noodle

Aw, dang.
Just found out I'll be in KCMO the last week of
July and won't be able to make this meetup.

sadface.

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settie

I won't be making it either. School conflicts for me.

amonkie

We'll be missing you 2!

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

noodle

Of course you will. Pfft.

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im2smrt4u

Looking for tickets...why does flying have to be so expensive!

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Halx

How's this coming along? I am in a position to start planning.

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Starkizzer

We fly in on the 16th and will be leaving on the 21st in the afternoon/evening.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

onodrim

July is getting closer and I'm getting excited! Any of our "maybe's" have a more definite answer yet? As of now it's looking like Starkizzer, im2smrt4u, amonkie, The_Jazz, Halx, SecretMethod70, and onodrim for sure. How about CinnamonGirl, LordEden, and ZombieSquirrel? Sad to hear that settie can't make it

Anything that people really want to do/see? Something neat I ran across today if anyone is interested: Tuesdays on the TerraceMuseum of Contemporary Art Jazz concert every Tuesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art with buffet by Wolfgang Puck using local farmers markets. It would be a Brazil food theme the week we would go: Menu Only $22, not too bad!

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"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan

settie

iiiiiiiiiii

Starkizzer

Yay Settie!

I am not going to plan anything as we will probably be playing a lot of it by ear. But I am super excited to go to Chicago.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

SecretMethod70

It's because the Blackhawks are going to win the Stanley Cup, isn't it?

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

amonkie

We have another confirmed... Phredgreen will be joining us!


I promised Phred I'd take him to see Neverwhere (play based on book by Neil Gaiman, for non scifi/fantasy geeks). The only weekend he's available to see a show is also the LAST weekend of the show. There's a Friday show, 2 Saturday shows, and a final Sunday show. Tickets are $30 - is anyone else interested in making this? The shows have been sold out every weekend since it opened, so tickets will definitely be going fast.

I am shooting for the Sunday show at 4pm, the play is about 2 and a half hours. So even if no one else can make it we'd still be free for shenanigans Sunday evening.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

LordEden

Cinn and I are still a maybe, I've got to see what my time off work looks like. I'm still new to this company so asking off is a big deal still. I'll talk to my boss after I take off a Friday in June.

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onodrim

That will make the best city ever even better!

Based on your excellent hottix.org recommendation smeth and I will actually be seeing this Sunday, but I encourage others to join you!

Eden and Cinn and Settie - you better all make it! You wouldn't want to ruin my vacation would you?! *big pouty face*

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"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan

boobsalo

I can easily be in Chicago then-its a great place!

SecretMethod70

Onodrim and I just got out of Naked Girls Reading and it was awesome. There will be another one on July 16th at 7pm, and we think it would be pretty fun to go to. Anyone interested? They will be reading about independent women.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

amonkie

I am not sure what time Smrt and Star get in on Friday... That may be the biggest deciding factor.

What time did you guys have to get there for the show?

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

Starkizzer

Like I said before not sure I want to spend our limited funds on tickets for shows.

Plus smrt is not a big theater fan.

Ok just looked, tickets are not too bad but I'll have to see what smrt thinks.

How awesome is it smeth? Because from what I can see its a bunch of naked women, granted they look very nice, reading to an audience. I understand its not really the reading that people go for but still.

Also, I do not see the date you stated in their upcoming events calendar.

Another thing, just because we may not/cannot do some things should not mean that everyone else shouldn't go. I don't want everyone to think that we need people to drop everything and hang out with us all the time. At some point we might just tell y'all to go away.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

SecretMethod70

Well you've got the right idea, it's exactly what it says: naked girls, reading. It's a small burlesque studio that seats maybe 40 at the most. Honestly, the naked girls are really nice and fun, but it's probably not worth it if you're not into the reading aspect. The July 16 date was mentioned when we were there tonight, not sure why it's not on the calendar.

Anyway, no big deal if people aren't interested, we just thought it was something worth throwing out there What better way to capture the essence of "The evolution of humanity, sexuality, and philosophy" than by combining naked girls and literature?! Fair warning: onodrim and I might decide to go even if others don't (provided, of course, we will still have time to meet up at other times throughout the weekend).

---------- Post added at 05:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 AM ----------

Something else that could be fun, and is also later and cheaper, is the improv-ish show too much light makes the baby go blind. Pretty much a guaranteed fun time (but no naked ladies ). There is even built in time to socialize because seats are first come first served, so we would need to be in line by 10 or 10:30 at the latest.

