...said the actress to the bishop.
Is there a hard deadline when you want the VRBO money from us? I haven't sent mine yet and will soon, but I don't want to be inconveniencing you.
4: Nope. I haven't done any organizing with the Paypal money - the stuff owed me is in a big mushpot with general donations. I'm not too worried about it.
I'm still arriving early afternoon at Evil National on Saturday, and leaving on Monday evening. Still sort of hopeful that someone might want to do a Harper's Ferry day trip with me. But I understand if no one thinks that would be "cool" or "all reet." Still hoping for a single room, even if small, as you seriously will not get any sleep if you have to listen to my snoring. Planning on drinking lots of fernet + Coke. Up for any museum excursions.
I guess I'll have to miss it. I think I'll be up in the belvedere, looking over my kingdom.
Still hoping for a single room, even if small, as you seriously will not get any sleep if you have to listen to my snoring.
I think this is, in fact, the plan. Somewhere there was an email proposing roommate situations for the group house.
I know you don't have the address yet, but do we know the general location? Neighborhood? Metro stop?
Yeah, I have a map of it with the original VRBO link. Email me and I'll send it to you.
My plan is to take the bus down on Saturday morning and hope that I can crash on the floor or something at the party house. I have a sleeping bag. Also a tent, if necessary.
Your sleeping bag is a tent if necessary?
8: Okay, good, thought so, just wanted to reiterate.
I still need to make hotel reservations. Anyone have recommendations on where to stay? There seem to be some relatively inexpensive options in the Foggy Bottom area, which would be convenient by Metro.
The train has gotten expensive enough that if I go, I think I'm just going to drive.* So I should probably look into finding somewhere I can stay where I can leave the car at the hotel and take the metro to the house. Or, I could miss the whole thing out of laziness and inertia.
*I suppose I could take the bus, but I haven't looked at the schedule and I don't want to do anything with transfers.
WHat day does the VRBO become available? I get in Thursday night and it would be nice to crash there if feasible. If not yet available, I'll throw myself on the mercy of the Mineshaft for that night.
And JM, you're welcome to crash with me. Shades of UFDC I.
I have an extra room (with own bathroom!) where an individual or couple is welcome to crash for a night or two.
17: Not until Friday, unfortunately.
It would be cool to have an Unfogged lobby day, except that I think none of the days overlap with times when Congressional staff would be there. I can only imagine the process for determining our positions. We could spend entire meetings just arguing in front of confused staffers, then Bob could barge in and be like HAVE YOU CONSIDERED VIOLENT REVOLUTION.
Hey, what am I, chopped liver?
Hey PGD--can I crash at your place Thursday night?
21: This is a fairly awesome idea. Shoot.
23- I think if you used the original you would get more interest from Congressmen.
I need a place to crash. If anyone has anything to offer, please email me at this address. Please?
Hey, look at that, I bought tickets for $5! A milestone, the first time I've ever bought plane tickets with frequent flier miles.
Holy shit, my hotel points also let me stay like a block from the White House for free in a room that would normally be $400. I've always signed up for those programs but never expected to get anything from them. Anyone need to share a free room?
I'm really sad to say that it looks like I have to be the first and I hope only person to cancel. I just can't see a way to make it work at this point. I'm so sorry.
That's unfortunate. I think I'm going to buy my tickets tomorrow.
So, I'm finally trying to book a hotel room, and am realizing that I have no idea what DC neighborhoods are called. Can someone tell me what to call neighborhoods convenient for the party?
I doubt there are many hotels within walking distance. I think the closest well-known neighborhood is Capitol Hill. And "Navy Yard" might be a neighborhood by now. If you're willing to ride the Metro for 20 minutes or so you have a lot of options to the west (closer to the downtown tourist core).
And a map with neighborhoods labeled. The VRBO is near the southeastern boundary of Capitol Hill.
I suggest the Marriott Residence Inn, Courthouse Station, Arlington. On the same metro line as the party, slightly longer ride but only $129 a night (capitol hill, Dupont circle are $200-$400.)
I may be able to opt back in if Lee ends up not going to a family funeral that's currently being planned and other clusterfucky things resolve themselves, but I can't commit yet.
Consider my fingers crossed for you.
Hrm. Airbnb has an apartment for $125/night that looks to be about a block from the party.
I have all this liquor and was considering having a "come drink my liquor so I don't have to move it" party but it turns out to be mostly things you mix with other things now that I look. I had a fantasy of being able to bring it to the con with a shaker and make everyone mildly nauseated with sweet-ish cocktails. It seems like a lot of trouble to transport orgeat across state lines, though.
