Hey guys!

I figured this group has been around long enough and nobody's really done anything with it, so I thought I'd be proactive and see about working on scheduling a meetup, as I'd like to see some of you again, and meet some of you for the first time! For that, we should figure out which days people are available and able to make it into DC, then go from there.

So, I shall start!

Weekends are always open, and so are Mondays and Tuesdays. Fridays are a possibility, but Wednesdays and Thursdays are not at all. I'd need at least 2 weeks of advance notice to make sure I can work my family's schedule around it.

1543340
Sundays are usually good for me and Old Toby. If it's just me, I can usually do Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

As much as I love going into DC, it can get kind of expensive between gas and parking. If we had any ideas for places in the suburbs that would be equally easy for people, that would be cool. We come up route 50, so maybe someplace around the beltway between there and <where other people are>?

1543413
By all means. I'm mainly looking at who and when right now, then once we know, we can decide where and what. DC is expensive and I'm sure most of us have seen the sights and all that, so I'm game for other places.

I work Mon-Fri, tho I can get Tuesdays off pretty easily.
I don't love going into DC, not a lot. It's almost as easy for me to drive all the way around DC and into Baltimore as to either drive to the subway, park, take the subway, & walk, or drive & search & search for a parking space.

It /is/ kinda fun to take the subway to Reagan airport, walk just north of Reagan to the park there at the end of the runway, and watch planes fly over your head.

Let's see, there's Arundel Mills (movie & shopping & eating), Annapolis (not sure what you do there other than visit the Naval Academy), Fort Washington (it's inside PGC; it's a 200-year-old fort that's huge, pretty awesome, and never crowded, with a big park around it). NASA does tours about once a year near UMCP. There's an AFI theater in Silver Springs that has some pretty cool old shows sometimes; last week they had Peter Beagle for screenings of The Last Unicorn.

My favorite place to hang out near DC is Great Falls, but that's all the way on the west side of DC. The big Air & Space Smithsonian museum is near there also. I can host many people at my place in Springfield, SW of DC.

1543603
Annapolis is my old stomping ground, it has Annapolis Mall (Sorry, Westfield Shopping Village) (movies, food, shopping, etc.) but that reminds me... the Renaissance Festival in Crownsville should be starting sometime in the next few weeks and running weekends until mid-October. It costs money, and might be kind of far for you guys, but it's an awesome place to hang out, food is fairly cheap, and shows are free (once you're inside).

Also, I'm a person who can sit in a Starbucks or Barnes & Noble all day, so I'm easy to please.

1543649 YES RENFEST!
My /favorite/ place to hang out around DC is Borders...

1543649 1543659
Rennfest does sound interesting and it's far enough in advance that I could make that work and it's not very expensive, especially if we choose a date early-mid September.

As far as hanging out in a bookstore/coffee shop, I'd be more than okay with that, too. We pretty much did just that last time, anyway.

Alright, I was waiting a little while for the other two members of the group to weigh in if they wanted to, but it looks like it's just going to be us three. So, let me propose a couple dates and see what works for everyone.

Sunday, September 8 - Annapolis Mall
This is probably the soonest I can organize and have the cash to do something. I'm not a huge fan of shopping, but we can probably find ourselves a coffee or bookshop to hang around in. Plus, I doubt any of us really have the ability to go throw cash around.

Sunday, September 15 - RennFest/Annapolis Mall
This is the last day of reduced price tickets to the festival and is a good few weeks away still. It's $17 a person and food and gas should be taken into consideration. After this date the entry fee jumps $5 to $22.

Same as above, just a week later for the mall.

If we don't want to head to that mall, there's certainly all the other options to consider, assuming the dates work. I'm not terribly familiar with the area, having lived here only off and on, so feel free to suggest other locations that'll work better.

Another idea: We all get together for a day and collaborate on a fanfic in person. Would be cheap and fun!

1590951
That sounds... interesting. I'm up for trying it. That or rennfest, because while rennfest is expensive, it's something I'd want to spend money on anyway (and you guys would keep me out of the shops.)

(Also, I'm gonna tag 1543659 , because I don't know if he haunts his group feed like we do.)

1591041
Since 1543659 hasn't responded yet, shall we say Rennfest on the 15th? I'm good to go for that day.

1625588
Let me run it by James, when I talk to him, but that should be good.

1625588 1625668 Sept 15 coincides with Anime USA, which some renfesty friends of mine will go to.

I have other circles of friends organizing a renfest trip. Do you want to merge with them, or stay separate?

