Tag Archives: Chicago

WordCamp Chicago is June 6th and 7th!

Registration for WordCamp Chicago is open! I don’t know how full it’s going to get so you better sign up quick. It’s a mere $30.99 for a weekend of WordPress goodness.

wordcamp.chicago.pngThey haven’t picked a venue yet, I think it’ll depend on the number of people that sign up but that doesn’t mean it won’t fill up. A little more information is on the WordCamp Chicago blog.

They’ve already got some speakers lined up including Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress. And Matt has one of the coolest website URLs around it’s Ma.tt

Saw this at Lisa’s blog Just a Girl in the World; Lisa (author of WordPress for Dummies) is one of the organizers.

Dear McDonalds

So I’m getting desperate in my quest. As a last resort I e-mailed Ronald and Co. today, I said:

Dear McDonalds,

I see that McRibs are back at “participating” McDonalds.

How do the fans find a McRib?

Where in Michigan (Detroit or otherwise) or even Toledo, OH or Chicago can I find one of these? I’m traveling next month? I’ll schedule a layover for my flight so that I can stop in a McRib city, seriously!

Is there a list somewhere or at least someway I can check out some specific markets?

Thank you,
Gary

Do you think I might get a response?

The Velvet Hour

200808142311So I specifically wanted to mention The Velvet Hour it’s this odd bar with these velvet curtains and candlelight. No baseball hats or cell phones allowed! I was nervous for a minute since I had sandles on, but it was so dark inside I don’t think anyone noticed :)

It’s the second place we went and we and you could have just walked by because the door is kind of hidden (see photo); it’s not a fancy door I just thought the hidden part was interesting (although the camera flash lights it up good). I’m pretty sure Jen was the one who knew about this place (I think she usually picks out the places). Some of the boys got some Absinthe to drink but the rest of us got a carafe of some house specialty that I really liked but if I recall correctly it was kinda pricey ($90?). Can anyone tell me which one we drank?

Piece Pizza and DaveCago 3

So we had a whole crew at Piece Pizza again (we were there two years ago), thirteen people I’m thinking. Mostly people I’d met and a few wonderful new people! Our first photo is a little blurry (but that’s because we were drinking) but it’s got the most people in it. Starting on the left is Kevin and Katie, Suzanne, Mrs. RW and Tori in front. Tori I hadn’t met before but since she brought brownies she was quickly treated like family! Suzanne was another new person and even though she was a non-blogger she was really fun too!

2008081422162747194003 4773497655 MThis is Robin and Leah at our third location for the evening (we got around). I’ve met Robin before and was thinking I didn’t know who Leah was on-line but I just didn’t remember that I did know, because when I got back to the hotel and turned my computer on, the first thing I saw was her tweeting about being pulled over by the police during her cab ride home.

As usual Dave made us cool badges to wear and these had a “Piece” theme. Get it? (Guess whose site I stole this badge picture from?) And not only did we have cool buttons too, Piece Pizza gave us some of theirs!

200808142212Speaking of Dave is it a coincidence that he’s wearing his “Zombies Ate My Brain Shirt” in this zombish looking picture (you really need to click for the full effect). That’s RW sneaking up behind him.

200808142213That’s Jenny and Mocha Momma whom I’ve both met before but I don’t have a photo of Lynne and Kosh.

We just ate and drank and chatted and after we ran around to a few other places The Velvet Hour and the Tequila bar where we went a few years ago (name anyone?). It was just a bunch of old and new friends getting together, it seems much simpler than when I have to tell people who I’m going to go see in Chicago. Some of the people didn’t get to stay the whole evening and coincidentally (sadly) some of those were the ones I talked to the least earlier in the evening (I’ll talk to them first next time!).

Argh, that’s a lot more cutting and pasting than usual. But I think I got everyone and all the names right…

I didn’t have as many photos as I thought, so maybe I didn’t get all of them recovered (or maybe they were more blurry ones than I thought).

