Chicagoland FOFCers Get-together (aka NERDFEST '07) - Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007 - DONE!
 

I hate the agency that books my company's flights.

It took 24 hours to get us to Honolulu via Tokyo.

It'll take another 24 to get to Chicago via LA due to the long wait time in-between flights.

At least I've already gone through immigration, so that's done.

Anyway, after 14 years, I'm finally back in the US. :)

Woot! And I thought my flight from Dallas to Frankfurt to Johannesburg was brutal... :)

There are lots of Italian beef sandwiches and Vienna hot dogs waiting once you land in the Windy City. Good luck finding balut, though... :D

um, welcome back? ;) :)

sounds like a brutal trip, though.

/tk

Neon how long are you in Chicago for and would you be interested in meeting FOFC'ers?

+1

Just arrived! Woot! Hey Barkeep, I'll be staying in Tinley Park, actually. I'm sure I'm available during the weekends, I'll be here until November.

Then there's no excuse for us not arranging a get-together.

I agree. Of course my weekends fill up fairly quickly, so I would love for us to pick a date sooner rather than later so I can plan ahead.

Sweet. Sweet. Give me a week or so to get my bearings and adjust. :) I'm currently looking for an apartment around Tinley Park, right now I'm staying in a hotel/inn.

Yar. Especially as I'm no longer flying to SF each week.


Ditto. My calendar's already pretty full through September.

I'm up for a get-together as well if/when we nail down a date.

Can someone give me an estimate of how much you guys would spend on food for a week for two people, if you were going to cook?

If you cook absolutely every meal? I guess a lot of it depends on what kind of food you "cook" and all. I'll throw out $100 as an estimate, with probably a little more for the first few weeks to buy spices and other ingredients that you'll just use every so often.

we're looking to keep it as simple as possible to cut costs. mostly fried food probably.

Ok I'm going to throw out the date of October 7th. What do people think of that?

Tinley Park, eh? I was just in Homewood for two and a half weeks (i live in hungary now). 100 bucks for two people sounds a bit right unless you go completely budget (Ramen noodles are what, a buck a pop?).
By the way, if you don't have insurance, get some, pronto! My daughter got appendicitis and it had to come out. (she's fine). Go ahead, people, take a guess at the bill. Try 16 grand. That's one operation and 3 nights at St. James in Olympia Fields. We were smart and bought travel insurance. They say they'll pay, but we'll be holding our breath until it's final. Great care, but wow.

You can get Ramen noodles for 10 cents. 20 if you're not looking for sales.

And October 7 should work for me.

I do have insurance.

And Oct. 7th should work fine. I'm sure the Company would have exhausted all the tours of Chicago by then. :)

Cool, will start laying the groundwork for October 7th.

That is a Sunday - hmmm, during football season.

Bears are in Green Bay that day, but it's a night game.

I wouldn't expect to be out of South Bend that weekend, and SB to Chicago is an easy trip. If it's not something running late in the evening, I should be able to take the train there and back.

Looks like it's two more weeks for me in a hotel. The company is trying to look for a short-term lease (3 months) on a condo around here. I can't take much of all this eating out. Ugh.

And I never expected the weather to be this hot. It's like I never left the Philippines. Does it cool down around late August?

This has been a warmer and sunnier than average summer, I would say. Don't worry you'll have plenty of time to experience fall and winter in the next 3 months.

Yeah, it's been more crappy than normal recently (weather wise).

Caught the Rush concert here in Tinley park over the weekend.

Alright, I've been to Navy Pier, Woodfield Mall, and Six Flags over the weekends during the past month or so.

Do we have a list of people for the FOFC get-together on Oct. 7?

Holy crap, I just got through staying at the Fairfield in Tinley Pary...

I'm looking very in for 10/7.

Seems like my calendar is clear for October 7 too.

I think I'd be good for 10/7.

I'm unfortunately busy that weekend. Paintball game.

Unless the weather sucks, in which case I'm in.

if it wasn't Texas-OU game that weekend, I would have tried to make it up there.

So are we planning to get together to watch football the afternoon of the 7th? If so, sports bar or someone's place?

Wow, didn't realize how many of you guys are from the area. DeKalb, IL here.

I'm not sure halfway across IN counts as "from the area"... :)

I plan on making the trip up from Cincinnati

Sweet looks like it's going to be a good get-together.

I'm still in.

I should be in as well.

I'm out, unfortunately. My wife leaves that evening for a week+ business trip and she'd kill me if I spent our last few hours together somewhere else.

By the way flere.

I STILL have yet to get you tracked down for the pint I offered to buy you.

Jerk. :)

Is this going to be an evening thing? or an afternoon get together? Just trying to get my schedule set.

Dammit! I would make the trip up there just to get the beer that Lathum owes me, but I'm going to be in Abilene that weekend...

Why would you go all the way to Chicago for a Miller Lite? :)

Good point... :D

:mad:

Can we start thinking about where we are gonna go?

I'm not picky about time or place but I am gonna get a hotel room for Sunday night and I need to know where to look.

Any place is good with me. Should we head out toward's NC, since he might not know the area that well? I don't know of anything around there.

I'm in the Southern Suburbs, Tinley Park.

I could venture into the city via the Metra. Will need to go home before nightfall though, unless someone has a car and will be going that way back.

Sports bars - do you want to go to one of the biggest ones or one with more of a neighborhood feel? Are there any people who live in the city and have a decent pulse for good places to watch a game these days? It has probably been about ten years since I lived downtown and did that from time to time.

Well, there is a Buffalo Wild Wings right in front of my condo...

:D