Chicago in July
 

Ok, so it turn out I will be in Chicago in July for the National Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting. The meeting is the 17th-20th. I may try to come a day before the conference but I am not sure if I can stay any later due to my travel funding being travel grants. They are kinda picky about people taking vacations for some reason...sheesh!

Anyway...I know I will be trying to meet up with some of the Chicago tfp'ers but it would be awesome if more people could be there as well. :thumbsup:


So who wants to come visit the windy city with me???

I'll be here!

The 17th is a Sat and the 20th is a Tues... I'm guessing the Sat/Sun would work best for most people. How much free time will you actually have with the conference?

I will know as it gets closer. If we win our division of the College Bowl competition, we will be competing. If our abstract gets accepted there will be one day where I HAVE to be at the meeting for about 4 hours to stand next to my research poster and answer questions.

Evenings should be free no problem though.

As promised, I will be there.

There's a chance that I'll be in Pebble Beach that week, but it remains to be seen. I don't have schedules yet.

But if I can make a meet-up, I will.

Wow.. what happened at dinner last night!?!?

This is news to me that Halx is finally not scared of Chicago anymore.. just make sure you don't wear the wrong jerseys here. :p

Make sure you wear a Red Sox jersey.

Nobody wants to be seen in those Cubs jerseys.. losers.

We'll just have to give him a reason to remember his fear, then, won't we?

So, a tentative list of who will be around...

Starkizzer
im2smrt4u
amonkie
The_Jazz
Halx
settie
SecretMethod70
onodrim

Who else?!

Hmmm...Chicago isn't that far from me and I tend to go there a lot since one of my BFFs lives there now. Put me down as a maybe. I could probably convince Cinna to tag along with me....

and the crowd grows bigger!

I've got couch space for those that need it...

I could be here, I'm not sure tho. I won't know till a month or so from the dates listed. Put me down as a maybe.

I might be, depending on the dates of my school stuff in KC and whether I can convice Toaster that I'm not that scary and he'd be totally safe making a road trip from KCMO to Chicago. It's being tossed around since Mexico probably isn't happening.

Sweet!

Hopefully ono and I will by then as well.

ditto :p

Can't wait to see everyone! :)

Its getting closer....

Depending on certain factors, I'll PROBABLY be there(but don't put me down as a "definitely" just yet.)


Anyone up for a Sox game? And a ferris wheel ride? And maybe a museum or two? :D

Updated list....

Starkizzer
im2smrt4u?
amonkie
The_Jazz
Halx
SecretMethod70
onodrim
CinnamonGirl?
LordEden?
ZombieSquirrel?
Settie?

Who else?!

Just to warn everyone....

I'm hugging each and every tfp member I meet!

I ain't scurred.

Maybe we could do a TFP roadtrip from Ohio and carpool up there.

Wait... I just realized that according to my calendar pages... I may have absolutely nothing to do in July except go to Chicago. This is startling.

^ Yay!

Yeah, I wanna see BMG and Navy Pier and not have the horrible hangover I had when I was there last time.

It would also help if there wasn't two feet of snow on the ground and I had my own conveyance.

You will love the Blue Man Group. It's an awesome event.

I know. I've seen it twice... each time I've been to Chicago.

I've almost got those Rock Star Moves memorized.

Rock Concert Movement Number 4 - behind the head leg stretch. Oh yeah.

Not sure if anyone else is interested, but Lilith Fair will be stopping in Chicago on July 17th. The lineup for the night is Sarah McLachlan, Heart, Kate Nash, Vedera, Cat Power, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J. Blige, Meaghan Smith, La Roux, and Vita Chambers. I'd totally be down for going.

I'm in California (Pebble Beach) from 7/19-23, so hopefully that won't be too big of a problem. There's a chance that we'll go out a day early, but that's only speculative right now. The dates above are where we have to be there.

Well I'd definitely enjoy seeing Kate Nash and La Roux, the others not quite as much. :p I'll keep it in mind as a possibility though, perhaps wait and see what ticket prices are like.

You'd like Heart too I think, and Cat Power :)

Cat Power, ftw.

I've more than had my fill of Sarah McLachlan, however.

Vedera is actually the best band listed there. :P

Hadn't heard them before. Looked them up and they're enjoyable :)

I don't think I could handle a whole night of women singing...

