Chicagoland Meetup

[fartq]

The #1 keyboard I would like to try is the 55g Topre.

HHKB would be 2nd place.

The #1 keyboard I would like to try is the 55g Topre.

HHKB would be 2nd place.

I will have a 55g there an mx mini with lubed and stickered browns a few CAD design ideas to discuss and lots of caps.

My rule, no talking money in the presence of the chicas. My wife has no clue what I have spent and I don't really want to have a going out of business sale just yet.

I will have a 55g there an mx mini with lubed and stickered browns a few CAD design ideas to discuss and lots of caps.

My rule, no talking money in the presence of the chicas. My wife has no clue what I have spent and I don't really want to have a going out of business sale just yet.

sounds like a good opportunity for someone to snatch up an MX mini with lubed and stickered browns! (i keed i keed)

[Trent]

Either weekend works for me and I don't care about location. We usually stay at a la quinta In Hinsdale and take the train into town.

My wife is Mexican so I completely understand how we Americanize everything and call it authentic. Her family laughs at us.

I hear there is some pretty shady cap trading that takes place in these smoky back rooms of Chinese restaurants.

I'm going to be taking a train in too.  If you want to split a cab at Union Station let me know.

If everyone was able to organize a time to all go there, I can bring my SUV and pile everyone in at the same time haha.

And DangWang for your reference I'd be able to bring the following boards: IBM Model M (Both Silver Tag, Blue Label, Grey Label, and my unicorn vomit SSK), FK-2000, FK-8000, Fujitsu Peerless (and a couple other Peerless switch boards like a Tandy, Panasonic and Epson), A Zenith Data Systems Yellow ALPS boards (the one that goes BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP), AEKII, and FK-9000.

[DanGWanG]

Right now, I'm leaning towards the 19th.

@Trent -- Can you please see if we can get setup at ignite network for the 19th?

[DanGWanG]

How does the Saturday, the 18th sound for everyone?  If I don't hear any chirps by end of day today, it's set. 

Trent where are you?!

[i3oilermaker]

How does the Saturday, the 18th sound for everyone?  If I don't hear any chirps by end of day today, it's set. 

Trent where are you?!

Works for me!

[jcrouse]

How does the Saturday, the 18th sound for everyone?  If I don't hear any chirps by end of day today, it's set. 

Trent where are you?!

Awesome, I am in. Thanks Dan.

[terrpn]

even though rubber domes are taboo...........dell quiet key for what it's worth ain't that bad. i have one and am pretty fond of it (considering). you should sell in classifieds. i know there is a gooder one and a not so good one; china or thailand- can't remember? i don't have mine here to check. i took it apart, cleaned and modded.

BTW: would anyone be interested in sampling a Thailand made Dell Quietkey?  I've been thinking of giving it away.

Also depending on the "auction" (it's all crickets) I might ask the winner (if they still want it) if I can postpone shipping the Wyse w/ Vintage Cherry Blacks so that everyone here can try it.

[Trent]

How does the Saturday, the 18th sound for everyone?  If I don't hear any chirps by end of day today, it's set. 

Trent where are you?!

Sorry I didn't see this post, I haven't been checking this thread that much.  I will contact them about the day, but I honestly think that having it at your family's restaurant would be 1: more delicious and 2: more delicious 3: probably more space at your location, ignite said they'd be able to quarter off a small table but any more than 4ish people and in my personal opinion I think it'd be considered a bit cramped -- Either way I will email them about this right now, I'll let you know what surfaces.

Trent

[MMB]

even though rubber domes are taboo..........

Rubber domes aren't taboo. Look how many people in denial that are using Topres?

[Trent]

even though rubber domes are taboo..........

Rubber domes aren't taboo. Look how many people in denial that are using Topres?

^ totally agree with this.  Recently got a Topre switch in the mail from MrInterface on Deskthority.  The thing is a rubber dome there is no denying it...  A spring underneath doesn't put Topre's in the mechanical switch bracket.  You can get similar (and better feel) with a Cherry MX red with 50A-R o-rings from WASD keyboards!

But that is neither here nor there in regards to this event

[demik]

Cherry reds. The most over hyped of all the switches.

[MMB]

Cherry reds. The most over hyped of all the switches.

Linear :<

[demik]

Green or white ftw

[MMB]

Green or white ftw

Gonna try lubing up a white switch. See what it's all about.

[Trent]

Green or white ftw

Green?  If you want strong tactile feedback just use a Model M -- and white I must say are quite nice.

I'm a glass half full kind of guy!

DangWang: Ignite informed me that they are closed on August 18th and 19th.  I think we should try to host it at your family's restaurant maybe?

