A Madison gathering!

Seen on the scene in Madison




[size=7]only it's big,redandIrish or so i've been told[/size]

So is it going to be the Great Dane? It sounds like a winner to me.

Setanta could probably manage this one :

he is soooooooooo gonna get me for that



<ducks and runs>

So, a little side note here. Back in Seattle, back in the near past, there's a place with truly enormous burritos, Gordito's, it's called. Good food. Huge food. Someday, somehow, I will return to there, and challenge someone to an eating contest of those burritos. Might setanta be my predestined enemy? I dunno. But bring the (aforementioned) Beano...

Have you been to the "Burritos as big as your head" place, yet? (In Madison... forget the name.)

Great Dane does look good. My only hesitations are a) crowding -- I bet it will be big with the homecoming crowd, and there aren't enough of us to make reservations on a Friday, b) light level (lowish), and c) background noise level (highish.) All of these could prove inconsequential, and I haven't seen any real competitor yet. And they have a fish fry, too!

Patiodog, have you come across any ideas?

Here we go -- "La Bamba"

http://www.labambaburritos.com/uploadedfiles/Menu%20chart(1).pdf

But the idea is that you wouldn't HAVE to fake it, hopefully. Is there any situation that makes it easier for you?

para bailar la bamba!
para bailar la bamba
te necesito una poca de gracia!
et al...

looks good.

have only gone out to eat/drink once (except for random pizza and bagels) and that was to the Angelic for lunch, which I'm sure would have all of the same problems you cited for Great Dane on a Friday night, particularly one as auspicious as homecoming (when, to be perfectly honest, I'd planned on leaving town until it came to light that it was contemporaneous -- excuse me while I abuse my native tongue -- with the gathering). sorry to be of such little help, but my restaurant of choice until they send me my loan check (any day now, I am assured) is my back deck.

all of which is odd, because usually upon arriving in a city the gf and I have scoped out the local eateries and watering holes within a couple of weeks. 20-something going on 80-something, I guess...

How many of us will be there Thursday night? Me E.G. ehBeth Setanta Patiodog patiogal...? (We have hotel reservations for thurs, fri and sat nights, since the price was more than half off for all 3 nights if you check in on a thurs as opposed to fri, we're not sure yet which two we'll actually use or if we'll stay all three nights.)

Thursday could beat the homecoming crowd.

Can't do Thursday, Soz. I'm using up all my vacation right now.

OK. Friday 'tis.

I'm flexible; my idea of long term plans more or less is to go with what happens I'll be around Thursday night, and figure on levin' for home sometime Saturday ... how late depends on how things stack up. Heck, I could even leave Sunday ... no big deal. Looks like Mrs Timber is gonna go on to Chicago to see family. Dunno fer sure if she'll be a dinner partner for Thursday, though ... depends on timing and weather and all. We'll see. The critters are handled through to Sunday evening anyway.

Please tell mrs. timber that we'd really like to meet her.

I've been browsing through my little atlas. Figuring out which roads look interesting. I am really looking forward to this vacation and gathering. Heck, I'm so excited I dropped half of an oatmeal-raisin cookie in my tea.

Yes, would definitely like to meet the Mrs.

I'm excited, too!! ehBeth, if you have any questions about Madison at all let me know and I'll see if I can get you the inside dope. My knowledge is somewhat out of date, but I'm finding that a lot of it's not (Babcock hall ice cream still rocks) (you MUST have some) and I have friends who can get me the rest.

I'm so excited about seeing my friends, too! Some of 'em haven't ever met the sozlet. Gonna be fun.

Question I have been pondering, haven't decided, thought I'd put it to y'all to see if that pushes me to one side of the fence or the other -- whether to have an interpreter. On paper, this is a nightmare communication situation -- 1.) a group of people who 2.) I have never met before. I mean, those two factors are about the biggest in terms of successful communication -- one-on-one is infinitely easier than groups, familiar people are infinitely easier than strangers.

But you're all weird quasi-strangers -- while I don't know your expressions, what that particular smile is likely to signal, I DO have some idea of what kind of thing you would say.

I'm tending now toward having a terp at the beginning as backup, so I can start to figure that stuff out (facial expressions + words), then as things get more clear, going solo. If I go solo, I'm going to be annoying about telling you when I don't understand, as I'm NOT gonna be in the mood to smile and nod.

What do you guys think?

Do what ever makes you the most comfortable. We'll be fine either way. Just so you know, when I give you that particular smile, you should feel your leg being pulled

hmmmmm - i guess we've sort of hit on the edges of this by considering lighting and sound levels for the friday night gathering. i'd say that the need for an interpreter would be greatest if the first time most of us meet is friday night. If you can't be there til Friday night - I'd say grab an interpreter. If you can meet some/several of us Thursday or Friday during the day, I'd guess that the need for an interpreter would be lessened. We'll be a smaller group - if a group at all - and we can be in quieter settings to begin with. After a couple of hours, we'll all be used to all the whats, say that agains, etc. Setanta is famous for 1) faking having heard something and 2) telling people he didn't hear something. I asked him the other night if my accent would be an issue for you - does an accent effect lip-reading? He does a fair bit of lip-reading, so I've always kind of wondered about this.

I know you'll do this in the end, but my or worth (i'm rarely satisfied with 1 cent) would be to go with whichever truly makes you most comfortable.

well, there ya go - swimpy already said it - brilliantly and tidily!

Beth is your avatar a picture of you?

It's sort of me, swimpy. It's me when I was as much younger than sozobe, as sozobe is younger than I am now :wink:

Someone made a comment about my poofity hair elsewhere, and I remembered that I had this pic which is famous for the poofityness of my hair that day! Thank goodness for better cutters and good conditioner.