Anyway, just throwing out some ideas. There is, of course, always the standard plan of wander around seeing the city, eat awesome deep dish pizza at giordano's, and get drinks at a bar or apartment or hotel room. What different things we can do really depends on when people are available and what people are interested in trying to fit in. So, i'm just throwing out some possibilities

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Starkizzer

Hehe, thank you all for tryinh to think of stuff for everyone to do. My other thought about going to a place where we would be watching others perform is they may not take too kindly to us gabbing away during their show. I don't know about everyone else but it sounds like this might be a pretty big meet up and I have been looking forward to meeting so many of you that meeting up and NOT talking would be torturous!

I am most looking forward to exploring the city and having good food good beer and talking with great friends.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

amonkie

We can definitely count on my place as being a meeting ground if you need something that is in the city and accessible - In my living room I can crash 2 people on the airmattress and 2 on the futon, depending on their size. Depending on if I get my landlords OK, we can probably even just lay out in the backyard if the weather is nice.

I think we are just excited to have new folks coming into town! The best plan may be to just have a list of things that folks are up to (like Smeth and ono doing the book reading on their own, me/phred seeing Neverwhere at some point) and then just stay in touch for when everyone has a little free time.

If BlueManGroup is a show you haven't seen, sometimes there are tickets for half price (34.95). They regularly go for $70 and I think in Vegas the show is $110?

I am all for just finding cool and relaxing places to chill... we can even do bowling at Lucky Strike, Minigolf!!

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

amonkie

So its almost upon us..

Are there any folks confirmed besides Ono/Smeth, Smrt/Star, and Phred/myself?

Looking forward to the friendly faces and hopefully maybe some new ones!

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

settie

iiiiiiiiiii

The_Jazz

OK, I'm around that weekend, but my folks are in town, and we leave for San Fran/Pebble first thing on Sunday. Lunch downtown? Drinks before I have to catch a late train on Friday afternoon? Saturday's going to be tough for me with packing, etc.

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"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

onodrim

On Friday the 16th secret and I will already be going to the city that evening for a different event, so a late lunch would work well for us. We'll be going to the West Loop area and there are a ton of choices around there. There is a Giordanos, which has become a TFP standard. Wishbone is a popular lunch place that serves southern style cuisine, supposed to be good, I've never actually been there. That area is also near Greektown, so there are a ton of Greek choices if people are interested in that, the most well known being either the Parthenon or Pegasus. There's also a good sushi place called Sushi Pink which I know secret likes. Of course we're also open to going somewhere else in a totally different area as well!

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"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan

The_Jazz

We can sit outside at Athena. And I don't care if anyone else doesn't like taramousalata - I'm ordering it and you heathens can be all disgusted by me.

Pegasus has outdoor seating too, but it's on the roof, and if it's a hot day, there's not much protection from the sun.

I vote Greektown. Excellent food, easy to get to and pretty easy for anyone to find something they like, even the vegans.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Starkizzer

We do not get in till Friday evening, our plane leaves Ontario, California at 8am. So we would be down for dinner if anyone can.

Saturday is pretty busy, Sunday is pretty open. I am still trying to figure out the rest of the conventions activities.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

amonkie

Fri and sat I will now be in Minneapolis for a quick family detour, but will be back late Saturday afternoon, depending on traffic. I'm open for anytime sunday.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

SecretMethod70

Unfortunately, there aren't many museum free days during the time you'll be here (in fact, I'm not sure there are any), but here they are: Museum Free Days 2010 | Explore Chicago

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

onodrim

So far it sounds like this is when people are available next weekend:
Friday afternoon:Jazz, smeth, ono
Friday night: star, smrt
Saturday:no one
Sunday: amonkie, smeth, ono, star, smrt

Friday smeth and I need to be done with dinner by about 6:30, any chance star and smrt will be here by then? Otherwise we'd have to do a late get-together, about 10:30 or so. Or we can all just plan to get together on Sunday. And then earlier the following week as well.

__________________
"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan

Starkizzer

We should be landing around 4:30 but we need to get from the airport and check into the hotel. So I am not sure if there is any chance on meeting up Friday night. While I am a night owl I do have to be up early Saturday morning to do a volunteer activity that requires me to be outside the Hilton nearest the convention center by 7:45am. So I will have to see how tired we are. I am hoping it won't be too difficult for me to get from our hotel to the Hilton, I will be going by myself and don't want to get lost or be late =(


**What is the word on Halx and Plan coming to Chicago during this time???**

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey

SecretMethod70

Getting around Chicago is really very easy once you get the hang of it. Almost every street is North/South or East/West, so if you have an address that's just about all you need to get to where you're going and know how far it is. Plus, your Droid has Google Maps so just plug in the addresses and you're good to go - it will even tell you how to take public transportation if it's far enough to be necessary

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

im2smrt4u

FWIW, we discovered her Saturday morning destination is only a block away. Should be no sweat!

