Eep! Thanks for the reminder PM, gardentraveler. Scottish Darling and I are IN, of course. We will be able to meet up at 5, I think. Yay!
Um, where are we meeting again?
You’re correct. Suggestions? (Also - did you get my e-mail? Send me your number so that I have a back-up communication plan should stuff get confused/wrong etc.)
I’ve also PM’d and e-mailed Haze, since I know her internet connection is sporadic at the moment.
Sorry you can’t do lunch, Dinsdale.
thirdwarning, how early will you be downtown? If you’re interested in doing anything before 5, I should be around. I’m still planning my itinerary - I’ve got Friday and part of Saturday to myself…
Updated list:
Mr. Bus Guy
HazelNutCoffee
eleanorigby
interface2x
gardentraveler
Sarahfeena
WhyNot (just responded to your e-mail)
thirdwarning
Shibboleth (maybe possibly - you should join us - it’ll be fun!)
- BusWife and Scottish Darling
I’m planning to call Giordano’s tomorrow to check on reservation/call-ahead possibilities. I’ll post the plans tomorrow night sometime and will update once I get to Chicago Friday morning. (I’m supposed to have both free wireless and not-free computer access, so even if my laptop doesn’t work for some reason, I should be able to post.)
And again: suggestions for the 5:00 pre-dinner meet-up?
GT (I am so looking forward to this!)
I suggested a place to meet early - it’s a bar in the Palmer House - I only thought of it because it’s …ok, it’s fairly close to where you’re staying and a reasonable walk to the Giordano’s.
And, I’ve kinda hung out there in the past.
For people coming in on the El, it’s right between State and Wabash, only a block off of Michigan, and it’s kind of big and roomy.
OK - how’s this?
Friday, September 7
5:00 Big Downtown at the Palmer House (hotel address is 17 E. Monroe St; restaurant listed as 124 S. Wabash Ave).
6:30 Giordano’s (135 E Lake, Prudential Plaza)
If they take reservations at Giordano’s, I’ll make them my RL name, but will ask the restaurant to send members of the Cecil Adams party in our direction. We’ll be ones chatting up a storm, so you may not even need to ask.
PM/e-mail me if you want a contact phone number.
GT
I’d really like to come and that’s about a block from my office, but everyone hates me here and I’m crazy anyway. Have fun!
VCO3…I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say don’t be silly! You should definitely come.
Hey, come on along. If we’re going to hate you it would be nice to put a face on you and make it more personal, right? Besides, we only hate you on paper. 
Seriously, I promise not to yell at you if you come, and I’m too old and slow to beat you up.
The thing is, I’m ridiculously likeable, friendly, and outgoing in person, so it causes MAJOR cognitive dissonance for people that already know me from online, where my Mr. Hyde comes out due to the lack of social mores and constraints. “Wait, this is the guy that said that the coming culture war would be fought against the Mexicans…why do I LIKE him!?” :eek:
Well, THIS mexican says so long as you chew with your mouth open, or anything else unsanitary, you oughta come along. Like thirdwardning says, next time you get Pitted, one of us might jump in and say what a swell fella you are in person.
Or not, but you don’t know til you try.
I might seem like a normal, relatively bright, normal guy from here, but when people meet me, they tend to suddenly remember appointments, so you see? That can go both ways. 
My thoughts exactly.
Another vote for “you should come”. The more the merrier!
Shit. I live in Ohio and almost tempted to take a cheap roundtrip flight to Chicago just to see if this is true. 
As a Mod, if you come, you get the check, right?
You should. That’s what I’m doing. (Well, the cheap flight from Ohio part.)
Anyway: Giordano’s doesn’t take reservations. I told them we’d be a party of about 12 and had planned to arrive between 6 and 6:30. They said we should try for earlier (between 5 and 5:30) if we wanted to avoid a longer wait.
Preferences? Do we want to move our arrival time at Giordano’s up?
Here’s the updated list:
Mr. Bus Guy
HazelNutCoffee
eleanorigby
interface2x
gardentraveler
Sarahfeena
WhyNot
thirdwarning
Shibboleth
VCO3
samclem
- BusWife and Scottish Darling
Off to pack.
GT
Sure, because of my incredibly high salary from modding.
[sub]Hey, guys, I was just kidding. I really, really love my coffee cup[/sub]
Seriously, you guys have fun. Wish I could be there.
My suggestion would be for those who can, get there around 5:30 and put a name in for the table. If you get seated, have some drinks, and maybe put in the pizza order (the pizzas can take a pretty long time to arrive).
I’m not picky about pizza…I’ll eat whatever everyone wants to order.
That’s what I was thinking… I’m about to leave for the airport and will try to post an update once I’m in Chicago.
For the moment, we’ll still plan on meeting at Big Downtown to make sure we catch any stragglers and then move on to Giordano’s pretty quickly.
Haze: I included my cell phone in my PM in case you have trouble finding us.
I’m really looking forward to this.
GT
Wife and I will make the Big Downtown just about 4:45, she gets off work at 4:30 across the Loop. We’ll hang there a bit then plan to start walking to Giordanos just before 5:30. If we’re first, we’ll grab a table, if not, we’ll find whoever does.
I’m totally bummed. I wanted to attend the next Chicago dopefest, but I’m already committed to attending a concert tonight.
And I work only 3 blocks from Giordanos!
Maybe next time.