I recovered my photos !!!

sample Aipteck Chicao photoI thought I lost my photos from Chicago the other day but I purchased the $20 software CardRaider from ecamm and now it’s all better. I download the program, it scanned my files and I think it recovered them all (movies and photos). I’ll try and post some tonight post some tomorrow (I forgot I’ve meeting Mom for dinner).

There are a lot of software programs but most are a lot more expensive. Thanks for the recommendation Dave!!

I lost most of my Chicago photos :(

I’ve got a very strict process I follow when copying photos from a camera:

  • Lock the memory chip (which I always forget to do).
  • Copy the photos to a computer.
  • If I copy the photos to another device (CD, DVD, FTP, external hard driver) then I delete the files from the memory chip.
  • If I can’t copy them, I move them to a folder on the chip “to delete” so that I know there is a copy somewhere but not a great copy yet (and then I don’t confuse old pictures with new).

    I was in a hurry I wanted to get that stuff done before the train took off, I figured someone would sit next to me since the train is sold out and I wanted to get all the USB SD adaptor and cameras put away.

    The first thing I did was that I moved them to a new folder and then something bad happened. I’m not sure if I tried to drag the new folder to my computer too soon or what but I had to force a reboot and they chip is now goofed. I will be using some recovery software on this. I had just quick reformatted the chip so all the files should be sequential so I’m hopeful.

    I took lots of photos and video while testing this new camera out with the bloggers and while running around Chicago. I’m so bummed. I guess I’ve got 5 hours on the train to see if I can find some software to download to fix it. I do have a few photos I took on my other camera, but none of the DaveCago people are on it and neither are any of the night shots I was taking (after a second look, other than out my hotel room window, I really didn’t take any with the other camera).

    Any Macintosh software suggestions? I have a Windows machine if you have a Windows only suggestion.

  • On the train.

    So the guy at the Amtrak station always makes me feel funny when I stop to pick up my tickets the night before (I’ve already pre-paid them) like I should wait until the next day. But I always think I’ll feel rushed in the morning when I do it. And today I did feel rushed and there wasn’t even a line. I’ll just be getting my tickets in advance next time, it’s just not something I need to have to be concerned about (I’d rather get 5 minutes extra sleep).

    They train isn’t too full and I got a seat with power! So that means my laptop is powered and I’m all set for the ride (I can charge my phone as I tether it too).

    There are two little girls and a baby in front of me, so I’ve been pretty entertained by them. Although the older ones are already half-asleep

    The poor woman behind me wants to go to Hammond (Indiana) but I guess this one doesn’t stop there, the next one does so she’s trying to figure out what to do. I always thought these three trains did the same route all three trips. Now that I’ve checked out the Wolverine Wikipedia entry it still seems like it stops there.

    Unfortunately, my return train is already sold out, so that’s gonna be packed. Well, if the last thing I do is roller blade, maybe no one will want to sit next to me :)

    Later: This train is starting to fill up.

    Blogger Meet-up in Chicago Tomorrow

    Davecago3So a bunch of bloggers are getting together tomorrow and I’m going. It’s officially DaveCago 3 which means Dave from Blogography is in town and organizes a get together. So tomorrow evening we’re getting together to have drinks and dinner and drinks and just generally have a great time. I’ve gotten together with some permutation of this group the last two years and I wanted to do it again. I’m not even sure who’s coming, I only know of a few for sure but I’m assuming the group is more like 10-15+ people.

    What else? I’m not sure if anything’s up for Sunday but if not, I’ll have my roller blades because down by the water in Chicago is one of the best places to go blading. I going to try to hit Standing Room Only for my ribs one of the days (it’s not too far from my hotel).

    I’ll be taking the train, because I love the train!! I get too tired if I drive in on the same day to do stuff, the train lets me go in the morning and be awake the rest of the day (and also lets me be semi-productive for those five hours). If only I could take my bicycle on this stretch of the train, I really like having my bike in Chicago (you can really cover some ground).