The bman brood has finally nailed down the dates for a too-short visit to Toronto. We'll be staying downtown (Yonge St.) for two nights March 19-20, and would love to offline on one of them.

I'll bring along a bottle of something special (futronic, you know my few Italians I think...or a 2001 Dead Arm?) And a bottle of port of course.

snow sucks, cold is worse.......

bman,

I am definitely in for an offline. I am more than happy to have you and Mrs. bman as well as anyone else interested over for dinner. The 20th is better as it allows me to get to the market in the morning, but either day will work out barring some drastic coming up.

Over a month away and I'm already looking forward to it!

I should be around on the 20th as well. The 19th is out since I'm on call.
Should we have a theme? Any suggestions? Any other TWC available.

Unfortunately, it's not looking too good for me.

We're moving shortly after that weekend, so I will likely be in the midst of packing, etc. However, if there is a possibility that I could join you then I would love to and, like the others, the 20th would be better than the 19th.

Right now both dates look good however I too may be "on call". My wife competes on the A Circuit (equestrian Hunter Jumper) and show season starts this weekend @ Hendervale. I double as her "groom" so as long as there is no competition that weekend you can count me in.

My liver seems back to normal after the last off-line, so count me in. The 20th works best for me. There is a small chance that I will have a playoff hockey game with the kids, but the chance of that is remote.

I think Italian and/or California might be good themes. I have some nice 93-95 Cali Cabs that should just about be ready. Let's try to have more of a variety of styles and/or age as the last flight of the last off-line seemed impossible to judge as they almost tasted the same. Ports would work too, but I think a bottle of port per person might be a bit too much!!!

Looking forward to it.....

I too, can make the 20th. I like the theme of california. I have a 1993 Beringer's Knight's valley that I would like to try.....

Now....where's that Screwpull?

Are spouses coming this time? If so, I'm going to have a bit of a problem with respect to space. As I've reiterated, I can really only host 6 people, unless I get some extra furniture at my place. Let's do a running roll call tally:

[edited to move the list to the bottom]

Cal/Ital works for me. We *definitely* have to have Port as well.

[This message was edited by futronic on Feb 25, 2004 at 09:11 PM.]

If spouses are coming, then I may have a better shot at convincing Mrs. Slan that I should take a night off from the moving preparations!

I think spouses will be coming this time, Slan!

Besides, I think Mrs. bman would likely get bored if she had to deal with all the guys at dinner.

I'll probably be flying solo.

I'm a bit confused though. Is this a TWC offline, or more of a "let's get together at Futronics, meet bman, & have some wine"?

I thought the Cal-Ital tasting was going to be held in early May and at a larger venue. Am I missing something here? PLMK

Mrs. bman is used to spending time with boring old men (literally and figuratively), after all, she's been to oodles of "official" receptions over the years, and she's married to me!

I noted that you all hired a hotel room for the first Toronto offline. We'll be staying at the Courtyard by Marriott on Yonge St., where we're paying a very modest CAD$109++ for a room. If anyone thought it was an idea worth exploring, and there were enough of us, I could check out the cost of a wine drinking/dining room. We'd have to figure out how to manage the food (pizza?).

snow sucks, cold is worse.......

DoktaP,

This is going to be a "let's meet at futronic's for dinner to celebrate bman being in town."

I can't make it to Toronto this time around. We're getting a puppy the weekend before, and if I take off, my wife will have my **censured**.

Bman, we should try to get together beforehand. I finish my night shifts this wednesday.

Just looking for confirmations and the number of guests for Mar. 20th with the bmans. Please let me know if you can make it that night. If anyone able to make it can RSVP before Mar. 5th, I would appreciate it. If we end up with more than 6 people, we'll make arrangements to host dinner at a restaurant with a private dining room.

Confirmed:

bman +1
futronic
DoktaP
baird6869
Slan +1
drthvader +1

[This message was edited by futronic on Mar 02, 2004 at 10:20 PM.]

I'll try my best to be there. Unfortunately, my job requires me to sometimes make hasty last minute changes.

Don't worry, Dok ... We'll kidnap you from the hospital.

I spoke to Mrs. Slan about it last night. We're still a maybe, simply because of all the work surrounding our move, but I hope to firm things up in a few days.

I too will find out tonight If I am on "groom" duty or not. Will let you know.

I'm in!!!!

OK, Mrs. Slan and I are in! It's looking like there's sufficient interest that we may need to find a venue outside of Casa Futronic.

I'll start putting some feelers out on Monday. Perhaps we can get a prix fixe menu together to make things easier?

Any suggestions for cost limitations?

I know a quaint restaurant on St. Clair that has excellent food and will allow us to BYOW. You can e-mail me for further information.
I've been there once and found the food, ambience and service to be wonderful.
Looking forward to it. Maybe I can convince
Mrs. DP to join in. The lure of not having to cook or do dishes is just too compelling.

DoktaP,

Hopefully that resto option works out for us and that Mrs. DP can join!

looks like me and me Queen of Naboo are in . Will firm up in day or two for the bman dinner.