Yea... count me out for the concert. I'd rather spend time interacting with people!!

You can interact with people at a concert :) And it's cool, if no one wants to go, I'll go to the Charlotte show. I'm holding out for Grace Potter and A Fine Frenzy, anyway.

awww, A Fine Frenzy is performing but not in Chicago? Lame.

If I go to this, I will be 99% Lesbian. Not that I'm complaining...I'm just letting you know that the transformation will almost be complete.

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.

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

We'll be missing you 2!

Of course you will. Pfft.

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

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

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

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! :)

iiiiiiiiiii

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.

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

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.

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.

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*:sad:

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

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.

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?

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. :lol:

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?! :p 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 :p). 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 :)

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.

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!! :D

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!

iiiiiiiiiii

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.

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. :p 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! :)

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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???**

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 :)

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...

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! :p).

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 :p.

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.

This thread makes me want to go back to Chicago.

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.

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

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.

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

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

FYI:

There are even Original Pancake Houses in California. The Original Pancake House

Someone told us that we absolutely had to go there when we were in Chicago. I hated to disappoint them as we'd already been to several out here in Oregon; they are headquartered in Portland.

Heh, learn something new every day. Didn't know Walker Bros. was started as an Original Pancake House franchise. It has a nicer atmosphere, but like I said I'm not the best person to judge breakfast fare :p

The_Jazz: Sounds like Friday afternoon will just be you, smeth, and I. Still interested in getting together? We're free if you are. :) I'm partial to Pegasus since I can use my member card there :p, but willing to go to Athena if you prefer! We'd need to be there by 5:00 in order to get to our other event by 7:00.

How about some beers around 3:30 or 4? I'm taking the train, so out by 5 works well for me. Smeth has my contact info (if he's been paying attention), so give me a call if that works.

Speaking of beer...any good places worth specifically checking out? I'd like to make it out to Goose Island's brewpub, but don't really have any other plans than that.

For West Coast style beers, and really all styles of beers, Goose Island is good. We also went to the Hopleaf in Andersonville, which if you like Belgians is a good place to go (we don't like Belgians). The Berghoff's beer is good but mild (to my West Coast palate) and the bar is beautiful--plus, Jazz has lots of cool stories to tell if you can persuade him to join you.

We both like Belgians, but we can get all the same beers here in SoCal. Goose Island doesn't make it out to SoCal much...

Go to the Goose Island Brewery in Wrigleyville, then go a few blocks south and west to Cody's at Barry and Paulina. They specialize in microbrews and have a beer garden. And you can get cabs easily or walk to the El.

Jazz: While I have your number, I didn't want to call since it's late and the spawn might be sleeping, so I'm responding here instead ;)

Tomorrow afternoon is fine. Neither ono nor I like beer, but so long as wherever we go has other options it will be fine. If we're meeting around 3:30 or 4, we can pretty much go wherever works best. We don't need to be in the west loop until 6:30/6:45. So, do you want to meet at Athena or Pegasus, or would someplace else in a different area work better?

Let's make it a gametime decision. If the weather's as bad as today, indoors may be better. Let's try to connect around lunchtime, but figure that we're headed somewhere between the river and Halsted, Jackson to Lake, although there may be other options I'm not remembering.

See everyone soon!

I knew Transformers was currently filming in Chicago, but I thought it was on a pretty small scale. Turns out they're using a large part of the city, and it's gonna definitely have an impact this weekend. So depending on if you want to check out a movie set, or if you want to avoid crowds of people and shut down roads, here's some good info to have: 'Transformers 3' filming to transform Michigan Avenue - Chicago Tribune

It's too bad the giant transformers are all CGI and will be nowhere to be seen :p

We have arrived and are checked in at our hotel! We have an excellent view of a brick wall! LOL!

Who cares about the view?! It is a very nice room and the only times we will be in it are to sleep and have hot hotel sex, neither of which require looking out the window. :thumbsup:

We hit the street closures as they were starting on Thurs night.. definitely fun to walk Michigan Ave with no cars though!

keep us posted..visited chicago 2 years ago...great town

HOME!

Done and done. It was a good trip :)

Agreed! It was awesome! Back to work for today and then I can start going through the 1000+ pictures I took! :lol: