I'm a NYC-style mostly-lurker and have no immediate plans for that week in December, although I'd like to ogle ogged.
I vote night over day, cocktails over coffee, and camera-less silliness over decorum.
That's the spirit.
And yeah, no effin' cameras.
I'm down. And if you really want to bond, we should change our weekend football game to the Sunday and we can play it rather than watch it. It'll all be very masculine.
Watch football, I said. I'm old, man, I can't be running around. Seriously, I'd throw the ball around, but I don't want to get all sweaty and then hop on some conveyance to NY.
dammit... this is what i get for moving away from DC. either way, we (by we I mean those of us who are desperate enough to live vicariously through a pseudonimous blog..) expect a full report of what was drunk, where it was drunk, and who drank it. even if you wallflowers refuse to bring cameras...
It's so totally appropriate that the Mine Shaft is re-opening as a Chinese restaurant, because "ATM" is to unfogged comments as "in bed" is to fortune cookie fortunes, no?
Hmm, I might drive up for the DC gathering.
man, i wish i were flying in on the 11th instead of the 12th so i could....watch you all watch football.
go eat oohs and ahhs while you're in town!
I reckon the 12th and the 15th are the best of those days for me, though I could probably make it on the 14th or the 16th as well. So sign me up!
The DC gathering should be a blast (assuming your "lukers welcome" policy extends to that leg of the trip too), either day is fine.
I'd throw the ball around, but I don't want to get all sweaty and then hop on some conveyance to NY.
Surely a Mineshaft round of touch would end in a towel-snapping locker room communal shower, no?
Surely a Mineshaft round of touch would end in a towel-snapping locker room communal shower, no?
It's mandatory—written into our Doughboy League bylaws.
Not the 16th, for me, but of the other nights any one is as good as the other. For locations, if we can stay fairly close to any stop on the 4, 5, or 6, I'm happy(best for me is the Grand Central area, but that seems to be disfavored by consensus.)
Eh, we love you LB, but there's just not much interesting around Grand Central. I vote for SoHo, but that's just me being selfish. Anywhere's fine, though. The East Village has loads of fun, cheapish, hippish places, for example.
Temple Bar? I think it's Bleecker and Bowery. It's a good place to talk, and the drinks are good.
If it's a non-Thursday weekday, Double Happiness (Mott and...uh...Broome?) is lovely. Music at just the right volume, lots of fun little passageways and nooks, good drinks.
I know one of the bartenders here. And it's named for Dean Swift.
Count me in for whatever DC gathering emerges.
Tia!
Hey, DC folks, speak up about the lurkers, because I'm not clear on where you guys do your football watching, and don't feel comfortable telling everyone to join us without knowing, though of course that would be best.
Another really nice place downtown -- one of the best beer bars in the city IMO, and the only member of the set that is also in Manhattan -- is Zum Schneider on Ave. C and 7th St. Great place for hanging out too though it gets very crowded Friday evenings.
Since y'all are talking about places, just be sure that the place serves some food, because there's always someone who's hungry, and that someone is usually me.
The usual suspects do a good bit of football watching at my and Sausagely's place, and I'd be more than happy to make breakfast tacos for whoever shows up. But a headcount would be useful for that, which I suppose compromises lurker status.
If that's too complicated my vote is for Townhouse Tavern, on 17th and R.
ac and Jeremy, how strongly do you disfavor your disfavored days? And is there anyone who just can't make the 12th, or 14th, or 15th, who could break the tie?
Maybe the Tavern is best then, for DC, so you don't have to worry about a headcount, and people who don't know until the last minute don't have to feel bad about dropping in.
But thanks for the breakfast taco offer; I feel like I'll be missing something I ought not be missing.
You realize that "breakfast taco" was not a metaphor, right, ogged?
Why do you think I was thanking him so? Kriston has written,
A bit impractical for your situation right now, but I personally guarantee my breakfast tacos as a cure for what ails you. Not just hangovers, either.
Well my general hunch is that Wednesday is right out but Friday is probably doable. Zum Schneider serves limited food, mostly sausage IIRC. Good if you like sausage, which I'm given to understand some people do not. Here is a link to their menu -- it calls itself a "Sommerkarte" so winter menu may be diff, but that should give you an idea.
Uh oh, have we just narrowed it down to Monday?
Good if you like sausage, which I'm given to understand some people do not.
Everyone likes sausage. ATM.
