Sorry to hear that, Blakefish. The meeting will be at The Flying Saucer Bar at the intersection of Capitol & Main in Downtown Houston. 4:30pm-6:00pm (for game attendees...stay as long as you like for all others).

I love me some Flying Saucer....the 28th is the last day of work for theblakefish in 2006, and 430pm is just at the right time for me to become completely obliterated. ICYI: Cabs are plentiful in that area, and I plan on taking one!! :o

Bump.

Tonight's the big night, folks. Unfortunately, due to work constraints, looks like I'll be arriving between 4:45-5:00. However, I'm sure J.Edward, theblakefish, ssullivan & others won't mind getting a drink or two head-start :D . Looks like we also have a confirmed non-CO board regular in our midst who will attend pre-game drinks (cmdinnyc).

Now, to get through the next eight hours so's I can have me some beer and football ^ ^ ^

Alas, I must bow out due to a big Holiday Bowl pregame party that I must attend. I'll catch y'all next time!

Sorry to hear you can't make it, blakefish. Luckily for me, looks as if I can get off work a bit earlier...so I plan to be there around 4:45. Saw the Rutgers team unloading from the buses into the Hyatt Regency as I left work yesterday. Tons of Rutgers fans swarming around. Great fans, and a very cool atmosphere.

Thank you for a very timely and helpful post. Took my 13 year old godson, his twin brother and a friend for each - 5 tickets and they were on the 25 yard line, about 30 rows up.

Additionally, thanks a lot to Continental for making these available.

Time for another H-town micro-DO?

That it is...even more so when after this Sat when I'm done with the @%&# LSAT!

Anyways, throw out some dates folks ^

I have a feeling I will not be making this one. Have been out of town every weekend since New Years, and will not be in town on a weekend until March 16-18. I will, however, be around Fri., March 2 as my weekend trip to YYC does not begin until Saturday morning.

If that's too long a wait, I yield the floor. I think the folks at the Saucer will understand...I think I'm putting the owner's children through college :p Am typing this from the saucer as I speak :D

I can't make one until the 2nd week of March due to the recent unpleasantness....

I'm back to a fairly normal schedule as of next week, so most Fridays or Saturdays the rest of February and March will work for me.

Maybe late March? I'm putting together a trip to AMS or CDG for.....uh....my birthday that lies immediately after my 29th birthday that...uh...is never to be mentioned hereafter.... ;)

MIDDLE AGE...BRING IT ON!

Excellent, another March B-Day! Mine's the 31st. Thankfully, I'll only be hitting 26.

Do enjoy the long, slow descent into senility :p

Welcome to the 30+ club. ^

I'd like to come down for Micro-DO. The only weekend I can't make it down to IAH would be the last weekend in February or the first weekend in March, depending on when I schedule an upcoming trip (will know next Monday).

I might be able to travel down for a later March DO or so. However, for those of us from Rice, Beer Bike is the 31st--meaning that I'll probably be in town that weekend but wouldn't be able to do any other trips in March (I have Singapore scheduled, too....)

Aww come on.... what could be better after Beer Bike and a village pub crawl, than a few beers at the Saucer?

DANGIT! I AIN'T A THERE YET....6 more weeks of 20's bliss to go!!! ;)

Of all the time I've spent in 'Houston', closest I've been to the city is the Minute Maid offices by the Galleria. NYC-IAH is 118 rt and with a stack of travelocity 100 coupons, next to nothing. If I can't get a reasonable fare or mileage ticket to Helsinki wknd of mar 31 for buddy's bachelor party this can work. Otherwise mar 10 weekend on the way to CA...or wknd prior...although I go 3 wknds in Mar not in ny, which is a bit of a crime. And then there's the msp-lgw bonanza first wknd in April...

Why the quotes around the word Houston??? You gotta problem with H-Town? You lookin' at me? You must, cuz ain't nobody else here!

Ugh,watched taxi driver last night..... sorry! I'm tyring to book a good ticket to CGN, LON, AMS, etc with my $100 off coupon and a voucher to have a nice dinner and 1-2 nights out over my 30th... :D ...ALONE.. :D ..especially with al that has gone on lately....but can't find anything below $531 to LGW! UGH! I found a $410 fare IAH-AMS last year at this time! :(

I can't get any decent fares to AMS either...it's killing me. I need out on a Fri. evening after work, back on a Sun, basically limiting me to CO. Last year I was able to get it for about $550 all-in. This year, nothing under $700. ARGH!