As far as Friday goes, our plane is supposed to land at 4:35pm. We should be able to hop on the train and make it to the hotel in an hour and fifteen minutes (according to Google). Allowing for time to get off the plane, get luggage, etc I would assume we would be at the hotel and checked in around 7pm. I'm guessing our first order of business at that point will be to find food since the plane flight isn't going to provide anything...

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SecretMethod70

7:00 is a safe estimate. I assume you're taking the 'L' to get from O'Hare to your hotel? That ride will be about an hour and 20 minutes. I also imagine you'll want to do as little walking as possible with your luggage, so you'll want to take a route that include a bus stop near your hotel. (Google Maps will also give you an option of getting off at LaSalle, but that includes walking for about half a mile.) I don't remember what hotel you're staying at, but I looked up directions to the Hilton Chicago since you said it's nearby: Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL 60666 to Hertz Local Edition - Hilton Chicago - Google Maps

Ono and I won't be available between 7 and 10, but there are plenty of food options near your hotel. If you're feeling tired from the flight and want to get the closest thing - and also just can't wait to try Chicago style pizza - there's a Lou Malnati's only a couple blocks away. (Again, directions are from Hilton Chicago, but you can change that.) Alternatively, if you'd like to wait on the Chicago style pizza and go for something equally nearby but even less healthy, there's the famous Harold's Chicken Shack (Presidentially endorsed! ).

If you're willing to travel more than a few blocks right after you get here, there are obviously a ton more options. Too many to list, in fact .

Xoco is a relatively new and relatively inexpensive Mexican restaurant from Rick Bayless, and totally worth the wait in line if you're up to it (I'd estimate probably half an hour wait). It's a short train ride away, or you can walk the 1.5mi and see the city. The Berghoff is Chicago's oldest restaurant (with Chicago's very first post-prohibition liquor license!) and it used to be a great place for relatively authentic German food, but I haven't been there since it changed ownership. It's a 15 minute walk or 10 minute bus ride away. The Billy Goat Tavern is another Chicago institution with some wonderfully unhealthy food. If you believe the legend, it's founder and his pet goat are responsible for the Cubs sucking the past 65 years and it was the inspiration for Jim Belushi's "Cheezborger! Cheezborger!" sketch on SNL (whether or not that's actually true, they've embraced it). It's a little over a mile away, so you can walk and see the city or take the bus for a shorter trip (note, it's located on the lower level of Michigan Avenue). Since you don't want to go to the place that Anthony Bourdain says has the best Chicago hot dogs (and I thought you cared about good food ), you could settle for Portillo's on Friday night. Again, a short train ride or longer walk away. Anyway, I'll stop there, but there are plenty of other places too!



Side note: You mentioned that someone told you you have to go to Walker Brother's? It just occurred to me that the only locations are in the suburbs. The good news is that the one closest to Chicago is also not very far from the Linden stop, which is where you'd get off to go to Baha'i Temple (map). Something to consider if you really want to go there. I'm not a huge pancake fan, so I can't really tell you if it's worth it or not.

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

snowy

This thread makes me want to go back to Chicago.

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The_Jazz

The Berghoff is still good. I used to work around the corner. But unless you're into German food, go for the beer. They have their own brand.

The Billy Goat is the inspiration for "Cheezborger! Cheezborger!" No discussion necessary. John Belushi grew up around the corner from the owner, Sam Sianis. More notably, though, it was and is the hangout of the writers for the Tribune. Mike Royko used to hang out there all the time.

If you want a good easy dinner that's walkable from your hotel, try Chicago Firehouse, which is in (you guessed it) an old firehouse. They do good steaks and other stuff that need grilling.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

SecretMethod70

I knew I forgot something! http://goo.gl/maps/DtDH

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

amonkie

The Walker Bros. Pancake house is not that far at all... its about an hour walk from my house, or like was said before accessible by linden stop. That may be a great sunday option, but I can guarantee it'll be busy.

There's also an original Pancake house (2 of them, i believe) in lincoln Park as well, as I've been there in the past with some other folks. I don't remember their locations though.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

SecretMethod70

Original Pancake House is good, but it's a national chain while Walker Bros. is local

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Starkizzer

I think I want to try Walker Bros. but mostly I want to just hang out and meander around the city.

__________________
Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey