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I'll be taking the train, instead of a plane, to Chicago. Went that way last time and it was much cheaper and a very enjoyable trip. But then I have to figure out how to get to whereever the convention is from the train station... probably will get off at Naperville instead of downtown Chicago.
I'll help financially however I can, with my limited resources. Is AJ in charge since she's in Chicago? We need one central coordinator.
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Christy and I will be driving, and her parents live just a few minutes from the station at Naperville -- so if people arrive there, we can shuttle back and forth.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I'm willing to be sort of a "clearinghouse" however both xnera and TomD and Christy actually know more about the area than I do since I'm a newcomer.
xnera what hotel is it? There are a gazillion along Algonquin Rd. between Arlington Heights road and Golf Rd., and those were the ones I was thinking of. But they aren't as close to the train station.
My younger sister actually lives in Naperville, and I could probably ask her for transport, but I hadn't even decided whether or not to tell her I will be in the area -- since I don't know whether or not I will have time to visit them much...
(wait a minute! This sister and her husband are the ones who gave us our FIRST OSC book and got this whole thing started! Maybe I should say something to them......)
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Does anyone think there is any chance that if enough of us show up, and really beg and plead, that maybe we could convince OSC to make a "surprise appearance" for at least one day of the con? Totally unofficial, of course...
after all, Kama is coming all the way over....might be her only chance to meet him...
JatraqueroCon Con Jatraquero Chili con Jatraquero UmbrellaStand Con Jatraquon RiverCon KamaCon SombreroCon The Con That Cannot Legally Be Named Crystal City Convention RackCon RaqCon
So, are we trying to get the dates yet? Mid-August, when? And how long?
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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As the others say -- the earlier in August you can do it, the better, for me. Kids start school around the 15th or so -- I couldn't leave then.
now Addendum -- IF my son gets approved for that summer research program that I really hope he does, it ends on August 20th, and I may have to drive to Seattle to pick him up. So there is no way I could probably do both these things in one month.
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Wait wait wait...Mooses in Buffalo? w00t!!!!
Ahem...Chicago is actually a pretty cool idea. It's not impossibly far to drive, and I've never been there.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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My mom confirms that I have several cousins in the Chicago area. (Actually, the conversation went something like this: "Well, there are the Xs--" "Oh, right! I forgot that's where they live!" "--and of course, the Ys--" "They live in Chicago TOO?" ) So I probably can wrangle somewhere to stay.
Have we decided on a part of town yet?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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well that will make your kosher food easier to acquire as well.
I'm all for saving money. But the fact is that the assorted relatives that have been mentioned with locations for people to stay at are scattered all over Chicagoland. Chicago traffic is worse at rush hour than L.A. traffic, partially because it is less predictable (other than slow) and harder to time. Weekend evening traffic can be just as bad as rush hour traffic becuase all of the suburb people are streaming in and out.
All I'm saying is even if we do have one central designated location, people staying with relatives becomes problematic (with rivka's case because she has the whole kosher concern I understand, but we can't make exceptions for everyone either.) The other possibility is making it more like a tour group. We could stay wherever we choose and then all meet at time X at Union Station to do activities P and Q divide the group to eat at Z and R and then have free time on our own until time Y the next day. We wouldn't have as much unity and cohesiveness but it would allow people to both hang out with each other or do other activities as they see fit.
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We need a central location with a conference room somewhere for a home base. Where else could we fence? People can stay elsewhere, but I suspect that plan will be blown out of the water the first night and people will want to sleep on the floor of the conference room before leaving the hotel.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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My understanding from my mom is that we have friends and relatives in lots of Chicagoland areas -- hence my question. I need to know which relative or family friend I'm sponging off of. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Yeah, that's a factor for me, too. If I do end up coming, I'm going to end up spending the weekend at my grandmother's house in Rockton, which is pretty far from Chicago, all told. If I can wrangle up some money, I might be able to get a room somewhere, I dunno.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I would strongly advise people NOT to stay with family, if they can avoid it. Sharing a suburban hotel room gets the cost per night down low enough that it's probably doable for all but the poorest individuals, and I don't see why we couldn't take up a collection for lodging the same way we plan on doing for Kama's airfare. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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While it was a motel six, I think it ended up being about $15/ person for a night with 7 people when we went to the OSC Cinci signing. I'm guessing everyone spent about $10-$15 on food too.
If we guaranteed quadruple occupancy we could probably keep it that low. Once again it depends how fancy you want to go with lodgings. The other thing that we can do is go to grocery stores rather than resturaunts for breakfast cereal etc. I have a Sam's and Costco membership and can get non-kosher sandwich platter trays for uber cheap as well as their pizza or other things.
But it depends on what people want. If they want it on a cheap budget I'm willing to do things like this but there has to be a bit of uniformity in consensus. There is an awesome Cheescake factory in the bottom of the Hancock center too, but that is a different order of magnitude in cost.
We could plan on cheap do it yourself breakfast and lunches and then splurging on dinner once during the time too.
Are we talking 2 3 or 4 days for the duration of this event as well?