[jcrouse]

Sorry I didn't see this post, I haven't been checking this thread that much.  I will contact them about the day, but I honestly think that having it at your family's restaurant would be 1: more delicious and 2: more delicious 3: probably more space at your location, ignite said they'd be able to quarter off a small table but any more than 4ish people and in my personal opinion I think it'd be considered a bit cramped -- Either way I will email them about this right now, I'll let you know what surfaces.

Trent

If it's a democracy I vote for Dan's familys place also. Parking may be better and we would probably have more space. I would be much more comfortable lugging 5 or 6 keyboards into a familiar environment as opposed to putting that out all over a table in an unfamiliar public place, but thats just my thought. Plus, you can never go wrong with Chinese food.

John

[DanGWanG]

The thing with going to my restaurant is, if my parent's knew about this keyboard hobby I have...they would kill me.  I'd rather cater the food in if possible =)  Or discuss/play around with keyboards elsewhere first, before having dinner/meal at my place, lol.

BTW, I'm not a kid.  I'm 26 (turning 27 next month) and have a full time job, etc etc.  But my parent's still have a guiding influence on me somehow...

[jcrouse]

The thing with going to my restaurant is, if my parent's knew about this keyboard hobby I have...they would kill me.  I'd rather cater the food in if possible =)  Or discuss/play around with keyboards elsewhere first, before having dinner/meal at my place, lol.

BTW, I'm not a kid.  I'm 26 (turning 27 next month) and have a full time job, etc etc.  But my parent's still have a guiding influence on me somehow...

I can accept and understand that. As I stated early on it the thread, if the wifes / girlfriends are present, lets keep the monetary / value discussions to a minimum or there may be a mass sale on Sunday evening, the likes of which have never been seen before at GH.

BTW ... you are a kid. I probably have illegitimate kids runing around a hell of a lot older than you are.

[DanGWanG]

So any other suggestions for the actual discussing of keyboards meetup portion? =)

[demik]

Green or white ftw

Green?  If you want strong tactile feedback just use a Model M -- and white I must say are quite nice.

I'm a glass half full kind of guy!

DangWang: Ignite informed me that they are closed on August 18th and 19th.  I think we should try to host it at your family's restaurant maybe?

I do use a model m. But I also want to put my sets to use

And whites are just less audible greens tbh.

[keyboardlover]

Shame this is so soon...I would totally fly in for a weekend/meetup. Let me know if you guys end up doing it again later in the year. I love Chicago.

[terrpn]

 looking forward to hearing how you guys made out.............

[i3oilermaker]

looking forward to hearing how you guys made out.............

There will be no making out at this meetup 

[jcrouse]

looking forward to hearing how you guys made out.............

There will be no making out at this meetup 

Not unless I can make it out the door with a KMAC when someone is not looking.

[demik]

I'm the only person doing the robbing here.

[inlikeflynn]

looking forward to hearing how you guys made out.............

instead of blindswitch tests you must be doing blind kiss tests then huh?

now that would get you more odd looks than the keyboards alone did at the MN one

[SmallFry]

I'd love to come, if this will be kid friendlyish. I won't get any beer, but I'll ask my parents if you guys are willing to let me come.

[terrpn]

lol...... good one

blue switches making out with with red switches, brown with.................., linear shmoozing with tactile and of course clicks getting their bump on

hoping there is a chaperon and everybody is protecting their springs

[fartq]

how far are you guys from UIC?

[DanGWanG]

I live 5 min driving distance from UIC.

i3oiler (from his work) is probably 10 minutes

Everyone else roughly 20-45min+

[mkawa]

i'll ping my buddy there and see if he can find you some free space on a weekend (dan you may have to hook him up in the future . you want the 18th right?

[DanGWanG]

Yep   what kind of space are we talking about? 

[demik]

one with room

[mkawa]

a spaceBAR hohohohoh

i don't know. i'll see what he says.

[mkawa]

sorry, no go on the 18th. he says he might be able to wrangle up room, but soonest would be >= 1 month out.

[keyboardlover]

If you do it later you may have KL joining you

[DanGWanG]

I'm seeing if we can maybe push this back a little.

[DanGWanG]

I'm in coordination with one of mkawa's friend to assist us with finding an undisturbed location for us to discuss keyboards.  It's likely that, as a result of acquiring this location, we'll need to push the date back a little.

The bonuses with pushing this date back would most certainly yield us a good location (University Village, UIC Campus; southwest loop) in addition to potentially yielding more people as well (i.e. KL).

Updates to follow in the next day or so...

