# ChiDope 2005

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 28, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191 "2005-06-28T13:44:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/1 "2005-06-28T13:44:21Z")

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We haven’t had one for a year and some folks think the time has passed but I disagree. We need something to revive interest in this li’l club of ours. I would be pleased to be involved in organizing, sending out personal invitations ;), and such but remember that I am a boring person who has no idea how to have fun (\<–True Fact!) so I’ll need some help planning and selecting venues and so on. If we divide the labor it should be no big pile of work for any one person.

Questions to ponder:

1. When is a good weekend? Should we wait until Fall when folks are done with vacations and to give people time to plan their travel?

2. Should it be spread over the weekend, including get-togethers on Friday and Saturday nights and touristy things during the day?

3. Anybody know a place that serves food, has a large enough back room, isn’t too crowded, and where we haven’t already worn out our welcome?  
Being a boring and stuffy person, it’s easy for me to suggest some groundrules for behavior. Please remember that this is supposed to be fun for everybody, not just a few, so:

4. No trashing any of the venues. It ain’t 1968 and we ain’t The Who.

5. No illegal drugs. I would’ve thought this was a no-brainer but it turns out it isn’t.

6. No public sex, pretend or real. Okay, MINIMAL public sex. Some people are even more easily offended than I and I refer you back to the “fun for everybody” statement.

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**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/2 "2005-06-28T17:24:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Anybody know a place that serves food, has a large enough back room, isn’t too crowded, and where we haven’t already worn out our welcome?

Tijuana?

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**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/3 "2005-06-28T17:46:13Z")

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I don’t know, Tijuana’s kind of crowded, IMHO.

😉

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/4 "2005-06-28T18:14:53Z")

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Tijuana? The Happiest Place on Earth? I was sorta thinking someplace in or around Chicago but it’s a thought. But we’re brainstorming and in a brainstorming session there are no bad ideas.

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**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/5 "2005-06-29T01:47:59Z")

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Methinks you are going to have some attendance issues…take a look around and see how many ChiDopers as of least year’s gathering are still currently enrolled here, and you’ll see what I mean.

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**Author:** ![BrattiAtti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@BrattiAtti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrattiAtti)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/6 "2005-06-29T03:30:58Z")

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Ooh, ooh! Hold it the weekend of August 6 & 7. I’ll be in Cedar Rapids, IA and was tentatively planning a day trip to Chicago for the 7th anyway. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/7 "2005-06-29T03:53:20Z")

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I, too, am available in the mid-August to mid-September range. Count me in as a definite maybe.

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**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/8 "2005-06-29T05:14:53Z")

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While I _live_ in Chicago, lately I’m rarely anywhere _near_ Chicago.

But if I’m at home that weekend, I’ll definitely engage minimally in some implied public sex with other Dopers.  
And might I suggest, one of the days, a bar-b-q/picnic at one of the many lovely beaches in town? Perhaps Montrose Beach?

Happy

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/9 "2005-06-29T11:48:36Z")

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> [@Happy Lendervedder](#):
>
> And might I suggest, one of the days, a bar-b-q/picnic at one of the many lovely beaches in town? Perhaps Montrose Beach?

How about Wilson Beach? We can play with the doggies!

Montrose Beach is okay too, though, I guess.

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**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/10 "2005-06-29T12:22:14Z")

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I wasn’t at any previous gatherings, but wanna try and make one this time around. Anywhere sounds good to me, even playing with the doggies!

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**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/11 "2005-06-29T12:42:37Z")

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It’s tough for me and Mr2U to get downtown - but if anyone feels like stopping in the NW Burbs, let me know…

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/12 "2005-06-29T12:59:00Z")

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> [@mr bus guy](#):
>
> I wasn’t at any previous gatherings, but wanna try and make one this time around. Anywhere sounds good to me, even playing with the doggies!

ditto.

Never been to a Dopefest, though. Is it a family friendly sort of affair?

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/13 "2005-06-29T13:41:24Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Is it a family friendly sort of affair?

Some of the previous Chicago ones: no, not really, but while that was sometimes part of the fun\* it was also a sore point. There is no reason why this one can’t be perfectly respectable, like that beach party idea.

- 
  - Elsewhere, they have been described as “drunken frat parties” but I guess drunken frat parties have milded down in recent years because they are more “people talking loudly” than “at least nobody died.” There have been momentary exceptions and some people have exagerated those incidents to make them sound more like a scene from a Cecil B DeMille epic than they really were, but you know that the people here have more in common with Napoleon Dynamite than Napoleon Bonaparte. Real “shocking” incident: The zipper on a busty attendee’s blouse kept creeping lower. She didn’t notice it but the guys did and one took advantage of a whiteboard in the room to chart its progress. Not exactly \*Penthouse Letters \* material.

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/14 "2005-06-29T14:07:14Z")

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> [@Eva Luna](#):
>
> Methinks you are going to have some attendance issues…take a look around and see how many ChiDopers as of least year’s gathering are still currently enrolled here, and you’ll see what I mean.

Yes, but I know some of the places they hang out so I crossposted there. Plus some people complain about the same old cliques being at these things. It’s time to form NEW cliques.

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**Author:** ![TopherX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/50afbb/32.png) [@TopherX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TopherX)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/15 "2005-06-29T16:30:26Z")

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Meeting at one of Chicago’s beaches sounds great to me.

One idea I have for a fun eveing would be getting a group of Chicago dopers and playing Whirlyball. For more site visit:

[http://www.whirlyball.com/chicago/chicago.htm](http://www.whirlyball.com/chicago/chicago.htm)

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/16 "2005-06-29T18:55:46Z")

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> [@Kyla](#):
>
> How about Wilson Beach? We can play with the doggies!
> 
> Montrose Beach is okay too, though, I guess.

Wait a sec–I thought you were off to the Peace Corps! When’s that happening? We could plan around it and maybe make it a “see ya soon!” party.

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/17 "2005-06-29T18:57:38Z")

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> [@TopherX](#):
>
> One idea I have for a fun eveing would be getting a group of Chicago dopers and playing Whirlyball.

There’s been one of them within walking distance of my house for about fifteen years and I’ve never been there. Looks like fun!

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**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/18 "2005-06-29T19:25:43Z")

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I’ve always been away at school or overbooked or whatever to have attended previous ChiDope events. Not this year…prolly.

I express interest in a noncommittal sort of way.

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/19 "2005-06-30T13:23:02Z")

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Bumping to keep the momentum, as it is, going.

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**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidope-2005/310191/20 "2005-06-30T14:30:51Z")

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I’m game.

Minimal public sex really doesn’t interest me much (but might be fun to watch!).

My problem is that I work every other weekend (12’s) so I would either need advance notice to get the time off or I could not go-and just play like I did (huh?).

Anyhoo, having lived near Chicago for most of my life, I can say with certainty that I know of nowhere to go. Chicago is a place I plug into to see museum exhibits, new shops and the like.

I don’t get out much (Jeebus I’m boring).

But whirly-whatever sounds like a blast–and more family oriented, if that is needed. I can go either way.

Apologies if this sounds less than enthusiastic, I am interested, just have a headache at present.

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