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If enough people are coming, it might make sense to rent a Condo for the weekend rather than try for a hotel conference room. This would give you cooking facilities and alot of flexibility for the number of people and the activities.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Rabbit where do you go to look up that kind of thing? I am wondering what the price range would be on something in the city. The other major problem with anything downtown is parking for those of us who have vehicle.
Maybe something outside of the city would be do able but i don't knonw where you go looking for weekend rentals.
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Yeah, both these weekends are cool with me. The only difference is whether I'd come a weekend before to New York, or the Con weekend (or a bit earlier (Thursday?), to Chicago.
I will be taking a direct flight to either of these cities, which is more expensive, but at least I'd be sure I won't get lost at an airport somewhere in Europe. Actually, if you guys are really willing to contribute to my trip, it would be easier if I paid the plane fare, and you paid for my hotel bed during the Con Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Ok can someone do a head count and see how many people we actually have wanting to attend right now?
If you wanted it to be extremely low budget, and were willing to sleep in sleeping bags and on couches we could probably fit 15+ people at my house. Those who have been there know how huge our family room is, and we have more room than when you last saw because all the computers have been moved out and into one of the bedrooms.
By August we should have all of the bedrooms fixed up as well which would make room for even more people. It wouldn't be high class, but it would be homey. I do have dogs so people with major allergies could have problems.
It's an offer I thought I should throw out there...
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Or we could do some sort of financal need based program, where those who are broke can stay at my house and those who wish to have a motel room of their own can stay at a nearby hotel.
I was just thinking that while we could give the Meese a bedroom of their own for staying with us, they might prefer a bit more elbow room with two small children.
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It is just Steve and I and neither of us smoke. The previous occupant was a non-smoker as well.
Oh yes the dogs are Cardigan Welsh Corgis. www.phi-vestiavia.com will give you an idea. I will have two for sure, Jake and Ciara and possibly a third puppy, though not Lucy the one I have now, because she is going back to her breeder. She's beautiful but has crooked teeth which means she can't be shown. I've only had her for a month on a trial basis anyway so while I'm bummed out about it I'm not totally attached to her yet.
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AJ, you're in/near Skokie? Wasn't there a thread somewhere where you posted your address? *goes hunting*
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Even though I have family up there -- I will plan to stay in whatever hotel/convention center we all agree to meet in -- share room to cut costs -- but I don't want to miss even a minute of the action. So I don't want to stay anywhere with relatives.
That would be kinda like living "off campus" in college -- you miss all the good stuff.
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I work near Skokie, The town I work in is actually Morton Grove which is the next town over from Skokie. I live 13 miles (about a 30 minute drive) to the Northwest in a town called Rolling Meadows. It isn't within walking distance of a metra line but it is about a five minute drive away and at the worst it would take two or three trips in my mini van to get everyone to a train station.
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Anna, trust me. Everyone is going to want to stay in the same place.
Ask the people who missed out WalMart. It's terrible because the fun keeps going even after Good Night is officially declared.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I like the idea of a condo, if enough people come. I think $20 a night is well worth the cost.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Kat right now I'm throwing out brainstorm ideas. My house is one option if the group is smaller. I don't think we really have a handle on numbers of people considering coming, and then you have to cut that by 40-50% to go from "considering" to actually coming.
The greather IL-WI-IA clump has 8-10 members and a couple random significant others. Then you start adding the near Indiana people Theca, Jenny Gardner, Celia (+/-Bill) and maybe Hobbes (if school is in sesssion). I'm forgetting someone in Michigan.
Then add the Bloomington area clump which contains at least three who might show up we are up to.
So that brings us to about 17ish in local people. Take 2/3 of that due to scheduling conflicts and you get down to around 12. So that would probably be the nucleus.
Now we start counting the farther away people. Going through the two main threads of people who have actually SAID would come or expressed interest. Kama <Main attraction!> (would come) rivka (would) fizako (would) Anthro (might) Lalo (likely, unless his bike broke down in Montana) Calvinmaker (could. but didn't say would ) Farmgirl (would) Olivet (might) ak (might but depends on if in country) JohnnyNotSoBravo (might) Meese <main attraction #2> (would since we picked the date for them!) Derrell (might) mackillian (might.. particularly if a Cubs game were an enticement) saxon75 (interested) Bob_Scopatz (might?) MaydayDesiax (might) Ryuko (wants to) pooka (might) katharina (might?) The Tick et al. (might?) Rabbit?
These names are all from this thread Now cross checked from rivka's thread Bob tL (better come if we find vegan food) twinky (with bob?) Annie (maybe... if we can get Hobbes there?) Shan (might)
Hey farmgirl could you turn this into one of your wondrous spreadsheets?
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Hmm... I'd add in 4-5 for unexpecteds. There were at three unexpecteds at WenchCon, and that was in Georgia. Justin came out of the blue, and Taalcon decided at the last minute.
The get-togethers seem to be getting bigger. WenchCon last year was 11, and this year it hit 22.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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blacwolve I like the idea of a condo too, but from what I've seen the cost is exorbitantly high and cant handle more than about 10 people. My house out in the suburbs would be nearly as good if not better than a condo, which is one of the reasons I threw it out there.
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) So I probably can wrangle somewhere to stay.
