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Meetup #3 on June 18th?

Discussion in 'Local Prius Club Main Forum' started by TonyPSchaefer, May 11, 2005.

?
  1. Yes

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  2. No

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  1. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Let's aim for June the 18th.
    Just to share, June the 19th is my birthday. :birthday2:
     
  2. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    4 votes so far, also, since somebody suggested picnic, if that happens, and we have access to a grill, or someone provides one, I will use this to gauge number of people coming, 'cause I will provide ribs............. 8)
     
  3. madams

    madams New Member

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    Tony,

    Did I miss a post about another meet-up?


    Martin
     
  4. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    To help you out: Meetup #3
     
  5. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Location is still up in the air. I was thinking about mixing it up a bit and moving around, but don't want to alienate anyone because of the length of their drive. However, I hope that if everyone understands that everyone has to drive eventually, there will be no hard feelings.

    With that said, who knows of any local happenings? I was thinking that a festival, ball game, or other summer event would be fun. Not only that, but we could maybe show off our cars and educate a few passers-by.

    I have a hankering for a few of Matt's ribs and I mean that in the least Hannibal Lector way possible. The question is where to grill? Unfortunately the Schaumburg Flyers are out of town that day. And the more I look at the members map, the more I'm convinced that the Schaumburg/Wood Dale area is right about center. But if anyone knows of anything going on that would be convenient, interesting, and providing ample parking, throw it out.

    I'll try to scour the net for local events. Hell, it's a June weekend; something's gotta be going on somewhere!
     
  6. sparky1015

    sparky1015 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"88684)</div>
    Sorry, I can't make the meet up. I'll be in northern MN on a fishing trip. :(

    Tony, have a happy birthday!! Mine's in July (hint-hint!)
     
  7. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    That's okay, Sparky. Can your car make it?
     
  8. sparky1015

    sparky1015 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"93375)</div>
    I haven't taught it how to drive itself, yet. :p
    My wife is "afraid" to drive it. LOL can you believe that!?!
     
  9. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    My wife came home from work this afternoon, changed clothes, and said, "I have to run some errands and I'm taking the Prius." And out the door she went.

    She's in no hurry to get one of her own, but she enjoys toying around in mine from time to time.
     
  10. sparky1015

    sparky1015 New Member

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    My wife says she's "afraid" to drive my Prius....but, I'll bet ya a nickel, when I come back from my fishing trip, there will be 200 more miles on the odometer. Bet she takes it out and "plays".
     
  11. Bill60546

    Bill60546 Member

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    Just wanted to confirm if we are on for 6/18?

    Please note that the MN group is having a Prii meetup the same day at 3pm. I used to live in MN and its a wonderful place but we have to be able to beat those Golden Gophers. Anyone figure out a way to video conference via the MFD? 8)
     
  12. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    Yes, fearless leader :D Tony, what are the plans?
     
  13. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    We are on for June 18th with 7:1 of the cast votes in favor. Sorry Sparky. :-(

    The only outstanding issue is location.
    Bill has suggested a Kane County Cougars baseball game. I think it's a wonderful idea especially since we can tailgate, Matt can bring some ribs, hopefully someone can bring a grill. We can print up some information documents and answer questions of passers-by.

    Looks like tickets are $7 - $10 if I understand their site correctly. Perhaps more gameday. But still not much.

    If you are wondering where the Cougars play, you can use this map:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3322800+Cher...,1.252937&hl=en
    Once again, I think I have the longest drive. One of these days I'm going to seek my revenge and plan a meetup in Gurnee. Bwa-ha-ha-ha.

    Speak up on your thoughts for the Cougars game one way or the other - just speak up. If I don't get many responses one way or the other by the weekend, I'll send out a bulk email soliciting responses.
     
  14. Bill60546

    Bill60546 Member

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  15. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    Sorry to rain on the parade for now... but Kane County Cougars do not allow tailgating in their parking lots. That doesn't stop us from grilling somewhere else, like a forest preserve.

