I'm sure it sounds silly, but I never realized that there were so many other HN readers from Waterloo, so I can definitely relate to your disbelief. I was quite surprised to see "Waterloo, Ontario" pop up in Google Reader.

You don't get better unless you attend these events! I found it really useful when I was a student (and still do) at UW. You get to meet a lot of interesting people and see how people make things.

We are going for a fun hacker ethos---come, build, be merry. Everybody is welcome :)