Chicago - January 14-17 2011
 

So, yeah, turns out I'm planning on wandering around Chicago (again) in January. Got this bucket list thing going on.

And I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. Visiting Chicago in January is only slightly more comfy than hitting up Siberia.

My window is:

Thursday - 13th
Friday - 14th
Saturday - 15th
Sunday - 16th
Monday - 17th

I'll be flying Southwest into Midway.

Anybody interested in no-shit hanging out? Monkie? Jazz? Smeth?

I'm going to need a few people to hang out with to justify this trip.

How does this window line up with your busy schedules, TFP people?

I'll have to get a hotel room for part of it but your couches are in my sights.

Maybe watch some Terminator movies and damage my liver.

I'm a well-known flake. Ask around. So take the following as possibly being worthless.

I'm currently around all those days, but I'll more likely than not be traveling on the 13th. But I should/could be around at least on the afternoon of the 14th and most of that weekend. Family stuff will most likely intrude, but I don't have details at this point.

I'll do my best to be around.

Count me in.

Okay, non-specific, less-than-helpful motherbitches:

What area should I get a hotel in? Michigan Ave? The Loop / Downtown?

I'm thinking Felix or Ambassador. I'm also a total cheapskate.

What is useful for a TFP get-together? A close hotel and a liquor store.

Help me out? I don't even have anybody's zip code so I'm kinda lost.

I live/work just north of the Chicago north Border, Jazz lives about 15 minutes by transit from me. Smeth/Ono are waaaay the hell out by O'Hare.

You are welcome on my couch for the duration of the trip, if you're still choosing to get a hotel your location to transit will probably be the biggest convenience factor.

You can close your eyes and still not miss a liquor store in this town. If there's 1 particular night that everyone wanted to get together and my house wasn't the best option, I could probably chip in towards part of a night's room cost.


If you REAAAAALLY wanna get Jazz out have everyone meet up at Cody's. That is down in Lakeview, there is City Suites on Belmont, the Days Inn on Diversey.

---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 AM ----------

I honestly think Lakeview by might be your best location choice if you want something cheaper than the Loop - it will have you close to BMG, fewer lines for places compared to being downtown, and more options on a weekend. Downtown tends to shut down slightly on the weekends since all the business folks are gone home.

Hmm. Put me down as a maybe. I live one state over, so I won't have to coordinate a whole lot to get there. Just need to find a place to sleep.

I got dibs on the dumpster behind Monkie's house. I figure it'll be quieter than the dumpster behind Smeth's pad.

I also got dibs on calling Jazz "You sonuvabitch!" in a loud Arnold Schwarzenegger voice in a bar packed full of strangers.

So does this mean I should make sure to pick up the Terminator movies before you get here? :p

Pfft, you know I have them on widescreen DVD. I will be bringing them.

I got the surround sound, so we're good to go. And what was up with trash bags and duct tape? What the hell you planning?

Shush, you. That was in a PM for a reason.

...

Let's see... myself, Spinelust, Monkie, Jazz, Smeth, Lirpa... I've got two other female friends in the area.

This could be a dangerous party. I like where this is going. Somebody notify the national guard.

Trash bags and duct tape... And 30 feet of plastic sheeting?

Somebody fix the thread title.

http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...sScrewed-1.jpg

Title Fixed.

Also just FYI Chicago is BRUTALLY cold in January - I was trying to come up with possible body warming stations.

Not sure how touristy you want to get, but something I looked up today and saw:

Free Days:

Museum of Science/Industry -Fri 14th/Mon 17th



I'll add to the list if I find anything else. BMG tickets can be gotten for $35 a pop plus a couple bucks service charge. I think we can definitely plan for that.

It's weird. Every time I come back from a business trip, I end up in Chicago. 2004. 2007. 2011. And it's always in the friggin' winter, too.

Heh... body warming stations? Why do you think I'm bringing Spinelust with me? She's going to carry me in a papoose.

