GrizShel -gvdIAD went to the trouble of asking for input which he has taken into account in making the call of date and venue. He went much further than many of us would have, to ensure that he had that input from anyone who wished to post, and used it in making the final decision. It's not clear whether your post was meant as a joke or something else, but indicating gvdIAD has done otherwise is unfair to him. Keep in mind, he's volunteered (well, actually was volunteered to use correct english, but that's splitting hairs) to manage this thread, let's all work together to keep the inherent headaches that come with that to a minimum.

waterstrider and I are in for Ted's on the 10th. We'd prefer the Ballston location, but we can make it to Crystal City too.

Sorry to raise such a can of worms. As for the Ballston location, I keep forgetting about parking. As GA rightly points out, I don't own a car. Anyway, I will defer to the Crystal City location on the 10th since it seems better for this HH.

Cafe Deluxe in Tysons Corner at 7PM http://www.cafedeluxe.com/index.htm

for dinner with Woody125. List of FT'ers so far.

headinclouds
dhacker
woody125
pranu

Anyone else?

Looks like we have a plan:

Ted's Montana Grill (http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/VAArlington2.html) at 2200 Crystal Drive in Crystal City on Sunday February 10 at 7:00 p.m.

There's free underground parking on weekends at a garage, entered from Crystal Drive between 20th and 23rd Streets.

Confirmed attendees (based on earlier responses):

1. gvdIAD
2. bhatnasx
3. headinclouds
4. pranu
5. GoingAway
6. Global_Hi_Flyer
7. GrizShel
8. chrisw
9. mot29
10. Robert
11. langleyoaker
12. cordileran
13. chtiet

Maybe:

14. MrAOK

No can do. I'll be in Quebec City freezing my tush off. Y'all have a good dinner.

for winter carnival? That was so much fun!!

Count me in for dinner on the 10th.

Wow! I never dreamed my post would be interpreted as negative commentary on! I thought I was just being polite and being willing to defer to others who have a longer record of participation in the DC Happy Hour.

I am very sorry to offend, and I assure you it was unintentional. I will delete the post.

For the record, I agree completely with you, kudos to gvdIAD.

GrizShel - looking forward to seeing you at the dinner on sunday. The DC group seems to be very much an equal oppty group giving anyone (newbies included) an opportunity for their say in the where/when, so new to the group or not, please offer your opinion.

Thanks!

(I'm going to lay off my feeble attempts at humour for a while - I promise!)

GoingAway has it exactly right. We not only welcome input from all comers, we encourage it.

Speaking as the head of the thread -- does that make me a threadhead in addition to being a redhead? -- it makes my life very easy when someone else puts an event together leaving me just the administrative function of making sure the first post is up-to-date and links to the appropriate posts within the thread. If you volunteer to organize an event, you have the ability to set the time and place.

In this instance, bhatnasx gave us a limited time frame to work with, and knowing from past experience (and the comments of the volunteers who managed earlier iterations of this thread) how important it is to get something firmed up as soon as possible if you actually want it to occur, I looked for some kind of consensus as to a date. Once I "divined" a consensus for the 10th, I looked at the comments of those who had responded favorably and saw that there was a preference for a location in NoVA (I also took into account the fact that most of the recent HH's had been in DC, since we do like to "share the wealth"). I then suggested locations in Clarendon and Crystal City, both Metro accessible as several requested. The response was about even. I then factored in the fact that we'd been to Liberty Tavern last autumn and didn't have a recollection of anything in Crystal City. Given the size of our party and the limited dates available (as well as my own limited time), I didn't really have time to canvass all of the available restaurants, so when Ted's Montana Grill agreed to work with me on our requirements, I went with it. That's probably way more than anyone wanted to know, but I did want to explain my process for future reference.

ermm....


WOW?

I wish I had at least half that insight into how my own brain works!

Nothing to see here! Move on!

I know you have been a bit overwhelmed by the logistics for Sunday's event, but don't forget the Wed dinner in Tysons Corner. Please, please.