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Good times all around tonight. If we can pull off shooting locally next time, there's lots more great food and beer where that came from!

I'm sorry guys, I have been off TR for a while due to some drama. I wasn't in town for this latest visit from on high. I apologize for not being more communicative.

So! We will just have to plan better for the next visit. At the very least, when mattsteg comes in November I think we should have a get together.

Keep this thread updated, of course, but let's use PM's when the time comes around. It's too easy for a single thread to get buried.

My anticipated schedule is attending a conference for work up in Baltimore Nov 19-22, uncommitted Nov 23, and Nov 24(thanksgiving) through Nov 27 visiting my wife's sister and her cats that I am unfortunately deathly allergic to. I forget exactly where my wife's sister is (she's moved since I last visited), but my recollection is NW DC suburbs in VA. If this timeline works for people, great. If not, I certainly understand, as it is a holiday week.

Works for me, I think. I usually drive to Norfolk on T-Day, so the evening before should be free. If you can swing it to be in VA instead of Baltimore that evening it would be mighty convenient. Bethesda MD might be a decent compromise, but if you're going to be headed to VA anyway...

I should be around then. When we get close enough to picking a day and time we can figure out logistics.

I'll be there tomorrow through Thursday. Anyone up for meeting somewhere? Bilbo Baggins was awesome. If this is too last minute, I am tentatively scheduled to be out again the week of Nov 28. Too bad I'm going to miss Matt's visit.

Yeah, I think we can work something out. What are you in the mood for? Food is a must. Need some range time? Or would you rather swing by the house and play on the projector?

Projector sounds fun. Probably too late for tonight. Wednesday I am in Arlington all day, although I might not have my own wheels until I get back to Fairfax. Tuesday evening is wide open at this point, although I might also be in Arlington for part of the day. Things are pretty up in the air at the moment.

What works best for you?

Yeah, BB was awesome. There's a range nearby in Alexandria if we do that, but anything is cool. I can try to swing by tomorrow. Wednesday is a no-go for me (chess club after school). Thursday is possible at this point.

Okay then! The plan is: Come by Chez Darkmage at about 6PM and there shall be food, refreshments and playing XBOX on the projection screen. Exactly what shall become food is yet to be determined, but I suspect there will be a grill involved somehow. Just a reminder - I live in the south side of Manassas (represent!) so plan on a significant travel time in DC traffic.

All gerbils are invited! PM me for directions, phone numbers and general sarcasm.

Sounds good, I still have your address from before. I'll call when I'm on my way.

Looks like I'm workIng later than expected, probably won't make it out Will PM if this changes.

FireGryphon, you were missed. Good food, better booze (Darkmage's vanilla vodka is awesome, which I still need to get the recipe for), and then we watched half of Dr. Strangelove. Excellent hospitality.

Then I decided to hit up the hotel bar for a nightcap and dessert and ended up getting hammered. Met some guys that used to be on the program I am working on (but are in town for something completely different, what a coincidence) and then some other random guys came down and wanted to order Irish Carbombs, so I had to join in for that. OMG, so drunk right now. Thank goodness for spell check in browsers these days. Other wise this would likely be unreadable.

Anyways... I love Virgina. Always have a good time. We definitely need to setup something the next time I am here for more people to show up for. But as long as I get booze, that's all that matters.

Matt: You don't want to miss out, make sure you make something happen. Good times shouldn't be missed.

Just to (possibly) get the ball rolling on the next one, looks like I'll be in the DC area December 13-14 timeframe... not sure of my exact schedule yet, but may be free in the evenings.

Yeah, bummed that I missed this go around. Especially the carbombs part :-p Next time!

JBI, keep the thread updated with your plans.

mattsteg wrote:

My anticipated schedule is attending a conference for work up in Baltimore Nov 19-22, uncommitted Nov 23.

This is still pretty much my schedule. Wed's more or less clear - may need to pick up my wife at Dulles around 9 - either that or her sister will. If there's interest I'd definitely be up for throwing together a meetup of some sort.

There's definitely interest! If you need to be at Dulles at 9, let's set up dinner beforehand. What's your preference? What's your price range? Are you allergic to anything? Do you have a fear of cats? Can you juggle? Does coconut make you itch? Do...

... I seem to have strayed a bit there. Sorry. What kind of food are you up for? Let's start with that.

On the food side open to pretty much anything, and flexible on price. General preference is for well-regarded, non-chain (or non-large chain at least) places, for just about any interpretation of that definition. Only real allergy is cats, but I'm going to be visiting them all week anyway, and I do not fear them. Juggling's a no go, but coconuts are all good.

Very well! Let's make this official...

Hear ye! Hear ye! All Tech Report Gerbils are invited to the Ice House Cafe & Oyster Bar in sunny downtown Herndon, Virginia this Wednesday night. That's November 23rd, 2011 for those of you who are into numbers. Reservations are for 6 PM under the name "Gerbil".

So come join us for food and discussions of geek pop culture, benchmarks, graphs and alcoholic beverages! Please RSVP through PM and I'll send you my cell #.

RSVP'd. Also checked my schedule and it's actually 10:30 that I need to be at Dulles. Hopefully more can make it on short notice.

Sorry team, but I have another engagement tomorrow night. Will have to wait for round 4...

Well, it was just mattsteg and me but we had a great time. And my ostrich steak was incredible.

Okay, I will be in Arlington (hotel in Rosslyn, working in Ballston) all next week. I am free on Tuesday and Thursday. Driving to El Casa de Darkmage is probably not an option.

The project I am on is winding down, probably only have one more trip in January.

OK, this is kinda lame. I'm here (Alexandria) for work. Originally thought I had stuff going on all 3 nights (Sun-Tue), but the co-worker I was supposed to have dinner with tonight just bailed. Probably way too short of notice to set anything up with anyone here, and I don't have a car (we took the hotel shuttle from the airport) so my options are limited. Tentative plan is to head out in a few minutes and make my way to the Capitol Brewing on Campbell Ave.

If any of the participants in this thread want to meet up there and see this in the next ~15 minutes, shoot me a PM with your cell # (or I can PM you mine back). Not planning on dragging the laptop along, so I won't have access to the forums/PMs once I leave the hotel.

As a beer guy, you should definitely go to Bilbo Baggins down in Old Town. Check out their beer menu: http://www.bilbobaggins.net/menus/BEERMENU.pdf

Will keep that in mind for the next time I am out here. Most likely next trip to this general neck of the woods is probably Langley AFB or PAX River though, not DC area...

I'll be out next week, probably the last time for awhile. Planning something earlier in the week would be better as I might not stay the whole week.

I wish I could be helpful, but it's crunch week at work. I don't have time to do anything but sleep, code and commute.

Looks like I will be here next week as well. Does that work better? I will definitely be here Tuesday (24th) and Wednesday evening. Currently scheduled to scheduled to fly in Monday, but they might want me to wait a day.