It seems like a lot of trouble to transport orgeat across state lines, though.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to the blog.
People looking last minute, try dc.craigslist.org and look under 'vacation rentals', then search by "Capital Hill". Basically anything on Capital Hill or on the blue or orange line will work.
Everyone interested in possibly coordinating transportation should check the sheet linked in 1. Boy, Dulles really sucks; 1.5 hours by transit.
Also, I may need a place to crash Monday night (I do know some non-Unfogged folks in the city, so might be able to stay with one of them).
44: Doesn't the definition of "Capitol Hill" get treated very loosely chez Craig?
Stupid Amtrak upped the price for the train I was going to take. (Didn't buy yesterday because I only had a phone with me.) Now I might take the bus down, which really means [something, probably commuter rail] + bus.
Or I could show up Saturday night and leave Sunday night, meaning less than 24 hours in DC. Traveling on Memorial Day itself is out.
45.1: The Washington Flyer would be faster than MetroBus, and not much more expensive. Washington Flyer goes from Dulles to West Falls Church, where you can take the Orange Line to the VRBO. So only one transfer.
49: Sweet, thanks. Although--if I'm arriving at 7:30am, will traffic be the limiting factor regardless of whether I'm in a MetroBus or Flyer?
Isn't this thing still like two weeks away? I'm amazed by how not-procrastinatey you all are on making your plans.
50: It looks like there's not much difference between the two after all. The Flyer does run a little more often (every 30 minutes vs. 40). I think that the MetroBus can drive on the shoulder on 66, so it might stay close to on-time even during rush hour.
I'm putting off doing worksheets in the Cognitive Therapy workbook Iberian Beauty gave me, Essear. Actually I'm putting off like five different things.
So are any of the unfogged DC crew of old coming?
I took the Dulles metrobus in 2009 and it got stuck in the morning commute. At least 2 hours, I think more, to L'Enfant Plaza. Maybe things are better now.
I booked a hotel room at the Capitol Hill Hotel last night and got a pretty good deal (~$150/night). That's with a 15% discount for staying 3 nights.
54: You should invite Sausagely so everyone can tell him what they think of his career trajectory.
I'm sorry to have to miss the festivities.
I won't be able to attend. I have to "represent the family" at a funeral in Cheshire, CT next Saturday, and I just can't take off and go out of town for two weekends in a row.
(There's been too much death in my family recently. My mother died in December 2012, and my father died not quite too months ago, in the middle of March.
As a young man, my dad was tall, dark, and handsome, a real looker:
http://s24.postimg.org/ia13dghit/dad_early60s_party1.jpg
And here he is, toward the end of his life, dying of cancer and all bloated with ascites, singing Isn't It Grand, Boys?
Actually, it's not grand, it's not grand at all. Dying is painful, and ugly, and undignified, and utterly contrary to the ideals of human dignity that we all wish to cherish. Death makes a mockery of those ideals...
And what freaks me out about the above clip is that my dad totally knew he was dying, was about to die, but he sang a jaunty tune about death because he wished to "die game," he wanted to put his game face on...).
So it's probably best I don't attend, anyway. I'm in a bit a slump lately, what with all the parental death.
I'm so sorry, MC. (And I was really looking forward to meeting you, too!)
Really sorry to hear that, MC. All my sympathies to you and yours.
I have all this liquor and was considering having a "come drink my liquor so I don't have to move it" party
Fleur and I had one of these when we moved from Europe back to the U.S. The guests all got to take a bottle of booze and an electrical appliance as a door prize.
....and now I've read to the part with MC's sad news. Very sorry to hear.
DC folks, is this place a reasonable option? I'm fine with Spartan accommodations, but I'd like some place I'll feel comfortable walking back to from the Metro.
http://www.casadegliangeli.com/#casadegliangeli
My condolences, Mary Catherine. Losing a parent is its own kind of grief, and both so close together is especially tough.
Sorry to hear about your parents Mary Catherine.
58: I'm sorry, MC, for your losses.
I haven't kept track of anyone who has tossed out that they have spare rooms, nor anyone that has said that they are looking for a couch to crash on. I know both sides of the transaction exist. As it's getting closer to U-time, I can be proactive to help tie up these loose ends.
Maybe it's time to bump this to the front page for the remaining time before U-b-b-medy?
My condolences, MC, and I'm also sorry to miss hanging out with you.
I am planning to crash on a couch or a floor, probably at the party house. Is that insane?
JM, I have complete faith that everyone who shows up will get taken care of. (It's in no way my place to volunteer space with the friend we're staying with, but I'm certainly not going to let anyone sleep on the street.)
