The White House didn't invent the Tweetup concept. In its the White House tipped its virtual hat to NASA, which has held , letting random NASA Twitter fans spend a few days taking tours, meet with astronauts and other officials, and observe spacecraft launches, to boot. In fact, both editorial director Jason Snell and senior editor Scholle Sawyer McFarland are currently attending NASA's Tweetup for the --assuming it eventually stops raining in Florida.

While my trip to the White House is perhaps my coolest life event powered by Twitter, it wasn't the only memorable one. In the past, I've spoken on the phone with "Weird Al" Yankovic after he tweeted the phone number of a pay phone he was next to at an airport; I learned of (and then joined) an exclusive fan club for my ; I learned of (and then bought tickets for) Conan O'Brien's "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television" tour; and, let's not forget, I . 

How many life passions can Twitter provide opportunities to indulge? And perhaps even more importantly, is Twitter proving so adept at serving as the seeming impetus for such passion-indulging? Perhaps a part of it is Twitter's general equality. You and I get just 140 characters per tweet, and , , and are limited to that same number. When leaders of nations, movie stars, and billionaire moguls are on equal footing with peons like me, that helps us all feel more connected to one another. NASA interacted with its fervent fan base, and invited some folks to come geek out over space exploration. The White House brought a few politically-minded tweeters into the same room where President Obama once announced . And I think we'll know Twitter has made it when Oprah finally uses the service to give away cars.