You win. :D

I will only call you a "sonovabitch" in a Korean accent - NOT Austrian. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Jazz, make reservations at Dorsia.

Update.. I'm moving, but I'll be relocated before the shindig starts.

Because this apartment is bigger and laid out a little bit better (including 2 full bathrooms) Purplelirpa if you want to bring your roommate's air mattress I should be able to accomodate you and your boyfriend too :)

If I was still living in Ohio, I would have driven to Chi to crash this party. Please turn on chat if y'all play naked twister.

Oh, god... somebody had to mention it. I wanted to stick with normal party games like Pictionary and Cranium, but no... we gotta get all freaky.

Oh, it's on.

/me wants to go to chicago, but not in the dead of winter; i've been bitten by the "hawk" before...

Phil you know you're welcome anytime.

I've been scoping out the new neighborhood... I now have the exclusive down low on the nearest liquor store, dive bar, 24 hour diner, Five Guys, and the police station. Just in case we can't find Plan 9 anywhere.

Give me your intel. I want to start mapping things. I love making maps.

I need names and addresses.

Liquor Store - ___
Dive Bar - ___
24 Hour Diner - ___
Five Guys - ___
Police Station - ___

(okay, I don't really need these things, but it would be fun to put a map up for others to follow)

Liquor Store - Hahn Liquors, 1410 West Devon Avenue
Dive Bar - Cuneens (Cunneen's Bar Chicago)
24 Hour Diner - Deluxe Diner, 6349 North Clark Street
Five Guys -6474 North Sheridan Road
Police Station - 6464 N. Clark St.60626
Cody's Bar 1658 W. Barry Ave.60657
Delilah's Bar 2771 North Lincoln Ave.60647


More Places!

Giordanos 6836 N. Sheridan Rd.

Gino's North 1111 West Granville Avenue

Ann Sathers! 5207 North Clark St.60640

You're awesome (and so accommodating), Monkie. How do you feel about mothering my legions?

Maps to follow.

I was an RA in college for several years.. it amounts to the same thing, LOL.

I had residents knock on my door at 2am convinced there were WMD's hiding in the moon.


Anything else you wanna map out, throw it up here. I could almost do a "where in Chicago are we?" with scavenger hunt clues. And make you guys find something. With a special prize (aka your daddy) waiting for you at the end.

Man, I wish I had the money for this trip just so I could watch the hilarity that would ensue as a result of that scavenger hunt.

I would never forget to get some giordano's on a trip to chicago. I'm glad you've mapped one that's close!

If it were summer time, I'd love a scavenger hunt!

I have a 45 minute layover at ORD on Sunday the 16th. I'll wave. :lol:

Noods that close and not able to join in on the fun?! You should forget to get on your next plane.

COVERT OP... we're going to abduct Noodle.

Call Baraka. We'll need his sweet GMC van.

This is coming up fast!

Can't wait to see the committed folks...anyone else interested in coming please feel free to chime in here and I'll accomodate as many as I can. If your plans have changed, please let me know as well so I can make sure I know what to expect!

I am thinking about stealing my whiteboard from work for the weekend for Pictionary.

I had a dream about Chicago last night, well more O'Hare and waiting for smrt's plane to land but not being able to find this secret terminal. I had to call in help. Smeth and ono came and helped me find the terminal and then we were all headed to Xoco for dinner. I woke up before we got to eat. :(

You had me at whiteboard. I freakin' love those things.

Do it. Seriously. I love Pictionary and this will help tremendously.

I will see what I can do!

Man my couch is comfy.. I slept on it last night.

Awesome. I'm way excited. Only another month or so.

And who gets the couch anyway? Anybody call it yet?

Couple of options:


I have a full size sleeper in the couch, plus the chaise side is also long enough to sleep someone else.

Then there's a queen sized air mattress.

You're coming the furthest... take your pick.

We'll do the math when I get there, I suppose. You got room for one more? She's like a female Baraka.

We should be able to make it work. I have the confirmed guest body count as 2 right now.

