The family is off to a Lutheran Retreat in Wisconsin (why do “Wisconsin” and “Lutheran” go together so well?) on October 7 & 8. I have to stay home and take care of the dogs (boo-hoo!) but will be ready to get out of the house on Saturday (October 7th) night. Or afternoon, or ten minutes after the family leaves. Anybody want to get together?
Now, many of you have probably figured out that I don’t know how to have fun (why does that go with “Lutheran,” too?) but I am open to suggestions. I understand there are many fun things to do in the Chicago area that do not involve computers or museums. Any suggestions? Just get together for some real pizza and beer at some central location and talk the day and night away? Like I said, I’m open.
Of course there are things to do in Chicago that don’t involve computers or museums. Why, there’s the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium and the…ow, ow, that hurts, stop throwing things.
The pizza thing sounds great to me. Stuffed, right? None of this “thin crust” fakery.
Maybe we could. (I’ve outed myself as a Doper to my wife. Maybe she’ll understand me getting together with people she would call “total strangers.”) But won’t you be in town for a better reason than meeting Dopers?
Well, whatever you decide to do, keep me informed! I live in the far north Burbs (5 miles from Great America), but I’ll be happy to Metra into the city for a big event…
I’m in! I was wondering if Chicago would get a Dopefest anytime soon.
As resident of Chicago for the past 10 years (as in I have actually lived in the city for 10 years) I can come up with a 100 different things to do (or is that a 100 different bars to go to?). Define the parameters (loud, mellow, funky, normal, out-of-the-way, in the middle of everything, standing, sitting, diversions or blank walls, etc.) and I can point to the place you want to be.
Anyway…I’m up for it anytime, anyday. I live about 3 miles from the Loop. Anywhere and everywhere is easy for me to get to. Just name the place and time!
Ironically, I’ll be in town to meet another group of internet friends. Go figure. One of them has a wedding so she’ll miss part of it. I figger I can miss part of it, too. And I live close enough that no one trip is overly special–I can always come back to do what I didn’t squeeze in the last time.
Sheesh! Where have you people been? The Chicago Dopefests thus far have been the biggest and most bad-ass of all of 'em. Anyway, it probably IS getting to be time for us to have another one. I’ll send an email to all the people that came to the last one to make sure they see this thread. Either of those weekends in October would work for me.
Since Chicago is the Home of the Straight Dope, isn’t it required that ChiFests be “the biggest and most bad-ass of all of 'em?” (I’m big and have a really bad ass, if that helps.)
Hmmmmm, mid-October. Too late for Cubs World Series tickets (by about a century). Jeff won’t be in town and Cranky was already cleaned out at Cedar Point, so I don’t have to worry about us going to Great America (a tough place for people to get to know each other, anyway). My 15-yr-old daughter wants to tag along, so we’d have to limit the bars to ones where I could beat up any guy who hit on her ;). (I don’t even know the rules about bringing a minor to a bar-bar if she is your kid. She would think it was SO COOL, though!)
But we’re still brainstorming. All ideas are good while you brainstorm. And we don’t need to decide for a month and a half.
Think we could con—I mean, ENCOURAGE—Ed into joining us?
A 15 year old? Egads. So far the ChiDopefests (and Springfield, too) have been huge drunkfests and not exactly the kind of thing you’d want to expose your child to. We have a big lush contingent - me, Flypside, Omniscient, and that’s just off the top of my head - and boy oh boy, Flyp and Omni get obnoxious when they’re drunk ;). And at the last one, Gaudere beat the hell out of Android.
If you’re talking about a more PG-13 kinda gathering, I have NO idea what to suggest, other than what Kat already said (tables & chairs, not too loud). I guess someone could pick a restaurant and it could go on earlier in the day. I don’t know ANY bars in the city that are teenager-friendly. I’m not saying they don’t exist, I’m just saying I don’t know of any of them.
But (and I mean this in the least-rude way possible), if you really don’t know how to have fun, I’d bet you’ll ease into it better if you’re NOT having to worry about chaperoning your teenager. You’re going to be meeting a whole bunch of new people that you only know from the board, and she won’t have a CLUE who any of us are, and it could just be weird for both of you. Just my thoughts on that.
Agreed. The Spiffled bar bill came to … I don’t remember. A lot of money. A round of drinks at the first ChiDope was, I think, about $60. At Spif, Omni was dirty-dancing, and Flyp was wiggling his hips suggestively and there was much debauchery and even boy-boy liplocking. I wasn’t at the last ChiDope, but I saw the pictures of Omni’s bum…this is not something you want to bring your kid along to. However, you should bring an easily concealed tape recorder, a hidden video camera (or a digital camera, because DAMN it sucks waiting for people to get their photos developed) and condoms…just in case.
WHAT!!? The condoms are for the WaterSock fights and throwing out the hotel room window! Sicko perverts.
I’m in! I’m still kicking myself for missing the shindig in April… Valerieblaise, how about that place you told me about in chat that’s in Rogers Park? That sounded good, but it might not exactly be PG rated.
Whooohooo! Hell yeah! I hated missing April…damned legal drinking age. But September 26th and I’m 21, yee-ha!
And listen to them dropzone, I was at Spiffled and it wasn’t even appropriate when we were still at the restaurant let alone when we took the party back to hotel. I think it would scar your girl for life if she saw my boyfriend Jophiel kiss UncleBeer yet again. And believe me, this crowd knows how to drink, be crude, be rude and party hearty. understatement of the year
Plus there is the earlier point that you’re meeting us weirdos for the first time and you really don’t want the added pressure of having to keep an eye on your daughter. So I have to cast my opinion in there of it would be better if you didn’t bring her, at least this first time. Believe me, we’ll have another one all too soon after this one, I guarantee it.
I know it’s early in the decision process but given what Kat said (and I agree) I have two suggestions.
Sheffield’s
It’s one block north of Belmont on (you guessed it) Sheffield. Less than a 5 minute walk from the Belmont El stop (Red and Brown lines).
Sheffield has a nice beer garden which would be great (weather permitting), a VERY good beer selection and a full service bar. They also make the best Bloody Mary anywhere. No food except free pretzels and mustard but food can (and frequently is) delivered there. Guthries
It’s about a 10 minute walk west of the Addison El (Red line) on Clark street.
They have a cabinet 'o games people are free to pick from. Makes socializing that much more fun. They have a quite good beer selection and full-service bar. They also have a minimal amount of food (they’ll cook a pizza for you and maybe two or three other things). They also have free pretzels and mustard.
The downside to bith of these bars is they suffer from their own success. In the afternoon they’re great places to be but can get quite crowded in the evening.
I gotta get going. Keep the ideas coming…I’m looking forward to this.
