Chicago, Aug 4, 5, 6
 

My plan is to be bringing my son, Tim and his chess coach to the Doubletree, Oak Brook for the Denker High School Championship, and the US Chess Open.
We'll be leaving the Detroit area early (hopefully) on Friday, arriving eary/mid afternoon. The Open tournament begins Saturday evening, and the Denker has opening ceremonies on Sunday.

Our initial plans have all blown up because life conspired to prevent the Grumpette from making the trip. Now,we three guys will have Friday evening and all day Saturday to find a way to entertain ourselves. (Tim is 18, a bit shy and a straight-laced church-going type. Lou, the coach, is a chess nerd of sorts, but very nice and sociable. Me, I have to behave 'cause I'm with the kid and Mrs. Grump will get a detailed report!)

Who's got some ideas? Who would like to meet up for some beers and bullshit? Where's the best place for (a reasonsbly priced) Friday night dinner? How do we kill a morning and afternoon in the Oak Brook area on Saturday?

I realize that this is short notice, but our plans did change suddenly. I'll make the trip with the wife another time.

(Hey Chicago! I met a couple of hundred of your brothers and sisters this summer. They came to bowl in the Hamtramck Singles tournament. My family worked as organizers and score monitors. All great, fun people that we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with!)

BONUS FOR TFPers WE MEET THIS WEEKEND:
I've gotten the final mix of a song I wrote memorializing my brother, who passed away last year. My plan is to produce a multimedia cd and distribute it to my extended family. You can be among the first to preview the audio portion of the project! (this is not related to the recording project I've mentioned in my journal. this is totally different and totally solo!)

Got ideas? Wanna meet-up? Post here, or PM, your choice! Thanks all!

i'll be at lollapalooza all weekend, so will probably not be able to meet you & yours, but if you can make it down to the northside of the city, there is another great street festival going........more neighborhoody & really a good slice of chicago summer life.

it's called retro on roscoe, maybe 5 bucks apiece to get in (the city shuts down the streets to set up stages & so you can mill about in the street), buys you bands & people watching all day. lots of local restaurant food.

these street festivals (there's at least one every weekend all summer) are the main reason i still live in the city.......they're great.

probably wouldn't take you too long to get to this part of town by taxi, or maybe your hotel has a shuttle. or if it sounds interesting & you're into it i could map you out how to get there via public transport.



http://www.starevents.com/retro_fest_LineUp.htm


hope you have a great stay here..........

Thanks for the tip, Jim. Looks to be a cool way to spend Saturday afternoon.
We're driving in, so transport is no issue. We'll be in Oak Brook, so I'll just google a map.
Any construction or street repair I should be aware of?

Ooo, I forgot about Retro on Roscoe. I love that part of town..in fact that's where my new job is. I know that spec is getting dinner plans ready for Friday, but maybe Saturday we could head up there is anyone wants to. And jimk, I'm so jealous you get to go to Lollapalooza..hopefully the weather will be better this year, than it was last year and you won't be miserable like we were. :)

Grumpy, you don't really want to drive up there, parking is a pain. But you can take the Red line to Sheffield and then hop on the Belmont bus heading west for a couple stops. Or just walk it, it's not that far. The fare for the train is $2, but you'll appreciate it when you see the cars driving in circles trying to find a parking space. :p

Detroit has no useful public transportation, so the concept is foriegn to me. I'll need a lot of guidance. (The train is probably a good idea if we meet at a bar for dinner, eh? Why risk a DUI in a strange jurisdiction?)

How about just not driving drunk? I hope you're not saying you'd drive drunk, because then I'd have to point out what a [many very bad words] that would make you. And I don't want to have to do that. So I hope you don't mean you'd actually drive drunk.

In fact, I am bringing my designated driver with me. I have too much good in my life to take any stupid risks.

Awesome :)

Checked into the hotel and leaving to meet Spectre and Shesus in a few minutes! Have camera, will post!

What am I? Chopped liver? :D

It was great meeting you and your son and his coach. Why don't you have the pictures up yet?

I agree with jj, I enjoyed meeting all of you. It was a wonderful evening. And I wish your son luck on his tournament. :) Can't wait to see the pictures.

ARRRRRRRRGggghhhhhhh!!!!!
 