Lirpa if you're still thinking of coming please get back to me ASAP.. i'm going to go with who can confirm.

So Plan, go ahead and bring your person, just let me know as soon as they are bona fide.


oh. and side note. I've met the male baraka and he's a cool cat so this should be a fun one!

Lirpa is a total flake. I talked to her last week and she wasn't sure. New job and stuff.

And I'm on it. I PMed you about this new and amazing person. Lemme know 'bout that.

All the money I'm saving on a hotel room is going to booze and party games. Yeehaw!

I'm going to need Jazz's and Smeth's addresses so I can place the camouflaged bear traps.

EDIT: Damn, you're fast.

even faster than you think, lol.

What does mean?

*looks at gaping hole where his left kidney used to be*

Sonuvabitch!

is this new bird by any chance the chick you were talking about in the 'hi how are you, heres a picture of me naked" thread?

cos if it is, im there

Don't you have a cave to spelunk or something? Drunken debauchery doesn't seem to be your bag, brah.

Total flake, ha! I started a new job and I needed to see which week I would be sent to cincinnati for training. Turns out, it's not until my 7th or 8th week, so all is good for that weekend.

*folds hands*

My plan is working out better than expected.

*readies the organ-harvesting tools*

...

Seems like we've got a full house. And here's the roster.

On site and oiled up for naked Twister:

Amonkie
Spinelust
Plan9
Non-TFP Girl
PurpleLirpa
PurpleLirpa's Manchild

To be hunted down and skinned alive:

The_Jazz
SecretMethod70
Onodrim

...

Are you excited? I'm excited.

Pick up your liver and follow me!

You forgot Ono!

My bad. Roster updated with additional person that needs to be skinned alive.

It currently looks like I'll only be available for one full day if I'm lucky and maybe a night or two after 9. I'll be in the general area though, so we'll at least make it at some point to meet everyone :)

Pfft.

You act like I don't have the ability and inclination to find you.

I will find you. And I will make you take a picture with me.

Gang signs optional.

It looks like Saturday night is the night we'll have the most number of people in town since Lirpa plans to come up saturday and leave sunday.

So I would say if there's limited time lets plan on at least 1 game night for the saturday night?

I'm all for keeping the fun going... I don't really have a big list of anything I personally need to host but I would say bring what you'd like to have to snack/drink. I'll take care of having plates, utensils, etc. I should have enough pillows, blankets, and sheets to get everybody squared away.




If we do have to make a grocery run... we don't have too far to go at all.

Oh, there will be Pictionary and/or Cranium on Saturday night. I'll need to buy said games and supplies at the nearest shop that has them. Target, maybe? I'm also thinking bowling would be a great idea. Group activity where we can get gently inebriated while knocking over pins and doing ridiculous victory dances. The pistol range was also mentioned. I owe Spinelust another trip and I'd be glad to show anybody interested that guns don't kill people, mustaches do. Grocery/alcohol run will be first priority. After that I'll set up a RDP, ready an LP/OP team and prep my wooby for extreme toe-curling action in my hide site. I should have my noon-to-4 AM sleep schedule down by then so it won't matter how late we stay up. My liver, however, is pretty weak and may betray me. I'm going to need to make sure to carry cab fare or have somebody else drive me around after I've had my 2.25 beers.

I'm buying 9er's 3rd and 4th beers.

Cranium and Pictionary will both be procured before you arrive.. Have no fear. Yay for Target giftcards!

Games on hand count will be:

Chicago Bears Style Yahtzee
Twister
Apples to Apples
Pictionary
Cranium
Poker chips
Zombie Fluxx
Regular Playing Cards
Bunko

Jazz... you'll be buying him the King of the Midwest Beers...only the best... PBR... right? :p

Alrighty another update.

I did some research on bowling lanes and realise that for the size of chicago.. we're actually pretty limited on bowling alleys that aren't OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive.

