So, it appears I’m going to be in Chicago from the 19th till the 22nd February. Anyone interested in dinner/drinks/general hijinks?
Well, tax refunds should be coming in about then… and although bills will chomp up a good percentage of it … any excuse to party’s a good one!
How 'bout beer ‘n’ bowling? (I reserve the right to substitute bourbon for beer at any time, as my Drunken Kegler Style is feared throughout the Fifty Prefectures… er… wards…)
Beer and bowling sounds good… Provided we can round more people up! Do I have to start bribing people with chocolate cake or something?! 
Hm. Have to say, as usual, I will sign up to join y’all, then chicken out at the last moment. So… There ya go. 
Well, any thoughts as to day/location? I’m not terribly knowledgeable about places for beer or bowling (I don’t drink beer, and I suck at bowling), but I used to live near the Hopleaf, which not only has about half a billion kinds of beer, but yummy food as well. Or if people want to get food elsewhere in the area, there are about half a billion choices, ranging from Persian to Swedish to yuppie Korean to homestyle Japanese to Vietnamese (depending on how exdpansively one defines the neighborhood) to lesbian haute cuisine.
Lesbian haute cuisine Eva? The mind boggles. I suck at IRL bowling too (I can bowl on the Wii though!) and somewhere with beer and good food would be good (and the Hopleaf looks brilliant, and has Polish mead – win!!).
Saturday night (the 21st) may not be the best, given I have to be up at silly o’clock to catch a plane to San Francisco on Sunday morning and I’m not sure I can do plane journeys hungover (plus I doubt that the boy would be too impressed ), which leaves us with the Thursday or Friday nights, and I think Eva, as my kind and lovely host would prefer not to be out too late on a Thursday night… So, um, Friday night?
ArrMatey!, no chickening out! I mean, its not every day you’d get the opportunity to spend an evening in the company of a mildly insane Brit now is it?
The Hopleaf looks like a winner! They have Scotch eggs, which that thread a while back has got me so curious about I can almost taste the cholesterol now… nummy!
Friday the 20th looks good too.
Seconding the request that you, ArrMatey!, not chicken out. Come on out, it’ll be fun! Dopefests always are (so sez me, the proud veteran of cough one). Besides, if you do, it will prove the superiority of ninjas forever more and also you will be eaten by a grue.
In the event you happen to find yourself downtown either of those days and want to have lunch, let me know.
Oh my goodness, does this mean you are willing to come out of your self-imposed Doper exile? I’ve changed jobs twice (three times, if you count jumping firms with the same boss) since the last time I saw you in person, but I’m still more or less in the neighborhood.
Oh, again, like I said, I’ll sign up now, but my history is chickening out at the last moment (I’m a bit of a social-phobe). This being said, I really -will- try to keep the time open!
And… Ninjas? Grue? Please. sheesh
There are few things that would brighten up these dreary winter months more than the prospect of lunching with you, my dear.
If not when Angua is in town, please just name the date and place. (Fridays - or any other weekday - are better for me than Thursdays when I usually work at home. And as long as this snow sticks around, you know I won’t be golfing!)
And if you’re lucky (?), you may even get me to drunkenly explain the astrophysics I do… Unless Eva wants to tell you to run now!
Dinsdale, I would love to be able to meet you for lunch or otherwise… However, Thursday I’m playing connect the dots, aeroplane-style between Huntsville and Chicago and won’t arrive in Chicago till the evening, and Friday daytime appears to have been taken over by a bunch of grad students from another messageboard… Which leaves Saturday at any time or Thursday evening… Although you’re more than welcome to join us on Friday for lunch – whatever’s good for you…
Gee, the opportunity to lunch with an astrophysicist and a bunch of grad students! How could I pass up an opportunity to make myself feel both ancient and ignorant! 
Well at the moment its an astrophysicist and a grad student… And I imagine the conversation will be strongly biased towards cookery…
If it helps any, I’m neither a grad student nor an astrophysicist…
Although I hear the later one isn’t exactly rocket science! Bada bing!
Yeah, I kill me. This is why I don’t go out much.
I’m in, pretty much anywhere in town. The 20th is great for me.
I know, I’m so agreeable.
I have an afternoon appointment at Western and Fullerton on the 20th, so I might cab it over to Hopleaf that evening.
Of course I bailed out last second on the last one so don’t include me on a final count just yet.
Had it worse, have you? Well then, you’re just the hardy type to come out for dinner at the mini-Dopefest!
Pffft. I don’t even have a B.A. I don’t think we’ll have to compare resumés at this little shin-dig though… and as for ancient… um… well… can’t help you there, Yoda. cough
Hey, so long as there’s good company, good food, and good drinks, what more does one need?
BTW, its going to be cold isn’t it? (And bear in mind I’m in India at the moment, where “winter” involves daytime max temperatures of 25-30 C and nighttime lows of around 10-15C!)