cranberry sauce, stuffing and sweet potatoes to go along with our gigantic turkey. GautamSivakumar (http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=gautamsivakumar) of MediSaS (who I first met through HN) will be joining us from England for his first ever American Thanksgiving.

I've been helped by strangers and friends and strangers who became friends. When I was 20, it was the people who picked me up on my cycling/hitchhiking mis-adventure down the California coast and let me stay in their homes on Xmas. When I was 25, it was the New Yorkers who welcomed me into a new city and taught me how to stay safe in my job as a paramedic. When I was 29, it was the entrepreneurs who introduced me to Silicon Valley and showed me how to get from Zero to 1.

And now, I feel compelled to return these favors in some way, small or large.

So...if you're in San Francisco and you need a place to call home for Thanksgiving, let me know. We saved you a seat at the table.

-Matt Mireles CEO, Swig!

SwigMe.com: The Liquor Store in Your Pocket. Get Beer, Wine & Booze Delivered To Your Door in Under an Hour

97 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 274 ms ] thread
kloncks
This is beautiful and shows one of the coolest parts of a great community like Silicon Valley. Thanks for giving back, Matt.

I sincerely hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

MediaSquirrel
Thanks man. I count myself one of the lucky ones.
rgrieselhuber
Matt is one of the coolest people in the Bay Area and it is definitely worth spending the day with him if you're on your own today.
acoyfellow
You are awesome. Cheers from Pennsylvania!
cicloid
This is by far a great gesture!

Kudos Matt!

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Credit_Swarm
That is super cool. Matt Mireles you have a big heart. You just earned a new customer for Swig
louwhopley
I'm not in America, but would really like to know how many people actually asked to join you?

Happy Thanksgiving!

joshaidan
Let us know how many people show up!
dmor
Awww Matt, happy thanksgiving - hope get to celebrate with you sometime!
sown
Too bad it takes caltrain 1.5 hours to get up there from SJ. oh well. Thanksfor the offer and happy thanksgiving
MediaSquirrel
We haven't started eating yet. You can make it! If you want, I can pick you up from the Caltrain.
simonebrunozzi
Sown, you should go! Matt, you rock!!!!
sown
I'd like to but it'll be 4 or 5 by the time I could get there. i'd probably just break their toilet or something on accident, as I'm prone to do at parties.

edit: And yes, Mr. Matt rocks. He even offered to pick me up at caltrain.

imran
Although im not in san fransisco this post alone made my day!
mailshanx
An awesome gesture. Happy thanksgiving from Singapore!:)
prohan
Don't be lazzy make a language like Guido did
Goranek
what? xD
tinco
Probably a reference to Van Rossum developing python during a lonely christmas.
Goranek
nice marketing..but still remarkable offer one big PLUS
jeduan
This is beautiful.

I had a short gig in SF earlier this year and finding this kindness would have definitely helped me make my stay there a more enjoyable experience.

Abrazos from Mexico City.

viraj_shah
Super cool man. Have a great holiday!
maxwin
I am alone but not in SF. It is really nice of you. You are truly having a great Thanksgiving day.
shanelja
It's a shame this isn't the UK - I'm going to be alone for christmas this year and it would have been cool to spend it with like minded, kind people such as yourself and Gautam.
nulluk
Geekup (blackpool) generally have a christmas meal. It isn't the same but it's as close as your going to get. Good bunch of guys that go from the NW, most of @wearefarm will be there which are based around the corner from you
shanelja
Blackpool is 45 minutes away on the bus - thanks for this, I was really dreading sitting alone at christmas!
nulluk
Give us a follow on twitter @nullUk

There is a preston Geekup to but i'm not involved with it as much as the blackpool one as I work with a few of the people who help organise & run it even though we all work in Chorley.

shanelja
Thats a humongous coincidence, I work at the end of Cowling road just by the Spinners!

The world is such a small place.

sixQuarks
Very nice of you! on a related note, I'm curious. SwigMe.com seems very interesting, but I would think there are a lot of legal loopholes you need to jump through, no? What happens when teenagers try to order and present a good fake ID at the door?
Goranek
I always thought that you can see fake IDs only on TV.. Do kids in USA really have "fake ids"?