I went straight to the hotel's computer room and stuffed the memory card in the pc's xD slot... and the bitch fried my memory card!!!! I had previews on the camera before, now only "CARD ERROR"!:mad:

So, we need to do it all over again!:D

Really though, we all had a great time!
JJ, no slight was intended, but the last I spoke to Spectre, there was some doubt about you joining us tonight. I'm really glad you did. We enjoyed the dinner conversation and the walking tour of downtown Chicago
Shesus, beautiful, intelligent, good taste in beer.... you are perfect!
Spectre, thanks again for the long commute. Above and beyond the call.

As TFP's (un)official Chicago Welcome Wagon, you guys are the best!

It's been a long day! I'm going to bed to dream of trashing HP computers!

Well, that's not cool. Somehow, I'm thinking this is just a ploy to hang out with us again. :p

Thanks for the compliments. As I said before, I had a great time tonight and I'm glad we got to meet.

Aren't they though? Glad you had the chance to visit Chicago and meet some of my favorite people! :)

Who could blame me? I just wish QW (aka the Grumpette) could have made the trip. We'll be back, soon, I hope!

There will be a fully detailed account of this adventure, once I get back to my home pc, and a hotel full of chess freaks aren't peeking over my shoulder, waiting their turn at this station.

Thanks again! I keep finding more reasons to love TFP!

We need to make them offical nametags or some shit. :)

The US Open began Saturday evening. Tim's first round went rather well... victory in 15 moves! His opponent's fate was sealed at move 11. This willl probably be his easiest game, but it gets him past any first game jitters and puts him in a positive frame of mind.

He's got a morning game in the Denker High Shcool Championship, and an evening game in the Open each day for the next week. I can't stay, I'll be heading back to Detroit after this mornings opening ceremonies. QW and I have a hot date!

We skipped going to Retro on Roscoe. Tim had some registration details to attend to, and once we had breakfast and dealt with that stuff, he felt like staying close and getting hes game face on. Lou and I wandered though the Oak Brook Center mall for a while. There's a neat store called Murray's Irish Outfitters. I found my family crest in one of their books! (I already knew about it. My older son has it tattooed on his arm)

With the exception of losing the pictures from Friday night, this has been a tremendously enjoyable adventure, thanks to our Chicago TFP contingent! I truly hope to see you all again. Thank you!

TO ANY TFP MEMBER TRAVELLING ANYWHERE: Take a shot! Post your plans here! Meet up with the local forum members, even if only for a few short hours. It'll make your trip all the better. If you are coming near Detroit, send me a PM. We'll find a way to connect!

Hey grumpyolddude,
I was born & raised in Detroit... well Oakland & Lapeer Counties primarily (was rarely south of 8 Mile). I'll be back occasionally. Yeah, it's too bad about Detroit's public transportation (just one reason why I left). Good luck to your son. Maybe we'll arrange something next time I'm in town.

It's great to hear he did well. Keep us updated. I'm rooting for him.

Yay! I'm glad that Tim is doing so well. Of course, I had no doubts if he made it as far as he did. :)

Hope you have a safe trip back home and anytime you're back in Chicago, just let us know.

Just got back to D-town. QW gave me a VERY warm greeting home:suave: :love:
The High School tourney was just starting as I left. Tim has won his first game in that event as well.
I'm gone to continue my reunion celebration:D

Added @ 1:15 am
Tim's second round opponent in the open was a Master (over 2200 rating. Tim's is in the high 1900's). This fella threw a line of play at Tim that he had never seen before, even in study or research. When review his play after the game, Tim found that his response was dead on the text-book. The result: Tim forced a draw against a much stronger player! This is a good result and Tim is in great spirits and full of confidence going into Monday.

I tried recreating some of my lost photo's with MS Paint.... total disaster! I'll keep playing with it!

Can't believe I didn't respond in here. It was great to meet you all, and I'm glad to hear that Tim did so well. Like shesus said, if you're back here again, let us know. :)

Well, Tim started out hot, but got caught a few times. He didn't finish high in either of the tournaments, but he sure ruined the hopes of some highly rated players. He'll tear 'em a new one next year!

As promised, as compensation for your generous gift of your time and scintilating company, I've posted a link to the first mix of a song I recorded as a tribute to my deceased brother. Find the link in the playground.

Thanks again. Yes, I hope we get together again soon!

ps. Hope the knee heals quickly, Spectre! You couldn't have noticed, but I was wearing my knee brace that Friday evening we met. Do what you have to in order to get rid of your as fast as you can!