While many of you are busy planning a trip to The Big Easy in May, it's never too early to start planning the next meetup, right?

In my totally unbiased opinion, it should be San Francisco.

In honor of Mr. Wong Kim Ark, we could visit Chinatown and Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West, then return to The City and stuff ourselves on dim sum.

To commemorate (and mock) the many felons in Birthistan, I recommend a trip to Alcatraz (and because it's really cool).

On the orders of Bill Ayers and Saul Alinsky a stroll around Haight-Ashbury (aka "The Haight") is required. We can shop at Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights to pick up copies of "Dreams From My Father," "The Audacity of Hope" and "Of Thee I Sing" to send to Walt Fitzpatrick to help him pass the time as he'll most likely be incarcerated again. After that, it's just a quick stroll up Columbus, through North Beach to Caffe Trieste, where they've pulling espressos for half a century.

While it's not quite as sweet as bifer tears, the fine product of the Napa Valley comes very close. A visit to the best sparkling wine producer in the country (IMO) to raise a glass or three in toast to over 100 birther fails, is the perfect way to conclude our Obot weekend.

Since spring is taken up with thoughts of New Orleans (lucky bums!), I suggest the fall when the weather is warm and the livin' is easy.

Please choose your preferred date in the poll above - or suggest an alternative - and let's plan!

Folsom Street Fair (NSFW!) is Sept. 23.

It is a very popular event.* In other words, a horrible weekend for out-of-towners.


October 8 is Columbus Day (a holiday for some).


* Maybe Racer Jim will be there!

Oh wait -- can I change my mind?

October 5, 6, & 7, 2012 -- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

It's free, and it's huge, and it's fabulous!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardly_Strictly_Bluegrass

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/

Oh, crap, I'd forgotten about HSB (not really concerned with the FSF since it's much smaller). But especially since this year will be the first since Warren Hellman died, it's gonna be a zoo.

HSB (10/5-10/7) drew 750,000.
FSF (9/23) drew 400,000+.

Both snarl traffic.

Fleet week (military precision flying, sailors galore) is 10/4-10/8.

The problem is, this is San Francisco and traffic is permanently snarled, which is why I tell tourists to never rent a car unless you're going to be leaving town. I live a mile from Folsom Street, and have never experienced much in the way of problems.

I attended Fleet Week last year, and it's bigger than the Fair, but still not much of a traffic problem outside the Marina. And having the Blue Angels do their flyovers during the week is pretty cool.

In a city overflowing with events, the two I avoid are Pride and Bay to Breakers. It's always busy in The City, which is why I've lived here for twenty years.

I'm a firm believer in using BART and Muni whenever possible...I hate parking in The City. I'm gonna hit the poll with OTHER because I only live an hour or so's drive away and can prolly do any dates.

I'm already here, so any dates work for me.

I suggested Sept./Oct. because it would be long enough after the May meetup for the attendees to recover and early enough that the weather should still be great.

But then, I don't have kids are parents to care for, so scheduling isn't an issue. If another time would work better, please suggest a date/range and let's discuss.

Sorry if I was curt earlier, but I've become so inured to the constant stream of tourists and conventioneers in our fair city that it takes something big enough to shut down Market Street for it to really register.

And if there are FBers who are going to New Orleans but don't think they could two meetups in one year, let's talk spring (which is apparently here already this year).

But we really need to get the boogle out here; SF wouldn't know what hit it.

Might want to add this to the itinerary:

KTVU: President makes surprise takeout stop in SF Chinatown

More details on the visit to SF.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... J.DTL&ao=2

And this piece about the Chinese restaurant where Obama worked the crowd while waiting for his take-out:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... e=politics

It should get some kind of prize for bad political writing. Is she trying to say the president is not sensitive to the concern about sharks? The restaurant has an exemption from the ban because it buys the whole shark and does not support the banned practice of taking the fins and dumping the carcass back in the ocean.

BTW, the restaurant is only 3 blocks from the birth place of Wong Kim Ark. So, Chinatown should certainly be on the list as well as Angel Island and the Immigration Center.

I would join if you guys did it earlier. I have a trip planned out memorial day week and will be in norcal and socal

Any is good for me since I live nearby

*sighs* Gonna miss both.

We can't have that!

What other dates would work for you?

The easiest one for me to get to would be NOLA, but no time off allowed in May due to critical projects. As for October? It's more of a financial thing.

Oh well, someday.

Pretty far north, but we may in the mood to slip down to SF for a couple of days.

I am seriously thinking of attending. It all comes down to money. I'm pretty flexible as to time.

Wow, I'm so almost there!

NSFW

Was the more fleshy one cut in half and rotated so the the butt is in front (homage to Spaceballs)?