Was that one of those implicit jokes of which you and w-lfs-n seem so full? Also, can't you steal or whip up some code that allows for instant run-off voting and just use that to settle the day/place/time/sexual act issues?
Was what an implicit joke? Anyway, it seems we really have narrowed it down to Monday, at least among the people who have commented so far. I'm trying to get in touch with Labs, but he seems out of computer range at the moment. Obviously, if Labs can't make Monday, Osner's just going to have to cancel whatever Wednesday plans he thinks he has.
What about an RSVP-only breakfast taco meal, followed by ambling over to the tavern to watch football?
Thinking about it, we should go to LB's place, since she's compromising on the downtown and after work.
Yeah, I'll have the chorizo ready. IYKWIM.
What about an RSVP-only breakfast taco meal, followed by ambling over to the tavern to watch football?
I'm going to be staying in Bethesda; I really don't know, so how reasonable is it that I can make it over for breakfast?
On a Sunday, you could probably make it in 20 minutes.
My place is close to the Tavern, anyway, so it would be mean leaving just a little earlier than football o'clock.
If people wanted to spend an hour on the A train to get to Inwood... but I doubt anyone does. Hell, I can't get people I know in real life to come up to my place.
Wednesday is on the order of infinitely better for me than Monday, since my tax final is on Tuesday. I like Swift, and it's pretty spacious, but I've never been to Tia's recommendation which also sounds really good. Lately I've been going to The Back Room a bunch, it's very cool.
The term "breakfast taco" really just signals the presence of eggs. I don't think I've ever actually had one prior to 1pm.
Wednesday is on the order of infinitely better for me than Monday
Conflict! How strong is your anti-Wednesday hunch, Jeremy? (I confess that Wednesday is also preferable for me, but not to the point of inflexibility).
Mocking my graciousness? I meant, as you well know, Lizard, Temple Bar.
I am easily confused, rather than mocking. (Well, I am often mocking, but this time easily confused.) I don't actually care much about location, other than proximity to the 456.
If it's to be on Monday we'd be well advised to call in advance, as many/some bars in the city are closed on Monday. Temple Bar sounds good to me. And their web site says they are open Monday.
How strong is your anti-Wednesday hunch, Jeremy?
Mm, I will not know how strong it is until this evening. Right now it is kind of like a cat stuck inside a box with an atom that has a 50% chance of emitting an alpha particle, which would trigger a cat-killing device. (a href="http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/ardlouis/dissipative/cat.gif">see diagram.) I mean to say, its waveform has yet to decay. But I'll let you know.
Bad coder! Bad coder! Go to your room for time out!
Hi Ogged!
Can I ask a question for the group? Does what happen in the Mineshaft stay in the Mineshaft? I ask this because part of me would like to come to this gathering, but another part of me thinks it would be awfully imprudent because I have not general, but specific reason to believe that my pseudonymity might be pretty darn compromised by this gathering. As in, people who I might have occasion to see at work might be there.
people who I might have occasion to see at work might be there
You mean at the place we'll gather, and not as part of the Mineshaft crew, right? Otherwise, dude! I can tell you this much, I really am going to go by "ogged" at this thing, and I would hope that no one would be motivated to reveal anyone's secrets or identity. Obviously, all the pseudonymous people have to trust each other on this score.
Damn I hope I am not the only person there without a pseudonym. Maybe I should wear a mask to make up for my non-anonymity.
Really? You're going to go as "ogged"? You trust me more than other pseudonymous people? (Of course, "ben w-lfs-n" is a pseudonym as well, but it's less obvious.)
No, I actually mean the Mineshaft crew.
A beurre manié has been added to the plot!
No, I actually mean the Mineshaft crew.
Dude!
Well, Labs says he can do Monday, the 12th (he hedges about committing 100%, but screw him, he'll be there). A dagger in washerdreyer's heart! I hope you can still join us, w/d.
Is this frisson? I think it's frisson.
Ok people, I'm also flexible on Tuesday, and Labs says he can also do Tuesday, so, is there anyone who can't make Tuesday, the 13th?
I see Friday the 13
If the idea is to remain pseudonymous, can I put in a request to be addressed by the first syllable of mine? (Or, if necessary, the first two?) I don't think I can answer to the whole thing with a straight face.
You're not required to stay pseudonymous.
Wow. Going by the pseudonym in real life. This is going to be weird. Time to figure out how to pronounce Matt Y's name backward.
The wave form has collapsed. I cannot drink with you on Wednesday evening, not at least in any possible futures I can imagine and find plausible. I am free however on Tuesday.
but screw him, he'll be there
You have to buy me a drink first, I think.
