Reminder: BALUG meeting this Tuesday, 2005-09-20, 7:00 P.M. PDT. at Four Seas Restaurant 731 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA 94108-2113
At this time we don't have a scheduled speaker for this meeting, but that doesn't prevent us from having interesting and exciting meetings. [Have questions or a topic you'd like discussed? Bring your own "agenda", talk/ask about items on it at the meeting, and it'll likely then be something we talk about :-)]
We will likely also have some traces of giveaway items ("door prizes") at this meeting.
Watch this space for updates about the October meeting :-)
references: http://www.balug.org/ http://www.balug.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpWiki&file=index&...
Does it always have to be on Tuesdays, and at the Four Seasons? Not to be a pest, but this is one of the three great cities for dining in America. Consistency is nice, but must it be at the expense of our taste buds?
If it has to be Chinese, how about the Jasmine Teahouse in the Mission? Less touristy, grittier neighborhood, equally bad parking, much better food at the same price. Or it could be at 1930s Shanghai in the financial district, at Mission & Embarcadero. 1930s is more touristy, more expensive, worse food, but with easier parking.
For a treat, how about thai food? It could probably be done at the oldest thai restaurant in SF, Khan Toke. Great atmosphere, awesome food, reasonable prices, sunken seating, and slightly better parking.. Also, anybody not from SF is guaranteed to get hopelessly loss, ensuring that hijinks ensues!
Even better, we could reserve a private room at El Mansour. Moroccan food, belly dancers, and an internet cafe right next door, plus it's walking distance from my house, and a romantic park for those who find their true loves at the next LUG.
If it has to be near the Tenderknob/Union Square, may I suggest Scala's Bistro? I believe they have a private room.. They're touristy, but a bit expensive for a friendly get together such as this.. They do have great duck, awesome atmosphere, and a fine scotch collection.. OK, so they're a bit too loud for a meeting, but on the other hand, nobody would hear us yelling our opinions on security and the viability of Linux as a desktop at each other!
Michael Paoli wrote:
Reminder: BALUG meeting this Tuesday, 2005-09-20, 7:00 P.M. PDT. at Four Seas Restaurant 731 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA 94108-2113
At this time we don't have a scheduled speaker for this meeting, but that doesn't prevent us from having interesting and exciting meetings. [Have questions or a topic you'd like discussed? Bring your own "agenda", talk/ask about items on it at the meeting, and it'll likely then be something we talk about :-)]
We will likely also have some traces of giveaway items ("door prizes") at this meeting.
Watch this space for updates about the October meeting :-)
Quoting Michael T. Halligan (michael@halligan.org):
Does it always have to be on Tuesdays, and at the Four Seasons?
The Four Seas (note name) was and is handy because BALUG founder Art Tyde is friends with the restaurant's owner, which is leverage sufficient to get the upstairs banquet room on a recurring, regular basis (with sufficient advance notice given).
Having the banquet room to itself means that BALUG can have speakers, and acoustic isolation from the rest of the seating so we can have some hope of discussion among BALUG's tables.
And it might not have occurred to you to do so, but you can go downstairs at the Four Seas and order their really _good_ food, i.e., avoid the standard tourist fare you otherwise get in the banquet room.
If it has to be Chinese, how about the Jasmine Teahouse in the Mission?
I assume you've verified that a large banquet room can be regularly reserved just for us there, without extra expense? Ditto for the others?
If you've done none of that but are just throwing out names of good restaurants, the whole lot of the rest of us can do that, too. (I grew up in Hong Kong, Michael; it's basically my native cuisine -- and I lived in S.F. for a long time. I can recommend quite a few good places.) But it would rather miss the point.
And, if you haven't even _tried_ getting the Four Seas Restaurant's non-tourist food by walking downstairs and ordering, kindly do that, then.
Rick,
I have not called any of these places. perhaps the banquet room is a good feature, in my opinion it's the only feature. I'll admit I have no concept of the difficulties related to finding a group friendly venue. On the other hand, perhaps it would be more effective to find a company with a large meeting room to donate a few hours of its' time, and then the meetings could be restaurant neutral.
I have, however, been to the Four Seas outside of balug, and not been impressed. Every few months the same conversation rears it's head on Balug.. Why is it so quiet? The answers are always the same, lack of speakers, the need to avoid drama, and the restaurant. I have no ideas as to how to solve the first two issues, but the restaurant one seems solvable.
There are enough companies in San Francisco who I bet would love the "publicity" of donating a large conference room for a few hours per month to a Linux crowd... Perhaps a change of venue could revive some interest, raise some membership dues, and open up opportunities to hire caterers? I'd personally find a LUG which had a different caterer each month to be something worth attending, and worth paying to attend.
The Four Seas (note name) was and is handy because BALUG founder Art Tyde is friends with the restaurant's owner, which is leverage sufficient to get the upstairs banquet room on a recurring, regular basis (with sufficient advance notice given).
Having the banquet room to itself means that BALUG can have speakers, and acoustic isolation from the rest of the seating so we can have some hope of discussion among BALUG's tables.
And it might not have occurred to you to do so, but you can go downstairs at the Four Seas and order their really _good_ food, i.e., avoid the standard tourist fare you otherwise get in the banquet room.
If it has to be Chinese, how about the Jasmine Teahouse in the Mission?
I assume you've verified that a large banquet room can be regularly reserved just for us there, without extra expense? Ditto for the others?
If you've done none of that but are just throwing out names of good restaurants, the whole lot of the rest of us can do that, too. (I grew up in Hong Kong, Michael; it's basically my native cuisine -- and I lived in S.F. for a long time. I can recommend quite a few good places.) But it would rather miss the point.
And, if you haven't even _tried_ getting the Four Seas Restaurant's non-tourist food by walking downstairs and ordering, kindly do that, then
Quoting Michael T. Halligan (michael@halligan.org):
I have not called any of these places. perhaps the banquet room is a good feature, in my opinion it's the only feature. I'll admit I have no concept of the difficulties related to finding a group friendly venue. On the other hand, perhaps it would be more effective to find a company with a large meeting room to donate a few hours of its' time, and then the meetings could be restaurant neutral.
Take-out? ;-> (I see we get to that, below.)
I have, however, been to the Four Seas outside of balug, and not been impressed.
Eh, I've tasted better. I think the tourist food is pretty bad; the downstairs regular menu's decent Chinatown-standard.
Every few months the same conversation rears it's head on Balug.. Why is it so quiet?
I'd speculate that it's quiet because most people who attend are sufficiently happy with their available options:
o Fork over a tenner; eat the tourist food. o Order downstairs, eat better. o Eat elsewhere, then join the meeting and don't eat.
Anyhow, do you speak of "hiring caterers" from experience? Is that likely to be tricky/uncertain/expensive/time-consuming, or not?
You could be right, however. I'll be interested to see what you find.
Or you could convince the other admins to do that stuff for you. (I'm just a guy on this mailing list who helps out occasionally. I don't run the joint.)
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