Burke.....if you enjoy the music and the community here, I'd encourage you to keep trying the chat room for a bit. I'm NOT good at "small talk" intros etc. either, but do think you'll find, after a while, the initial introductions etc. subside and you'll be able to take off your shoes and relax with good friends.
Jumping into the room blind and feeling like you're interrupting a conversation is uncomfortable for a lot of us, BUT in the radio chat room we had here, Catters tried to give people entering the room a brief hi/welcome/summary of the conversation.
I also think Mudcat humor and creativity SHINES when answers to questions etc. show out of sequence in the chat box...it CAN create some fun dialogues. Usually, if you just scroll back up a bit you can find what the question was.

AND Max and Jeff........the new toys are AWESOME....thanks.