FIVE phone calls yesterday!!!!!!
I like the idea of a giant party or several "regional" parties as well. In the day and pre-windows, I chatted on IRC channels. It just happened that on a particular channel there were quite a few of us who lived in this area. We began getting together at least once a month and had a wonderful time! We'd go to a 50's type dance place and when other people from the channel came to our city for fun or business, we'd throw a party for them.
Those were the days! And at least one marriage came from that.