I mean cmon ..this is hilarious

lbotos
100% Yes. I know of 3 ways to get a Fake:

1) Online "Novelty IDs" 2) local "ID Trucks" Philly has a few. 3) An older friend that you may look like.

It's almost a right of passage in the US depending on your social circle.

Goranek
Haha, no need for fake ids in Europe :) :)
citricsquid
Not sure where in Europe you're located, but in England (with a drinking age of 18) the usage of fake IDs by 16 and 17 year olds is pretty frequent.
Goranek
Croatia, funny thing I was in England few weeks ago.. I just can't imagine seeing a kid with a fake Id xD People would make fun of him in Croatia
elemeno
Admittedly my experience is a good more than a 13 years ago, but I've never known anyone in London who used a fake id to drink. While the age at which one can buy alcohol is 18 (there's no prohibitions against drinking it, just buying it) it's so loosely enforced that it's generally just a matter of going to an off licence down the road if the first one asks for ID, so there's almost no point at all in getting a fake ID. Added to that is that there isn't any form of ID other than passports or driving licences which would have a data of birth on them, and an under 21 yr old not having either wouldn't be particularly unusual anyway.
pbhjpbhj
I think things have changed a lot in the last decade or so in the UK in this respect. When I was at high-school we all went drinking in pubs from age 16 (with an 18 lower age limit); I genuinely doubt that's possible now given bar staff are supposed to challenge you if you look under 21.
streety
Apparently there were too many under-18s who looked over-21, many bars now advertise a policy of checks for anyone who looks under-25.
andyhmltn
That's true. I didn't EVER get away with it and I tried so much.
corford
As a UK national I can corroborate this :) I was the proud owner of a fake university ID (think it was from Heiot Watt) in my mid teens. Traded it by ripping some CDs with a first gen burner (which were still quite new in 1997/8!)
alphast0rm
Fake ID's are extremely prevalent in US colleges for getting into bars and clubs. People usually acquire them from older friends who look similar, or order them from fake ID sites similar to idchief.com (a Chinese company that was recently closed after scrutiny from a group of U.S. senators).
gavingmiller
Once had someone give me an id that was simply a second id with the face cut out and his id taped in behind it. Worked too until they separated handing it back to him.
sixQuarks
They used to sell fake "college IDs" in the arcades at Times Square in NYC, not sure if they still do. But I was able to use that when I was 19 to buy beer at gas stations all the time.
pyre
I knew someone in university that knew someone that made fake ids in Michigan. Even after they upgraded the driver's licenses to have holograms, etc, this guy apparently had sheets of hologram stickers to put over the fake ids. This stuff seems like big business in 'college towns' where there are a lot of under-age kids on their own that want to drink.
jhuckestein
Yes, absolutely, and not only in the US.

In Germany the legal drinking age is 16, but you need to be 18 to get into most clubs. When you're 16, you get an ID card in Germany. It's relatively easy to change the birth date on those using small, thin stickers that exactly match the font and background on the card.

Cass
Wow, is that common where you are? It's been five years since I was a teenager in Germany, but while tons of my American friends had fake ideas, I never even heard of faking your birth date that way. Now, using someone else's ID card was very common.
andyhmltn
Believe it or not: yes. Here in the UK I remember most of the people in my school using the laminator to make loads of them.
joonix
Yes... sometimes it's fake but often you just get a hand-me down ID from an older friend/relative who may look like you
agotterer
For a few dollars extra ups and fedex wil verify that the recipient of the shipment is 21 years or older.
bravura
Well done, Matt.

We haven't hung out in a while. Let's get together when I come to SF in January.

axyjo
I'm in Santa Clara, (so I won't be able to come up) but I'd like to help out. Any way I can chip in to the meal?
jason_slack
do you have a place to eat dinner?
axyjo
Thankfully, I ended up finding a place just less than an hour ago. :)
jason_slack
ah, great. We are stil cooking, not ready for about 2 more hours I think.
leemor13
Would take you up if I were down there! All the way up in Vancouver, BC but I'll take a raincheck :).
stevewillows
I wish I had done this for our Thanksgiving.
hjay
That's very nice of you, Matt. Wish I was near San Fran! Have a great time nevertheless.
Jngai1297
If only I am in San Francisco..... Have a great thanksgiving!