A Cellar Convention
 

Talk of meeting each other in real life has occurred in the past (1-2 years)...and it has occurred on a small scale (For example, when Rho and I visited the Ham clan in December, there were 6 Cellarites there). But nothing major in several years, from what I understand of the Cellar's history.

I personally think it's time to put together something big.

While it's obvious that some folks would not be able to attend, a good chunk of posters live within 3-4 hours of Philadelphia, the Cellar's home base...I count two dozen off the top of my head, all regular posters.

Nothing super fancy...maybe a bbq at a park in the Philadelphia suburbs or something like that. Just a day to shoot the shit, chow down, and beat each other senseless. :)

What say the people?

I'd hafta attend incognito, but yeah, that'd be cool.

Kind of hard to stay incognito wearing a bright blue shirt isn't it? :)

If we want to co-opt another "event" ... Plastic Forks has been looking for some "new blood" ...

I have a friend whose mother lives in Chadds Ford, on a farm. (It's evolved over the years into a family compound, with three generations having separate residences on a large chunk of Chester County farmland.)

The picnic is going into it's 22nd or 23rd (or maybe even 24th) year (we lost count, and come up with a different number each time we count on our fingers). The original core group was made up of folks that I went to college with at West Chester State College, and has included any and all friends of prior invitees over the years. Only two people have been present at all of the picnics, myself and the host. A bunch of the folks are computer programmers or other levels of geeks, but we've expanded our horizons, so to speak, and now have people who do other stuff.

This year's Plastic Forks is set for 6/21/03, start time around 3pm, ends when the last drunk is peeled off the law on Sunday afternoon. All Cellarites are as of now invited. There will be plentiful food and beverage (of the fermented hoppy variety, as well as whatever hardstuff was leftover from last year or shows up with new guests.) There is no cover charge, but bringing something with is encouraged but not necessary.

We unfortunately lost our pool priveleges when the pool owner realized that having 30 or so naked drunks in his pool at 3am might represent some type of extremely liability risk, but this situation was rectified by the purchase of an extra large blow up kiddie wading/splash pool. Because of the amount of development in recent years in chester county there are now closer neighbors than before, so it is requested that any clothing optional guests refrain from such until after sundown.

We have access to the lower floor of the house, so there is an honest-to-goodness bathroom. No pooping in the woods. Bringing tents is encouraged, there's plenty of prime camping space available, but there is also indoor crash space, if you crash early enough (I think there are four couches in the basement). Plastic Forks is NOT a smoke-free environment. If you have a problem with this, tough. We do ask that smokers police their leavings ... vacuuming the lawn is tedious.

Exactly what will happen AT Forks is never certain. Some years it's just kind of a mellow party, with obligatory bonfire, others we have amazing occurances (including one year where one of the guests worked for the Franklin Institute and happened to have the travelling van containing "The Amazing 3-D Show" with her. :cool:

Not to mention the 4 or 5 funny bulges in it.:eek:

"Plastic Forks" sounds like a definite winner. I can't wait to witness Slangs eating prowess.;)

I like that wolf quoted G. Edward Griffin in his signature. He's an awesome public speaker and a great author. He's working on a new book right now. I attended an event a month or two ago where he was talking about the Fabian society , and their global power, the connections between terrorism and government, and a few other things. He's a very intelligent man. I'm not much for conspiracies in government since I don't usually give them credit for being smart enough to pull one off but after researching his claims I was startled at how true they were.

I'll wear my G Bush mask to conceal my true identity from the masses.

Wait. This is Philli. Maybe a Ben Franklin mask.

Did he arrive at the event in a black helicopter? Was John Ashcroft piloting it? :)

Fabian Society? Does Dick Clark know about this?:p

Sounds like fun. You'll have to send me the address, but I live only 10 minutes from Chadds Ford. Let me know if you want me to bring my portable grill to provide extra cooking space. I have one of the Red Devil grills that were recalled because some people did not know to apply a flame to the burner instead of the venturi tube. The only problem I have with it is that there are no walls so hot dogs can sometimes roll off.

I also work near an Entemann's bakery outlet, so I can raid the 'it-expires-today-so-we-marked-it-down-to-a-dollar' section and bring a stack of cakes and sweet rolls.

Anyway, I would like to attend. My wife and sons might decide to join me. Let me know where it is and what I/we can bring.

I might also bring a 'posse' of 3-4 other middle aged guys. If you need better numbers I can get them to you later.

It sounds like a lot of fun and a good warm up for my vacation. Thanks for the invitation.

I'm just going to stay here in highly tornadic Middle America and be terribly, terribly envious of all of the rest of you. (sniff)

Rho's not much of an outside person, but I think I convinced her to come. Of course, we can't stay overnight (dialysis), but Rho can't drink, which means she can drive home...and I can get sloppy drunk.

I think I may have come up with the most fantastic idea of all time.

Some of you North American folks can't come to Plastic Forks b/c of various reasons...so we should come to you.

The Great Cellar Road Trip 2004, whereby I (and anyone else who wants to come along) travel throughout the US and Canada, visiting any and all Cellar Dwellars who'll have us.

Now granted, that would take some funds and about a month of time off. But that would be the bee's knees...we could rent a van and switch drivers regularly to cut some time. Hell, we could start a PayPal account for that very purpose!

It could be a huge disaster, or a huge success...

