2nd Unofficial PF Gathering in Chicago

[dontdisturbmycircles]

Glad you all had a good time. The fondue looks really good.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

And, of course, we had Disney! I had already had a sneak preview earlier in the week (and have previously had a glimpse of their Disney shopping addiction), but I think Greg was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of Disney crammed into that home.

Had a wonderful time! If ZapperZ wants to retire from physics he'll be set selling tickets to his disney museum... I mean his house :) Thanks again ZapperZ!

 

[Moonbear]

But here's the chocolate fondue fountain in its working glory. ZM was about to dip a juicy strawberry into it.

And you can just see me twisting his arm to dip another strawberry in the chocolate to pose for the photo.

 

[G01]

That sounds like a great time. I wish I waited a couple of days to go to Chicago!

 

[Evo]

As Moonbear has mentioned, it was a terrific time. I certainly had a lot of fun. It was nice meeting Greg finally. We all resisted the temptations to bow at his feet and give him offerings.

The dinner went well, at least most of it. We had a slight trouble with the chocolate fondue fountain in the beginning, thanks to my stupid suggestion that we stop it from running while we add most stuff to it. Bad idea. It caused the chocolate already in the shaft to seize. Still, the chocolate was fine and we call dip all the stuff in it to our hearts' content. And just our luck, after Greg left, it started working again beautifully. So Greg, you got to come back!

I took a few pictures of our food layout. I think Moonbie took more. So here are some of them.

This is our food spread. We certainly had enough food to feed the whole block.

We even had some sushi rolls, courtesy of Costco.

But here's the chocolate fondue fountain in its working glory. ZM was about to dip a juicy strawberry into it.

All in all, a fun time was had by everyone. Hopefully, if I'm still around, we can do another PF gathering some time soon.

Zz.

WOW! That is awesome!

WELCOME BACK Zz & MOONBEAR. WE MISSED YOU!

 

[Moonbear]

That sounds like a great time. I wish I waited a couple of days to go to Chicago!

We can always do it again.

I didn't get to Giordano's, or Due's, or (Zz, what was the one you recommended, I forgot the name?). ZM and I were planning to hit Due's for dinner Friday night, or Giordano's as backup, but both were packed (not unexpected for a Friday night at dinner hour). Normally, we'd have waited, but we had tickets to Second City comedy club, so didn't have time to wait (I highly recommend it...don't let ZM's bad retelling of their jokes deter you, it's better than he makes it sound :tongue:...I was under the impression it was going to be a lot of political humor, which really wasn't something I wanted to listen to for an entire show, but the parts that are political are well done and NOT the tired old jokes on the current administration, and that's only an "anchor" to hold the show together, but otherwise, the skits range across a variety of topics).

 

[Moonbear]

Okay, a few more photos.

Here is a group photo of the PF attendees:
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/23/peoplegh3.jpg
Identities are concealed to protect the guilty.

And another view of the feast provided.
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2836/foodan7.jpg

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

WOW! That is awesome!

WELCOME BACK Zz & MOONBEAR. WE MISSED YOU!

U didn't miss me?

 

[Moonbear]

Okay, and a few more photos during the gathering (you'll notice the focal point was the table of food...I should have gotten a few photos of the Disney Museum Wing).

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8106/morepeopleop2.jpg

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/6820/people3bi8.jpg

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/7296/people4at7.jpg

 

[Evo]

U didn't miss me?

You were gone?

Actually, you are always here in my heart. :!)

 

[hypatia]

Wow, for a second I thought this was porn, except the black spots were in the wrong place.

Looks like a good time was had. And just look at all the yummy food!
I am now very sorry I could not make it.

 

[Gokul43201]

Now who on Earth would wear an "Animal Kingdom Lodge" tee? :)

 

[hypatia]

Yea that stumped me too:rofl:

 

[Moonbear]

Wow, for a second I thought this was porn, except the black spots were in the wrong place.

:rofl: I could have put the black spots in other places too, and just left everyone wondering...darn, wish I had thought of that sooner!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

:rofl: I could have put the black spots in other places too, and just left everyone wondering...darn, wish I had thought of that sooner!

They haven't been posted in the member's photos thread yet.

 

[ZapperZ]

I've had a few inquiries on when the next PF Gathering would be held. As you can already guess, there isn't a set, regular date for these things. The last one was arranged because Tom thought that he might be back in the area to do Taste of Chicago, and Moonbear thought that would be a good enough excuse to finally visit the city. So we had enough people around to turn it into a possible PF Gathering, and that's when it was announced.

So no, we don't have a set date for the next one. However, if any of you are planning to be in Chicago and would like to meet up, let me know. I'll send out feelers and see if anyone else might want to show up, and if there's an interest (we usually have a small group, but that has never stopped us from having a good time), we can plan on another unofficial PF Gathering here.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

When Moonbear spent the week here in Chicago, I showed her my neighborhood (Lakeview or sometime often called "Wrigleyville" due to its proximity to Wrigley Field). The block that I'm at has well-preserved typical Chicago mainly-Victorian greystone buildings and the elevated train tracks crossing it. It is such a great representation of a "historic" Chicago-style neighborhood that many movies and TV shows have been filmed on the street. In fact Drew Barrymore filmed a scene from "Never Been Kissed" right in front of my building.

Tomorrow, starting at 5 am, another film crew will be all over the block, including the alley leading up to my garage. They're filming a scene from the Universal's upcoming picture "Wanted". Supposedly, Angelina Jolie is in it, and people are hoping that Brad Pitt isn't far off.

But that isn't the best part. This weekend on both Sat. and Sun., is North Halsted Street Market Days. It is the largest neighborhood street fair in the Midwest. And it is just down the block from where they will be filming! Now I have to tell you that Market Days is not your typical, run-of-the-mill street fair. Let's just say that there will be 3 stages where there will be music performers, a lot of bars blaring music, and very, very "festive" crowds. In other words, they will be LOUD! This, of course, in addition to all the crowds that are heading to and from the fair. The film crew will be blocking my street completely from access by both vehicles and pedestrians.

But wait, there's more! Somewhere in the middle of the block, there are a couple of no-parking signs being reserved on the street on Sunday the size of a moving trailer. When this occurs, there usually is someone planning on doing their moving that day, and have already gotten the city's approval to reserve a parking spot on the street. Since this is a one-way street, if there really is a moving trailer truck, they will have to pass through the area blocked by the filming crew!

I am planning on parking myself on a lounge chair tomorrow in front of the building and watch all hell break loose! :)

Zz.