As for March weekends, perhaps we should wait until Monday, then throw out some weekend dates and have a vote, so our out-of-towners can weigh in on best possible dates. Just having two out-of-towners attend would likely double IAH's tourism numbers for the year :p

I have no problems knocking H-town. I was born here...it's a festering pit :D

Exactly...that's why I love H-Town!! ;)

WOW. That would be one hell of a day. Usually I just can't do a whole lot more on the night of beer bike. Actually, I spent all 4 years at some level of semi-soberness.....but then again, I held track access bands for 3 years and didn't really attend much of the other year.

Shall we take suggestions/votes for March Weekends?

I could do any of the following:
Fri., March 2
Fri.-Sun., March 16-18
Fri.-Sun., March 30-April 1

Put me down for either the 2nd or the 16th (but if I have to choose, I'll go with the 16th)

16th and 30th do NOT work for me. the other dates are open (so far)

I can do March 16-18 or March 30-April 1. Right now, March 2-4 are out for me.

Right now any of those dates, except for Sunday, March 18 work for me.

March 2 not good for me but others are a-ok

Good choice of cities! The statuesque Mrs. RNE and I will be in Paris and Amsterdam April 21-27. If you're going to be in that neighborhood then, let us know!

I showed the statuesque Mrs. RNE pictures from the NYC 'Do and she said "We HAVE to go to the next one!" (Can you tell she doesn't get out much?) We are available mid-March. Nothing like St. Patrick's Day in an "Irish" town like Houston! :rolleyes: Just so I understand, when you say the 16th (Friday), do you mean late night? 'Cause the missus and I work*; we'd have to fly down Friday after work.

*That's what happens for 40 years after your graduate from college, J.Edward. ;)

As we have not yet set a definite date or time, I would imagine we could be flexible with timing at this point. The way these things usually go, the early-birds end up at the Flying Saucer around 5:30pm or so (some of us work downtown), and a crowd slowly trickles in. We generally remain as long as we feel like it, or until we've become inebriated to the point of near-paralysis.

If it looks like this will be a fairly sizeable gathering (i.e. 10+) I'll look into reserving the upstairs portion of the bar for our event. If that's the case, a more formal meeting/ending time may be in order. I'm there just about every night, so I'll ask about how they handle such reservations.

At the moment, it would appear most votes lean towards the 16th (with the exception of Jeffie). However, no need to set this in stone quite yet.

EDIT - Just noted that the 16th would be the day before St. Patty's day. Though H-Town may not be the best place in the world to celebrate...The Flying Saucer is definitely the best place in the whole city for such celebrations. It may not be an Irish Pub, but they have more types of beer available than any other bar I have ever been to. If I recall correctly from last year, they usually have special events around St. Patty's day, such as brewery nights with several micro-brewers (both foreign and domestic) touting their brews, live music, pub trivia, etc...

I would be up for going but I don't think I will be physically able to fly anywhere in March due to back surgery so... don't plan around me... :) BUT if it's in late March or early April I will be there (maybe even with "The Brain" if I can convince her to get onto FT by then hehe).

Work :confused:

Life goes on after college :confused:

If you plan it just right, you can make college drag on nearly forever. However, you might end up like me: working days, school at night, ungodly amounts of mounting debt...

I hope my salary starts making that exponential upturn once I get this fourth degree nailed down. Otherwise, I fear the executor of my estate will be making the final payments on my student loans :eek:

Thank god for victory laps!
Law degree? I think that exponential increase just may be in the cards. :)

...and speaking of degrees I'm on #2 right now (MS Accounting) and really lucked out that my scholarship covers a good portion of the tab. Yet, it ends when I finish at UH...and if go on to law school I've got that sinking feeling in the depth of my stomach I'll be grabbing my ankles in the wake to the tuition payments. :eek:

One would hope so. However, considering as I already have two of them, and am making only a bit more than I made as a Customer Service Rep. for a cell phone company fresh out of college (Part I), I'm not especially certain it's a given.

Then again, even had I managed to get a work visa for the UK, I would be making far less as a Trainee Solicitor there than I currently do as a Clerk here. The lawyers in this country have done an excellent job of blackma...erm, getting society to pay them what they're rightly worth :D

We should start a club.

Anyhoo, so sorry for the OT digressions. I guess this thread can get back as on-topic as it's ever been :p

In any event...First post has been updated to reflect the present uncertainty surrounding date & time of upcoming not quite as Micro as usual DO. (Now new and improved, with unknown foreign bodies!)

Might judt be able to make the 16th, but would prefer a date other than that weekend...

Yes, but if you would have done a pupilage and become a barrister you'd be roughly a fourth or fifth year by now and if you were at a top London set, you'd be earning 100k pounds or more per year (but far less if you were not at a top set). I think Magic Circle firms pay 70k pounds to first year qualified solicitors, plus bonus and some increase each year (not sure what the raises are - maybe 10%) - not that much when one considers the cost of living in London.

The rewards will come - trust me.