Tom goes by Boston Buns, for what it's worth.
I can do any night, and I'll be going by Joe Drymala, which is actually pronounced "Aloisius P. Featherstone".
I'm just a lurker, but Monday would be better for me. Tuesday is usually bridge night.
Tuesday is usually bridge night.
Brooklyn or George Washington?
Brooklyn or George Washington?
Because if it were 59th St., that would be no excuse. The new traveling Mineshaft where all is revealed will soon be the number one place to feel groovy.
59th St.
Puh-leez. All the hip kids call it the Queensboro.
I want to write the Queensboro Bridge Song. Alas I am without talent.
Jackmormon, does that mean you can't make Tuesday? I'm inclined to favor young washerdreyer's need to do well in school over bridge, if not.
Personally, I can't imagine w/d's tax exam not being improved by ogged-led bacchanalia. But then again, I'm a 3L...
I'm in for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
I'm still curious about 52. Can I guess what the plot-thickener is?
Who are you, w-lfs-n? I think 52 was too hot a potato for us.
I can't take the suspense, I just can't. I could guess privately.
I already said what the plot-thickener is. Buerre manié.
I'm really enjoying that nameless, drive-by pwning.
Better have gloried and lost, ogged, than never to have gloried at all.
I figure Tia's guessed that her new job may be at the same place as some other commenter -- e.g., she's got a job as a BigLaw paralegal, and thinks it's possible she might work with me IRL (or the same with any other commenter.) If that's the issue, I can't see it turning into any kind of a problem.
Wouldn't it be more fun if she worked at a doctor's office? Or a psychiatrist's?
Maybe she just doesn't want it confirmed that you've been making eyes at her, LB.
Damn, y'all suck.
And LB, I'd happily head up to Inwood. If I lived in Manhattan, which alas I don't because I, for one, thoroughly enjoy being addressed as "bitch" in person, Inwood it would probably be.
Oh, I'm so sad I won't be able to make it! (Despite living in Philly, I'm in DC and NY a decent amount, just not then.) It would be great to meet people in real life. I'm sure everyone is lovely, and also I kind of suspect that, even though pretty much everyone who comments here can best me on-line, I'd own you all in real life. Oh, and I went to college with ac, and would probably recognize her, since it was such a small school. So, that'd be neat.
Just in case anyone was wondering, my earlier statement that I might be around NYC then was false. (At the time currently being discussed I'll definitely be in Llubbwck--little-known Welsh area of Texas.) Also, I am unwilling to divulge my pseudonym, though I figure w-lfs-n will do it for me.
Great, now I'm worrying about the semantics of "my earlier statement that I might be around NYC then was false."
The 'was', not the 'then', should be bolded.
Matt Weiner's pseudonym is "Matt Weiner". His real name is "Mick Barr".
It seems like you turned "'P'" into the (usually) more fluent "that P", but once disquoted, the anaphoric reference that was bound in the former became free in the latter, making a literal reading problematic. But, really, we knew what you meant.
The 'was', not the 'then', should be bolded.
Oops, never mind the anaphora stuffs.
It's the "might" and "was" that worry me. Was "I might be there" always false, or is it false only since the event that determined that I would not in fact be there then? This is particularly worrisome if you're thinking about the semantics of "might" in the way discussed in the post I linked in 98--in fact I once in discussing those sentences exploited sentences of the form "That was true, but it isn't any more" to make some point that now totally escapes me.
(I take it that 'then' refers to 'the week of the Unfogged gathering' throughout.)
BTW, does anyone else find it odd that the comment thread to a post titled "squeeze me in" hasn't contained ONE cock joke? If it were tomorrow, I'd think it was because the turkey had made everyone sleepy....
B, instead of standing by and clucking (that's right, I said "clucking") at the rest of us, perhaps you could have made a cock joke. I think jokes of the form, "Ogged, I'd squeeze you in, but..." and "Ogged, honey, if I squeezed you in..." are promising.
Happy Turkey.
Oops, never mind the anaphora stuffs.
This is good advice in general.
We're a tight bunch. Of course we'll squeeze him in.
___ would like to stuff ____'s anaphora...
If you never flesh out your pronoun, it's just a dangling cataphor.
A dangling cataphor to catch dangling mice.
The #1 hit for "cataphor" is one click away from a biscuit conditional.
Well, when Mick Barr comes up here for his 15th college reunion, we'll have to have a greater Boston unfogged get together.