    Since the discovery of this, I have been researching where to grill. There seems to be two ample forest preserve in Geneva area (both are about 5 minutes away from the stadium). The first is Fabyan Forest Preserve. I'm kinding digging this one, because I think we can definitely make a calendar pic out of this scenery:
    [Broken External Image]:http://www.co.kane.il.us/Forest/Images/fabyanfp.gif
    Fabyan has 3 grills, 4 shelters.

    The other one is Gunnar Anderson, and it has 1 shelter with a grill.

    I haven't found out how much a reservation is, and if anyone is a resident of Geneva or Kane County, they might be able to get a better rate (I know DuPage county gives better prices to residents versus non-residents). We can also not reserve, if any shelters are empty and unreserved when we get there, it's ours.

    If this seems viable I will try to find out reservation pricing tomorrow, so we have a better idea.
     
  16. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Bill sent me a PM including this:
    So it sounds like we should try hard to get 20 or more people. With a relatively small group so far, that might be a bit difficult. My wife works on saturdays and she's allergic to nerds so she doesn't really want to come to meetups.

    According to the site, lawn seats are $7 and we supply the chairs, blankets, and whatnot. Gotta be honest, though, according to the aerial photo, the lawn seats don't look like a great viewing place. Looks like their in the extreme corners. But for just hanging out and being a group, it's probably our best bet.
    http://www.kccougars.com/general_info/index.html

    So if Bill would check out the arrangements of the ball park and Matt would look into the national parks, we will be that much closer to getting things going. I think both ideas are great.

    And I'm going to throw this out for this group. If anyone wants to get ahold of me, try my cell at 847-33-88-66-5 or for you traditionalists, 338-8665. It's just that it's a little difficult to organize things via threads and PMs. And if you call during regular business hours and I don't answer, I'm in a meeting so leave a message. And there's always my AIM: tonypschaefer.
     
  17. Bill60546

    Bill60546 Member

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    Will advise tomorrow.
     
  18. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    Okay, more research done. First of all, I think there's only lawn seats available to the game. That's all you can purchase online. More may or may not be available. I think if we entered together early enough, we'd have a good chance at sitting together on the lawn, of course bringing our blankets/lawn chairs/E-Z-Boy Lounger.
    This is what the view looks like from the lawn area.
    [Broken External Image]:http://www.kccougars.com/general_info/3rdbaseside2.jpg

    Group discount for 20-149 people is a quarter per ticket according to the website. :roll: Although benefits besides discounted tickets is "Special welcome over the P.A. system and on the matrix board", (how cool would that be? 8) "Chance to present the Colors, sing the National Anthem or Take Me Out to the Ballgame," (who's singing?), among others.

    I will check on reservations on shelters, and post back with findings.

    Edit: Group tickets might be beneficial if there is a chance of selling out. (Do these sell out, I guess it would be possible, but unlikely.) The cost might be significantly bigger though, depending on turnout. (I'm just looking at our vote numbers, $140 7 ways is $20 a ticket) Let's find out definite info and hopefully we'll have more input tomorrow.
     
  19. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    It costs nothing to reserve a shelter at those preserves. :eek:

    Unfortunately, they're booked, for Saturdays/Sundays, she said you usually need to call early, by a few months. :|
     
  20. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    So Matt, am I to understand that you didn't reserve one for next year? jk

    Are we trying too hard to make the baseball idea work? If I remember correctly, one of the main reasons we thought of something public such as a baseball game was so we can park together, hang out with our cars, draw a little attention, talk to curious people about our Prii. But if the baseball game doesn't allow tailgating, we're just a bunch of people going to a game.

    I know that other groups meet at Startbucks and the like. The first Chicagoland meetup convened in a Starbucks - mostly because it was freakin' cold. And the Weber Grill was a pretty good location with plenty of parking space and ample seating.

    Perhaps we can find a place to meet, have a cup of joe or a late lunch and then go to the parks for pictures.

    Thoughts?