There is an active indoors element to Plastic Forks ... Rho will be more than welcome to hold court in the finished basement.

This is massively cool indeed.

that would be sweet. come to boise!

We can set up the camper in the driveway to accomdate about six friendly Cellar Dwellars, and we can probably store about three more on various furnishings inside the Chambers Hovel, so put KC on the roster.

lots of good camping in colorado. :)

~james

Congratulations....Plastic Forks seems to *not* be the same day as ARRL Field Day, which means I might be able to make it.

Which is what?

Something like this, except for the Philadelphia area, I would assume.

Cool ... ham radio enthusiasts (i had originally used the word geek, and despite holding the term in high esteem myself, wasn't sure if all agreed) practicing for the end of the world and having a big party at the same time.

Ah so.
Then the RR is for Radio Relay. Cool. Thanks.

The Road to Plastic Forks
 

I like the idea of camping out on a farm in Pa, especialy to see the faces of the people i've been chatting with. How long is the drive from DC? Any Cellar Dwellars in the area willing to car-pool or caravan? My truck only seats 2 comfortably (4 not so) I could probably convince my GF to come too since this is "near" Philly; she's from there and wants to take me. But i have lots of room for stuff wich would free up room in other cars for people.

I couldn't do the whole drive across the states thing (taking summer courses), But i'd sit back and cheer and would love to read updates on the cellar. OOh ooh you could video tape it and post it online for us to watch!(same for Plastic Forks).

OH and i have some left over fireworks i can bring.

We can caravan up. I'll meet you at the Harris Teeter.

Re: The Road to Plastic Forks
 

About 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

The new one in Fairfax City?

Drop me a line .... I'll privately message you my Cell#

Yeah man. You know the Joe's across the road from there? That's where I took sycamore for lunch last time he was down. I live literally two minutes from there.

yea, so do I!

any one else live in the DC- Metro area?

Hubris Boy and 99 live in Lutherville (Baltimore Co.). There are a handful of others that live in the area, but Dave is the only one that posts on a regular.

Exsqueeze me?
 

I happen to live in AA county, much to my chagrin.

However, I will be going up to York to pick up Dagney and travel from there which adds two or three hours to my drive.

She and I will be there also, given that it doesn't snow or anything in the meantime.

Wolf, you realize that my official declaration that Dag and I will be there means NO ONE else will show? Sorry about that. :rolleyes:

Brian

Re: Exsqueeze me?
 

Sorry about that Brian...completely forgot you were in that area now...Pasadena, right?

Brian appears to be suffering from memory loss here...

*syc can't get to his cell phone soon enough...he checks the vmail at 10am on a Saturday about 2-3 months ago*

"Hi Sycamore, this is Brian...we're getting ready to leave Dagney's place (near Harrisburg, I believe)...(blah blah blah)...we'll give you a call when we get there (Philadelphia)."

*syc waits...and waits...and waits...phone call never arrives*

No one can say that I never made an effort. :)

Re: Re: Exsqueeze me?
 

That one would be my fault...being all new to the Philly touristy scene and all, we got distracted. (I've got pictures to prove it!) By the time we realized we should have called you and MsRho for lunch and a meet and greet, we had to grab something to eat and go to the Concert...

You know.....YANNI

*grin*

Dagney

Actually...
 

It's not Pasadena, it's Severn, next to Glen Burnie and the airport.

But close.

Syc, it was mostly Dagney's fault, but mine too, I should have reminded her but I get focused and forget the world is still turning. Mea culpa.

Brian

Re: Re: Exsqueeze me?
 

Gee...sounds familiar...names changed and rude commennts and crude gestures removed to protect the guilty.
IM log Monday 4/14
(10:53:42) MaggieL : Hey...heard from Brain lately?
(10:53:48) mutualfriend: nope ...
(10:53:49) MaggieL : Brian I mean
(10:54:12) mutualfriend: I missed out on this weekend's meet up
(10:54:46) MaggieL : Hmmm. He called on Saturday, proposing a late lunch, but I was sick as a dog...
(10:55:11) mutualfriend: You're not worried that he got kidnapped by aliens as part of the finale of that yanni concert are yah?
(10:55:12) mutualfriend: ;)
(10:55:16) MaggieL : We agreed Monday would be good; but here it is 11a and he hasn't called.
(10:55:41) MaggieL : Not really worried, no. :-)
(10:55:45) mutualfriend: I don't have Dagney's number, so I can't help you out there ...
(11:07:14) mutualfriend: Hope you and he catch up with each other!...
(11:07:32) MaggieL : OK, thanks. I just want to be able to go ahead with lunch. :-)

As for Field Day, Syc has it. There's a personal view at http://voicenet.com/~maggie/mslham.html

After looking at your gear, I'm shutting down my home wireless intercom... because you can probably hear us from five miles away.

You see?! You see what Yanni does to people?! This menace to society must be stopped!

(El sicómoro will let this incident slide.)

Most excellent name for your car, Maggie. Is it bigger on the inside than on the outside?

Dont forget to include the feats of strength! Have fun!:)

Aw, hell. I'm out, then...

No. although sometimes it seems I treat it that way.
It doesn't fly either, but it does take me to the airplane. I haven't given up the airplane yet, even though I'm still out of work, but the latest annual inspection reveals we need to replace the engine. Depending on how the club decides to finance the replacement, I may have to sell my share.