MC, I'm so sorry for your losses.
I am having a complete breakdown about whether or not to go, but promised Lee I'd have an answer by the end of the day. Since I think the reasonable thing is to stay home, there should be extra crash space in the VRBO if J Robot and x trapnel are okay with sharing. But maybe I will decide that selfish happiness is more important than anything else in the world; who knows?
Jackmormon, Witt: I've got a one bedroom apartment with a couch booked a couple of blocks from the party (it was cheaper than a hotel). Either or both of you are welcome to crash there Saturday and Sunday.
FYI, I count about 40 people for Saturday night. Anyone who's likely to show up, please list yourself at the link in 1.
I figured that if I came with a sleeping bag and inflatable pad, I would be able to crash in a corner just about anywhere. Spontaneity!
Nobody puts Jackmormon in a corner!
How sad, MC. Sorry for your loss.
Witt, that looks like it is OK. Really hard to tell as it I couldn't see an address for the place. The Navy Yard area is gentrifying, so I don't want to go out on a limb. PGD might have an opinion.
Whoops. I swear I scanned for a reply to Witt's query. I blame the eye-drops.
so am I allowed to say explicitly that I now understand this sex orgy is to be held in my house in los angeles?
54: You should invite Sausagely so everyone can tell him what they think of his career trajectory.
If he brings Spackerman's flak jacket, we can punch him all night long.
I'm back in, Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon. Such a relief!
I almost decided to make it a day shorter to make things easier on Lee, but the whole point of a selfish trip is to be selfish and so I didn't.
Perfect. By Monday afternoon it won't matter whether or not you stayed the extra day. Plus weekdays are easier than weekends anyway.
Well, it's a holiday and so it's basically like a weekday. But Nia will be in respite for part of the time and then I'll take the girls and give Lee the rest of the day/night off as soon as I get home. And I'm home the rest of the week, so I can do school transport and so on to give her more breaks.
Oh good point. But still, I'm glad you're being selfish.
Thorn is being selfish only to make heebie glad.
might try to swing by! if folks have smartphones and feel uncomfortable walking home at night/don't know DC neighborhoods download the Uber app, it'll allow you to request towncars/taxis that'll pick you up where you are and take you wherever. they're a little expensive but good for feeling safe when getting around town at night.
FYI, I count about 40 people for Saturday night.
I'm starting to get excited about DC, but that sounds like a lot of people. It will be fun, but also crowded . . .
I can't believe it is only a week away! I am getting very excited!
So wait, who's hosting this thing? I'm down. And to answer Sir Kraab's question (posed via Facebook), I'd be game for providing some suggestions for museum visits and potentially for leading an exhibition expedition.
Heebie rented a house SE of the Capitol.
How many bike-people are coming? We could all rent bikes and go for a ride I was going to suggest Harper's Ferry, but that's 68 miles so no.
There was supposed to be some sort of punctuation mark in there.
I'm out of biking shape -- I'd be up for a ride, but it'd have to be (a) painfully slow and (b) say, under 20-25 miles.
Or, if anyone wanted to take a comically slow jog Sunday morning, hangover permitting, I'd do that as well.
I might be down for sprinting past you for a hundred yards or so before collapsing.
104: A Sunday morning hash might do wonders for the hungover.
Oh yes, very excited.
The C&O Canal towpath as far Great Falls is a nice and more manageable ride. I will be museuming with the boy, though.
Assuming I buy bus tickets at some point, I'll get in Saturday afternoon and leave Sunday afternoon.
99: You owe me a Molly Springfield primer, btw.
Apparently my childhood friend, the Communist butcher, lives in DC now. Maybe I should try to reconnect with him. See if he'd be up for a HF daytrip. Hmmm.
110 Is he the same Communist* butcher who used to regularly post to lbo-talk (and maybe still does, it's been ages since I've read it)?
*Unapologetic Stalinist IIRC.
I'm still debating on whether or not I can make it. Probably not but anything is possible. Do I email heebie for the address?
Yes, I've been meaning to say I can start giving out the address.
111: Huh, I don't know, I've never been a denizen of LBO Talk. Last time I talked to him he was staunchly quoting the party line about the EZLN ("a pressure group"), anarchism ("what is the teleology?"). And he's written some articles that take a very absurd line on Israel. I remember the first time he told me he was really into the FMLN, and I thought "oh, just a passing fad." Ha!
113 IIRC that guy lived/lives in Australia.
Nope, he definitely lives in DC. More than one way for a Communist to skin a cat, I guess.
Can we just keep this nailed to the top of the blog for the next week? Whenever it drops off the last-comments bit, it's a bother to find it.