But I found Timber Lanes

Timber Lanes Bowling Alley

Which has lane rentals for $20/hr or $2.50-3 per game and $3 shoe rentals. I was thinking maybe we put in a reservation for either Friday night or Sunday night. Does this sound like a possibility? If there's a preference for one day over another let me know ASAP and I can call in to reserve a lane or 2. This place is old school... so manual scoring. If we'd rather have electric scoring another option would be Lucky Strike in downtown - lane rental is $45-65/hr, or single games at 6.95 plus $5 shoe rental.

On my agenda are a stop to Giordano's at some point on Saturday, and an Ann Sather Sunday morning. Mmm...pizza, cannolis, and cinnamon rolls. I am bringing Boggle, for sure. Probably some woodchuck, too.

Both can definitely be accomplished... especially if you want to take Ann Sather cinnamon rolls home with you, they have them boxed and ready to go.

I love cinnamon rolls. Mmm... so good and soft.

Yes, this will be a part of my master plan.

And now the game count is up one.. I have convinced a non-TFP friend that the board is a pretty cool place and she's interested in coming and giving TFP a test run based on how game night goes.

This could either be really awesome, or else I think she may be traumatized for life.

Two TFP-virgin females? Hope you have enough room for both pentagrams.

I think we all need to invest in these:

Lucha Libre Masks

especially for bowling and sitting in bars. 9er, you'll notice they also have adult-sized capes.

And thus, an idea was born.

WITH A CAPE! WITH A CAPE!

Oh this is now epic.

I was thinking about Misfits war paint and a leather loin cloth. I'll also be needing treatment for hypothermia.

This is a significantly warmer option.

...but not nearly as cool.

*rimshot*

You're going to seriously state that a loincloth and facepaint are cooler than a mask and cape? Did pai mei hijack your account?

I'm going to miss bowling, board games, loin cloths, cinnamon rolls AND Jazz in a motherfucking cape?!?! My face is going to be glued to the airplane window attempting to get a glance :lol:

Noods... any way to just delay your last leg home? I'd be willing to help with the ticket costs after you guys put up with me for an extra day in October.

9er - this idea is so cool that it made noodle say "motherfuckin'". Get on the trolley, boyo.

Isn't it utterly apparently that I'm so far off the bandwagon that I've been Pluto'd by my peer group?

United f'ed me over, I'm not swinging through Chicago on the way home any more (and that's an overnight on the 22nd), going through Dulles. The way there I have all of 40 minutes around 9 am-ish (ha! amish!) on the 16th. And I have to check in in SB by 5pm, urgh. United keeps cancelling flight patterns since they merged with Continental. I'm going through four airports each way. Nutty.

Bad timeframe for me, can't make it.
Entertaining a friend from California as she visits Cincinnati Children's hospital. Also, school is starting and I have a yearly review writeup due.
I hate it when life gets in the way of a perfectly good meetup.

Is seeing Blue Man Group still on the wishlist for the weekend?

If it is.. this is the site to watch:

Hot Tix - Half price ticket program offered by League of Chicago Theatres

I personally wouldn't go unless I could get the ticket from this site as the prices are $34.95 (50% savings off normal ticket prices). The site will most likely have the tickets up if there are any available for that weekend by Wed Jan 12.

Ok! Another option! Just talking to Spinelust about our mutual love of bourbon and Delilah's is a great place to hit (http://www.delilahschicago.com/)


PLUS!

On Sunday the 16th they are having a free Monster movie night.. from Roaring 1968, The Japanese film Destroy All Monsters starring none other than Godzilla himself. Plus bourbon and beer specials.

Also right up the road from Delilah's is Codys which is was the site of our TFP Chicago New Years Day meetup in 2010, and Jazz's favorite place in town.

Booze + Destroy All Monsters? Oh, its on. That sounds great.

And I'm wondering if anybody else wants to do BMG. Anybody?

visit was too short

Dlish, does that mean you'll be coming out too for more time with the Ninester?

sure..if you can make the snow disappear!

No snow out my window!

No snow here either. It all melted on New Years Eve...