Oooh, fleshy pronouns! Sign me up!
Anaphora dime, anaphora dollar.
I'd like to interrupt this abuse I'm heaping on yinz and recommend this engaging post on community-wrought and -experienced art, by the Mark A.R. Kleiman collective's Michael O'Hare. That is all.
yinz
Are you also my homie, or are you just trying to make me happy?
That information is classified.
That is to say, it needs concealed.
O, well, I can't squeeze you in, b/c I'm not in NYC.
Also b/c--see, if Matt were really clever he'd have remembered this and linked to it--we've already had the comparison of relative cock/cunt sizes and, well, "squeeze" just wouldn't be the word now, would it?
Anyway, the word should be "gobbling," not "clucking"--in the spirit of the holiday, and also b/c it presents way, way more opportunities.
78--(Sorry it took me a while: I had to go make pumpkin-cheesecake, which is going to be absolutely bitching at the seventy-five thanksgivings I have to go to tomorrow.)
Bridge night, while the hardcore wishes it were truly weekly, is often cancelled by the softcore. If only I were addicted to, say, rummy or dominoes. No, I've got to love a game that requires exactly four people, no more, no less. Which is to say that if Unfogged met up on a Tuesday, I wouldn't feel too bad blowing off my flakier bridge partners.
But I am praying for either a Westside location or guaranteed silliness. If I'm going to have to trek from W125 to the lower East Side, I want things to get wild. I have no reputation to salvage, but I'll be going by "Jack," cuz China Mieville made it cool again.
Tuesday it is!
Let's talk location. LB asks that it be somewhere off the 4,5, or 6 lines. That means nothing to me, but it's one criterion. Others: serves alcohol, serves some food, we absolutely won't have to yell to be heard, and, of course, is wicked cocksucker.
I am tragically unhip (yeah, I had a bridge conflict), so I'll have to defer to others on location.
ogged employs my Yankee malapropism by writing "wicked cocksucker" instead of "wizard cocksucker." I wonder whether this is now a recognized variant.
Oh god, I really did write "wicked cocksucker," didn't I? Great, I'm twelve years old. Of course I meant "wizard cocksucker."
I already said what the plot-thickener is. Beurre manié.
's a little early for that innit? I'd think you'd want the sauce flavored just right and cooling down before ye did that.
Unless ye just like little lumpy white bits floating in a soup.
So are they gonna call it the China Shaft?
ash
['...go down for that downhome Szechuan taste.']
Jack -- you can get to Temple Bar with only a single transfer, if you don't mind walking a few blocks in the cold -- the N/R (and I guess V these days!) stop at Prince St. is near there.
Temple Bar is probably a bad choice on the food front. The drinks are very expensive, but large, so it evens out, but if I remember correctly the food is all foolishly expensive. I've never eaten anything there other than the popcorn they put on your table, and I believe it's because every time I looked at the food options I began giggling hysterically at the thought that anyone would order off that menu.
Probably one of the other suggestions (my vote's not Zum Schneider just cause I don't want to schlep that far from the train, but it's not a dealbreaker) is preferable.
If we could be in a slightly less hip neighborhood, Old Town Bar & Grill (18th St and Broadway, just north of Union Square, near the 4-5-6 and the N-R) is a favorite. Food and drinks are good and inexpensive. I don't know if they're open Monday but it sounds like we're leaning toward Tuesday anyways. It can be crowded and noisy but I would not expect that to be the case of a Tuesday.
That's fine with me. The last time I tried to go there it was closed for a film shoot.
Great burgers, too (also, I've heard, good veggie burgers.) And there's usually a quiet table in the upstairs, even when downstairs is crazy. Consider this a firm vote for Old Town.
Cool. Everything I've just read about it makes it sound great, so Old Town Bar & Grill on Tuesday, the 13th. What time is best for the commentariat?
I'll get out of work about 6, and can just walk up there in ten or fifteen minutes, so on the early side is preferable for me. But I realize some (LB?) might be working later.
Don't schedule around me -- on any given particular evening, I can either get out of the office whenever I feel like, or not until quite late. I can't count on making it at all, but the time it's scheduled for shouldn't make a difference.
Ideally I would be able to catch a train out of Hoboken at 9:30; meeting up at 6:30 is in my experience consistent with catching this train. Or whatever works for you guys.
Hey BTW thanks for going with the place I suggested -- that always gives me a nice rush of raconteurish feeling. (I'm a cheap date in that regard.)
