I’m management now, although I won’t be managing anybody for a week, yet. But the sign of a good manager is the ability to delegate responsibility to the person best suited, by virtue of skill level and the fact she volunteered, to handle it. Val, it’s all yours.
Valerie…want me to dig out all those hotels again? 
Wow, I’m in! Valerieblaise even knows where my house is.
:: bump! ::
Another bump. Have we decided on a weekend yet?
A tentative yes from me.
That should get the Teeming Millions coming out of the woodwork.
Ain’t no kinda party like a Mi-lo party, cuz a Mi-lo party don’t stop …
Looks like Oct 14.
October 14 should be good for me. My sister’s birthday is the 15th, but I haven’t yet heard anything about her coming up for the weekend.
Hey, dropzone, if you still anticipate needing to get out on the 7th, you could always organize a mini-dopefest for that day. Perhaps a pre-dopefest minifest? 
I’m a maybe. I’m back in town on the weekend of the 9th/10th september for a wedding, so I won’t be able to afford another regular flight just a month later. I’ll try out last minute standby…on past experience, I’ll have about a 30% chance of it working out. That’ll free up a good amount of working capital for beer. And you’ll need it. Every penny. Well, cent.
Oh, and if anyone happens to be getting drunk on the 7th/8th 10th/11th september anywhere interesting, count me in!!!
I’m a tentative maybe. Now, if I manage to land a job between now and then, it’ll become a definite.
::grumbling that I gotta check MPSIMS::
Waste
Flick Lives!
How many people are we talking about? The places I mentioned aren’t big but they’re not tiny either. Both can hold 75 people comfortably.
I will say they have a helluva lot more character than anything you’ll find in the suburbs or near O’Hare (especially near O’Hare).
Be that as it may give me some more defined specs for what is required and I can recommend several fun places. I just bought a place in Bucktown. That particular neighborhood is loaded with bars of many types as well. Now I have a reason to explore all of them again (as if I needed a reason in the first place…it’s part of the reason WHY I moved there).
One last point…the bars I have mentioned so far are in areas loaded with bars. If we crowd out of one 10 more are within a few minutes walking distance. It’s always nice to have options…
The last few gatherings have been twenty-odd people. The problem isn’t that the bars couldn’t hold us, it’s that on a Saturday night in the areas you’ve mentioned, most of the bars get really crowded. You know, with OTHER people. If a bar is loud and crowded, we’re not going to be able to all sit together and hear each other talk.
Particularly if I am flying in, I would appreciate the gathering being someplace that isn’t all that complicated to get to, and someplace where easy access to “the passing out spot” is afforded.
As another flying in person, I’d agree with Milo.
One question: If I decided to come to this shindig, which airport should I fly to? O’Hare? Midway? I’ve been checking on airline rates and they seem to be the same, regardless of which airport I come in to. I’m just looking for what would be the most convenient (i.e., closer) to where the party will be at.
:::takes deep breath:::
My name is Veb and I’m a DopeFest jinx, but YES! I’m up for it.
(For the uninitiated, I’m the twit who managed to misplace the entire ChiDope gathering the last time–in the same hotel! And at the mini local DopeFest, the evening was hijacked gawking at a 5’ inflatable pink penis that wandered into the bar, carried by nubile maidens in halter tops.)
Fortunately, Chris lives near me now, and has promised to accompany me. Since she recognizes Dopers by sight, by gum and by golly THIS time I’d get to meet you folks!
Veb
Well, if Veb’s coming, I’ll need a nametag that says “I’m not Veb (but I’m still a Doper)”. flashes an evil grin in rubes’ direction, if he’s reading this thread
Shadowfox - O’Hare will most likely be the easiest for you.
It looks like we’re going to have a fair-size chunk of out-of-towners, so I’ll start making calls about getting a group rate.
It would be a huge help to me if everyone that is interested in coming would shoot me an email so that I can keep everyone informed as to what’s going on. Also, since there are two possible weekends, I guess let me know if either of them would NOT work for you. My email address is VBlaseC@aol.com.
::smacks Kat right upside the head with a Chicago River carp; the kind that looks like Hizzoner Mayor Daley (the dead one)::
Sulking,
Veb
Okay, I’m trying not to have a panic attack over meeting strangers on two consecutive weekends (deep, cleansing breath, empty your mind, let the breath out slowly and completely, repeat) but that sounds nice. A mini-fest first so I don’t totally freak (cuz I know some of the people) when the big one happens. (And to think I was a salesman. I just switched on a different personality and I could deal with it. Present job has me stuck in a cubical by myself and my xenophobic personality has a free reign.)
Everybody in agreement? The mini would be on the 7th, with the big one everybody is flying in for on the 14th.