I suspect someone will have better suggestions for somewhere near Metro with good outdoor space, but the two I can think of are Hank's Oyster Bar and Fox and Hound (which is a straight dive, NTTAWWT). Firefly doesn't have outdoor space but probably has better drinks.
Weather looks awfully good for Wednesday, so outside might be pretty nice.
I might come. I've been in bed for a few days; it depends how I'm feeling Wednesday afternoon. So keep the thread updated, please!
EM, I'll see if I can't get you some fresh hucks.
I'll try to make it. Chances are good I'll be able to.
I wish. Wrong season for me to have weekday meet-ups.
I'm swamped with work, but will try to come anyway. I think Kramerbooks, Circa and La Tomate all have outdoor seating, and the food is fine though maybe not spectacular. Other people might have better recommendations...
I'm possibly in. I'll "help" by mentioning Tabard Inn's outdoor seating. Resto rather than bar, good food, pricey. Don't know how much crowd to expect on Wednesday.
9: Have you been since the management disaster/upheaval? It is a very nice space, though. If it hasn't gone downhill, Tabard Inn works for me. If not, I vote Circa (good call, torrey pine). Sounds like we'll be five or six. I doubt we'll need reservations on a Wednesday.
3/6/8: Hope you can make it.
7: Sorry to miss you. Hope you're alluding to kid sports rather than end-of-fiscal year busyness.
Tabard certainly works for me. I've never been to any of the other choices, and will follow the consensus.
I haven't been to Tabard in a few years, no. I see that a long-time cook quit in March. No idea about weeknight happy hour in DuPont, the only places I know for weeknights are in cleveland park-- bardeo for inside, cruddy sports bar with a nice rooftop patio a few doors north. So, nothing useful to say, sorry.
It sounds like Tabard Inn is the consensus choice, then...?
OK, still not sure if I can make it, but: Though Circa looks nice, outdoor space seems tiny for a beautiful afternoon at that corner. I am inclined to call Tabard Inn to reserve a table for 6 at 6 under Dikembe, just for insurance.
It's possible that their nice building is now run in an much less pleasant way. I'm reserving for insurance in a neighborhood I don;t know too well at happy hour rather than as a definite vote. that is, I'm happy to cancel if there's any better idea.
Sounds fine to me. Thanks for offering to make the reservation. Do come; we're quite nice. I'm normally easygoing about stuff like this; something about big groups just makes me extra-anxious that we end up somewhere OK. We'll be fine.
I am not going to make it. I'm very disappointed, but I just don't have 3 hours of driving in me this evening. Next time there's a weekend meetup I'm absolutely down though.
Everyone post lots of appreciative comments about huckleberries.
I'll be there, but probably 15 minutes late.
So sorry, EM. Catch you on the other side, I guess.
I'm ensconced in my room at the Tabard. Is there anything I should be doing? (Other than taking off my long sleeve shirt!)
Sorry to miss you, EM. I should be there between 6 and 6:10.
Grab a patio table, dikembe's res is for a table but patio is fcfs. I'm on metro, there by 6:15
(It's not crowded, and this is the only one they'd set for 6)
Great live blogging! Who's there?
Was the reservation really in Mutombo's name?
Sorry, here we go: how is essear pronounced?
It's not a very good pseud and I don't really know. I guess the descriptivist answer is that at meetups and whatnot people seem to default to "ess-sear", more or less (that is, the name of the letter 's' followed by the word 'sear').
Though I did at some point entertain the idea of going with 30 and claiming that it was the verb for "to try" in one of the more obscure Romance languages.
Still warming up for knife fighting.
I'm here with 4 scientists. There's a death ray thing apparently.
In my head canon it's pronounced as if you're a person who writes essays. (Ess-ay-ar)
34: Next meetup, let's all speak exclusively in Occitan!
40: me, Torrey pine, lw, ydnew, charleycarp.
See, I can't talk, or listen, and write at the same time.
Someone else should be the scribe.
Ydnew is eating all my carbs, which is good. Let's see if we can get her to liveblog.
Ccarp is off to retrieve huckleberries. EM, togolosh suggests we have the next DC meetup near you.
Togolosh is talking death rays with lw and torrey pine. Thank goodness I'm not expected to contribute here.
"It ablates the first couple of atoms, but leaves the rest."
Ask them how awesome the explosions from the ray might be, and how well suited it is for Ekranoplan use.
In my headcanon you all go off to an island to build the death ray.
48: there is a guy at Marshall spaceflight center who proposes to use the explosions to propel spaceships. Not an ekranoplan but almost as cool.
Didn't that get vaguely close to happening with Project Orion?
ydnew's got an interesting culinary history.
lw has two words of advice: Stew. Jerk.
53: exactly. It's a twist on Orion. Just not quite as batshit crazy.
the missing sixth person seems to be a problem. It's not clear why.
caraway and mint, the chemist's friends.
45: We can have it in my backyard, if you want to. There's a fire pit and some hammocks. Downside: an hour an and a half away from DC (at best), no public transportation options at all.
But I'm sure we could work something out. Also I do like coming into the city on weekends though.
Put the huckleberries on ice cream. That's my advice.
And now I have huckleberries. I'm thinking tart.
I just met a creepy fellow at the bar while getting a box for my berries. Togolosh suggests beating him up.
65 to 64: They know where it hurts the most.
I just met a creepy fellow at the bar while getting a box for my berries. Togolosh suggests beating him up.
What a weird string of euphemisms.
61: That does sound enticing, even with the drive. Maybe we can rope lw into cooking.
65/8: Charley didn't promise quality liveblogging.
Harmless gossip and FB name-pseud matching. Charley has an enviable number of imaginary friends.
The meetup is still going? And you're still liveblogging? Commendable!
I'm headed home. Togolosh ordered another beer before I left, so he, torrey pine, and Charley are the parties responsible for continuing to liveblog.
We got so depressed talking about the next Iraq war, everyone drifted off.
the next Iraq war
You'd think by now we'd have figured out how to make war scale. None of this "first Iraq war" and "last Iraq war" and "next Iraq war" with scheduled and unscheduled downtime in between. War should be continuous, or at least there should only be a bit of a break for maintenance around the holidays, or when we need to migrate war to a new theater. It's 2014 and we're still fighting like it's last century!
74: Downtime, ha! You just need at least three wars going at all times (preferably on three continents), so you can handle a planned ceasefire as well as an unplanned ceasefire.
The Pittsburgh meet-up lasted longer. If that counts. I didn't meet anyone.
The huckleberries were great. Charley tells good lawyer stories. ydnew hearts chirality. lw knows where to buy spices. togolosh once got drunk in the lab by accident. Actually I was really tired tonight, but everyone else was super entertaining.
preferably on three continents
Exactly! We have to be able to deliver war as closely as possible to the people who need it at any time, day or night.
79: While minimizing collateral damage. You want to deliver just the right amount of war.