No time like the present to get the ball rolling on this. I gotta say, learning that this year's FTers raised a CowDo "record" of AR$4k at the charity tastings should make this group proud. Giving something back, no matter how small or large, to a country that makes us all feel so welcome...major ^ to Alex for his efforts and to all that have been contributors to this.

Chris and Alejandro did such an outstanding job putting this year's events together; I hope that I can lend support these two in making CowDo IV even better, although I don't see at this point how that's possible..but I'll try!

In lending support to Chris' idea to ask large group attendees to pledge a deposit for their "space" at these events, I'll just add that when a large reservation is made, and in some cases, 20% of the group are "no shows" without communicating same, it's embarrassing to the organizers and costly to the restaurant...as all large "do" organizers are fully aware. For instance, at La Brigada, it's not that large of a place to begin with...an empty table of 4 going "unused" can cost them plenty unless walk in traffic fills it. Thus, while no one wants to impose deposits, as Chris puts it so well, this new policy will help to ensure that the "commited" numbers more closely match the "attending" event numbers. We hope past and future attendees will also understand and support this idea.

That said, I think I'm going to head down on Thursday next year and get an extra day in EZE. Here's to all the best luck and good fortune in the world to Alejandro and his wife as they eagerly await the arrival of Juan Francisco into the world