1626535
I don't mind too much. Would it still be the same day or would we move it?

1626968 They haven't got their act together yet, so we can go ahead and choose.

If we could reach beyond fanfic, I wonder how many bronies it would be possible to get to renfest on a single day? Is there an events calendar on EqD?

There's a brony meetup group near here. I've never been, but I wonder if they're scheduling a renfest trip.

1627081
I'd still like to pick the 15th, as it'll be $5 cheaper for everyone, but that's also a fairly small amount of money that I wouldn't mind spending if we needed to move it to a later date. As for the announcement, I don't see why we couldn't give it a try. Not sure when the next activities announcement is, though.

1627102 Turns out the anime people are going sometime in October.

1627954
I'm willing to wait until then to go if you want. We can always organize something else between now and then. Pretty much every weekend is completely clear for me, so it's up to everyone else's schedules.

1628328 Are we go for the 15th? I'm planning on it. Already invited a couple of friends.

1697672
I'm still good to go. I was actually going to ask about that today.

I'll be taking the beltway around and can go either North or South (there's a 1 minute difference between the two), and South puts me going through Springfield. I'll be taking my van, so if you or others would like a ride, I can help out that.

Additionally, what time should we all be getting there? It opens at 10am, which sounds reasonable to me.

Also tagging 1625668

1698358>>1626535 Ride-sharing is great. I must confer with my friend. Arrival time at 10 indicates you are an earlier riser than me. That would mean I'd have to get up around 8am on a Sunday and not check my email. You monster. But I'm more concerned about the line at the gate. It's VERY VERY LONG at certain times of day, which is why I usually arrive in the afternoon. Maybe some googling or asking around will find what are the worst times to arrive?

I advise not buying a ticket in advance, because if it rains all day then I don't want to go, and they don't refund for bad weather.

Hey! Any of you going to Anime USA or Capclave? I'm going to Capclave in October.

1699517
I'm most certainly not an early riser, but I can generally get up early if need be. I'm not opposed to arriving later, especially if it's to avoid longer lines. I can't seem to find anything on when's the best time to arrive to avoid lines, but I would say that we shouldn't get there too late. Maybe noon?

As for cons, I tend to stray away. I don't usually have the money and I don't enjoy fighting large crowds of people. Bronycon might be the only exception to that, which I'll be considering attending next year.

1699613
I think the lines at the gate should be reasonable at noon. (The lines for food will be crazy at that time, so I'd suggest eating before you get there so you don't need to make a beeline for the turkey legs.)

1699517
The only con I usually do is FaerieCon, in November (in Hunt Valley, outside of Baltimore.) I was going to skip it this year, but I just peeked at the line up, and Kelly Link, Charles de Lint, and Jim Butcher makes it tempting... (it's a fairly small con, so panels are usually pretty intimate and interesting if you're into the "fairy tales" aspect of fantasy. I've seen de Lint there before.)

1699799 I LOVE DE LINT'S STORIES! I'm supposed to like Kelly Link, because she's a fellow Clarion grad, but I haven't read hers...

1700975
Charles de Lint is tied with Terry Pratchett as my favorite author(s). I own every Newford book, and at one point had even mapped out Newford by going through the stories and noting all the street names and intersections mentioned. (I lost the map. I think Newford doesn't want to be mapped.)

And while I'm not a Butcher fan, I'm a pretty big fan of his more meta stuff. Like, I'm impressed with his fanfic policy, and he generally seems pretty fun from what I've read in interviews and blogs of his. (And James is a Dresden Files fan.)

So there's a good chance we'll try to make it at least one day.

1700975 1701058
Shall we say noon on Sunday, next week? If you would like a ride, Bad Horse, then I'll be there around half an hour after I leave here. The total trip is just under an hour and a half, so that'd make it around 11am when I'd be in Springfield.

1700975>>1701136
Hey guys, it's looking like James and I won't be able to make it on Sunday. Finances are tight, and something came up, so I don't think we can swing it this week.

I'm hoping I can take a raincheck for another time, maybe next month? Even if we don't do Rennfest, we could just do a coffee and conversation thing somewhere.

1730234
That's a shame.
I'm free every weekend except that of the 18-20th of October and would be up for stuff.

1731805

Not the sad Dash face... please don't do the sad Dash face at me... I'll buy you you cider, Dash! I promise!

1731846

I—I dunno...

How do you guys feel about doing something on the 5th/6th of October (or the weekend after)?