Where the hell am I? And why is it cold?

SO - TIMELINE!

I know there are a couple TFP folks in the area who haven't chimed in lately that might be interested in coming or meeting up with us at variout points, so just going to kind of outline what's on the agenda so there's a tentative idea of where we're at and what we're up to. All subject to change depending on hangover status, Plan's smooth spot, and weather. PM me for my address and # if you don't get my blitz PM today.


Fri 1-14 AM

9'r and Spinelust surrender themselves to me as my hostages until Monday afternoon (BWAahahaha)



SAT 1-15 AM

You all are on your own for Saturday morning..sleep and snooze away at your peril, as wet noses will investigate. I'll be back from Top Secret Military Training by 1.


SAT 1-15 PM

Pizza! Games! Booze! Orgy!
I can either whip up DIY pizza dough and pizzas or the consensus is Giordanos - see above for address/info.
Games at my house.


SUN 1-16 AM
Brunch. Cinnamon Rolls. Hangover Food.
Preferred list so far has included Ann Sathers of the Andersonville variety. ETA to be determined on how much drinking happens the night before.

SUN 1-16 PM

Codys Bar

Delilah's Bourbon/Whiskey bar - Claymation Japanese Godzilla movies! (Movie starts at 6pm)

MON 1-17 AM
Lots of people go home. plan and Spinelust still my hostages but only for a while. Plans up in the air.

I'm in for Saturday night and possibly Friday afternoon.

Hey, wow, all kinds of planning happening of which I had no clue! Well, I know now, skinning alive will not be necessary! :p (Thank you amonkie for PM blitz! :) ) I think that I can definitely be around for Saturday dinner/games (I'll bring Taboo, it's the only one I have that's not on the list) and probably Sunday morning brunch as well. Smeth should be able to join us later Saturday night if nothing else, possibly Sunday breakfast if it's early enough. If I do stay in the city Saturday night then I'll probably crash at Smeth's temporary place, sounds like amonkie's already got a pretty full house. :p Looking forward to seeing everyone! :)

I am looking forward to Saturday night. Especially a visit from this:

Attachment 24654

Fortunately we'll have the right guy in the room to deal with all the sewer vapor that's going to be produced.

Somebody has to handle all your hot air and bullshit.

Each of those compartments look big enough for a body.

Exactly.

:hyper: I can't wait to party with all you crazy party people. I'm packing my underwear as I write this.

I've been looking for an excuse to use that picture for months.

So the party has begun...


What better way to kick off a voyage to Chicago than the ritual to enjoy Chicago Style hotdogs? And no place better than Superdawg.

They were kinda hungry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3051.jpg

Hey! Look there's 3 of us.... Lets see the count grow as the weekend goes on!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3052.jpg

Apparently.. the Superdawg hot dog boy is Plan's Smooth Spot Twin

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3053.jpg


Making the first run for stuff.. in the picture:

Pictionary
Jim Beam (BIG BOTTLE!)
Yellowtail wine
Captain Morgans
Coors Light

Kashi
Milk
Coca powder/butter - Monkie is baking a cake tonight!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0114011439.jpg

I see no masks, no loincloths and no motherfuckin' capes, bitches!

shit, probably warmer up there than here - wish i could have made it...

Woooo! I'm excited.

9er and my dog have befriended each other. Dog was making such a fuss about being given a treat he decided to see what all the fuss was about.


Wow! Its a big shiny box! Sure got the dog's attention

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3058.jpg


Hmm... looking at the ingredients list. This actually sounds pretty yummy. I think I'll try one!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3059.jpg


What do you mean I have to share?? And yes. He did actually eat the cookie.. we all had one. That dog is a little spoiled I have to say...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3060.jpg



And the group is growing... we added 1 for dinner at Heartland Cafe.. the lovely ONO!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSCN3054.jpg


And just as I crawled into bed since I have to get up ridicously early, 2 of 9ers non TFP lady friends showed up. That means right now the count in monkie's apartment is 4 females.... 1 male.