Official A2K Gathering in Chicago, May 7th, 2006!

Just so no one's worried about me: I probably won't be able to make it up to the North Side tomorrow. I hope everything goes well, though.

Relax about the pics, folks. The other guests at the Duke must have thought we had a strobe light at our table. :wink:

I don't doubt it, Bill. That Walter is one photographing guy. And if there are two or more of them....? You run the risk of snow-blindness.

Where are the pictures? I know you guys aren't so ugly the cameras melted once you all were in the shot... I'da been there if you all had chosen Hawaii instead of the windy city...

Where are the pictures? I know you guys aren't so ugly the cameras melted once you all were in the shot... I'da been there if you all had chosen Hawaii instead of the windy city...

Geez guys, how about letting them have their weekend and post pictures once they're back home on their own computers.

Sounds like a good notion. You can rely on Walter for a good record- if nobody steals his camera.

The weather this weekend has turned out to be fabulous. Bright, sunny, and warming up nicely! Folks taking in the architecture tours are seeing a gorgeous city.

(Serious this time) Don't worry about it. It's just that the picture-takers are in hotels with slow, dial-up internet connections they have to share with other guests. That's fine for posting text messages; but pictures come in fairly large files, so it's going to take some time before people can upload them.

Stories? Joefromchicago offered some interesting insights into Monet's paintings at the Art Institute. "What's the point in painting the same haystack six different times? If you've seen one of those, you've seen them all. Just show me the one he got right, the one he finally settled for." After seing them, I tend to agree with him. I prefer the Picassos, Brancusis, and O'Keefes at the Institute, and there's enough of them to spend a whole day there. (Later, however, when someone remarked she zipped by the haystacks quickly, Joe did concede that this can produce kind of a flip-book effect, almost like a film. Good point! I wish I had thought of it when I was in the room. I did stand in front of the haystacks for quite a while.)

(Here's a webpage about some of them so you know what we were talking about.)

Unfortunately, nobody did anything embarrassing yet, so I'm afraid I have no real stories as of now.

We'll try for embarrassing moments this afternoon. Wait, what am I saying?

Not to mention, we had a truly wonderful guide at the Art institute. Thanks, J_B!

a quick note to spendius: since arriving in Chicago, the Mrs. & myself have relied entirely on public transport. given the driving we normally do back home, we may actually have conserved petrol by coming here instead of staying home. :wink:

yitwail-

I suppose I ought to commend you for that assuming that the "we may actually" (a strange phrase) means "have actually".

Of course,the driving you normally do back home is a cause for some concern if what you say is true. What you have said claims credit for possibly polluting less by going to Chicago than you normally do.

Is that devvie as sexy as her avvie suggests?

Just here for a minute to say that we're all having fun.

Thanks LTX! That was a great surprise at the Duke of Perth. The best part was the waitress carefully explaining about someone named "Lion Tamer X" had phoned in to pick up and was picking up a big chunk of our tab. She was speaking very slowly - like it was a code or something. Hilarious!

Eva and I are leaving from the hotel in a second to head up to sublime's. More later - well, tomorrow, most likely. These are some interesting, generous atookians. I'm really glad I came.

LTX so rocks! I can totally see that waitress... ha!! :-D

Glad I could contribute to the fun ! I had my doubts about how big a chunk it would be... :wink:

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but the "American Gothic" by Grant Wood is missing - on loan. Otherwise, most of my museum visits have been solo, because I bought a Chicago Pass before arriving, and some confusion on the Art Institute no longer participating. The ticket office guy was kind enough to give me a free pass for Thursday, so I beat everybody to that venue. I did the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aqarium today.

I finally found an internet cafe about seven blocks from my hotel. It's a daunting task, because, as joefromchicago told me, almost everybody in Chicago owns a computer. Good invetment opportunity for someone; open up internet cafes in Chicago. With so many visitors, I'm sure it'll be successful.

Pictures will be forthcoming after I get home to my own computer.

Bye for now.

hehehehehehehehehehe


I just spent about mmmmm 45 minutes (?) on the phone with the most wonderful bunch of Atookaians - enjoying the sun outside the official party room.


I'm still bummed that I couldn't go - but it was SO fabulous to talk to all of those fine people.


Thanks for the use of the phone, sublimehost - I think your phone will need re-charging.

CI where are you?