[Trent]

So any other suggestions for the actual discussing of keyboards meetup portion? =)

Well I'll be bringing the following boards in my nifty keyboard boxes:

• AEKII
• Colorful Model M (Look at my avatar)
• IBM SSK
• Two types of IBM 122key Terminal keyboards (hopefully I'll have one of them ANSI modded and USB capable to show off)
• Zenith Datasystems Yellow ALPS (the one that goes BEEPBEEEPBEEPBEEP)
• FK-2000, FK-8000, FK-9000
• KBT Race (MX Reds with O-Rings)
• Dell AT101W
• Fujitsu Peerless
• NCR RJ-11 Keyboard (Non tactile NMB switches)
• The MrInterface Switch Try Bag!

Also, I have a lot of extra boards from my massive purchase (lookup the word 'pallets' in deskthority) so I will be raffling off a peerless keyboard and potentially a terminal IBM Model M, it all depends on whether or not I can find it in my insanely messy garage...

The thing with going to my restaurant is, if my parent's knew about this keyboard hobby I have...they would kill me.  I'd rather cater the food in if possible =)  Or discuss/play around with keyboards elsewhere first, before having dinner/meal at my place, lol.

BTW, I'm not a kid.  I'm 26 (turning 27 next month) and have a full time job, etc etc.  But my parent's still have a guiding influence on me somehow...

Don't flame me for this but I am going to make an incredibly stereotypical assumption: can I assume that since your family owns a Chinese restaurant that your parents are in fact Asian, which would in fact make you Asian?  Because I have in fact heard horror stories of Asian parents being involved in their child's lives.  And catering?  Heck yes.  I've already decided what I want on the menu 

I'm seeing if we can maybe push this back a little.

While Ignite is closed on the weekend of the 18th, I am sure that they would be open to hosting it some other weekend if we do indeed postpone it.  I'd like to decide on a specific time and day before I pitch it to them again in an email.

And tipo33 don't know it yet but he is going, so add him to the list 

Trent

[DanGWanG]

@Trent -- For ignite, can we host something with roughly 10-12 people though?  You mentioned earlier it was like max 4 people or something, or maybe I'm bad at reading.

Edit:  And yes, I am Chinese and my family owns a Chinese restaurant =)  There are plenty of horror stories to be told about my adolescent youth.

[boost]

Edit:  And yes, I am Chinese and my family owns a Chinese restaurant =)  There are plenty of horror stories to be told about my adolescent youth.

I WANT ORANGE CHICKEN!!!

[DanGWanG]

We make some bomb orange chicken, despite how westernized it is.  Still a delicious dish, imo.

[Trent]

@Trent -- For ignite, can we host something with roughly 10-12 people though?  You mentioned earlier it was like max 4 people or something, or maybe I'm bad at reading.

Edit:  And yes, I am Chinese and my family owns a Chinese restaurant =)  There are plenty of horror stories to be told about my adolescent youth.

We could do 10-12 people but it is going to be really cramped.  They are a gaming place and wouldn't be really happy if we took up space that is dedicated to gaming stations.  It is hard to explain but once you walk in and look at the place you'd understand.  They don't really have a space for stuff like this, we'd be setting up at a table with 5 tall chairs and a small counter with a fold up table I can bring.

Edit: but again I have to ask them.  Given all of this communication maybe they just aren't a good fit.  I think maybe emporium would be a good option, I looked at their website and reviews and it looked like a sweet place.

[DanGWanG]

I'm reaching out to mkawa's friend one last time to see if we can push a meeting room to Sept 1st or 8th.  If we can, I'd like to setup shop there for a few reasons:

1)  Alcohol is fine, but I get worried around people with liquid and expensive keyboards.
2)  Ideally, I'd like to cater food in instead of travelling to 2 different places and with a meeting room that'd be perfect.  We can always go to the bar afterwards when keyboards are out of the picture.
3)  Meeting rooms tend to have more space =)

My Plan B was to reach out to the staff at Emporium to see if we can setup shop there =)

[i3oilermaker]

Damn - I am out of town on the 1st and 8th does not work for me.

After that I am pretty open.

[Trent]

Can we do it in late August please?  I have a new job starting in September and I am going to be so busy I doubt I would have the ability to go if it was then...

[jcrouse]

Edit:  And yes, I am Chinese and my family owns a Chinese restaurant =)  There are plenty of horror stories to be told about my adolescent youth.

I WANT ORANGE CHICKEN!!!

x2

[jcrouse]

Since I am far removed from Chicago and haven't been involved in the planning I don't want to complain, so I'll call it a suggestion. The first thing that comes to my mind is one of those rooms that you rent for birthday parties a Chuckies Cheese. Maybe even a small unused room and a small hotel, La Quinta or Ramada Inn. Just a couple of thoughts. I would have no problem throwing in $10 for a comfortable venue where we have lots of room.

John

[i3oilermaker]

I have not been to Emporium, but my understanding is it is a bar, and probably pretty crowded and loud on a weekend.

Sounds like a lot of fun, but not a good venue for trading, trying out boards, talking nerdy etc...

[bisl]

I've been to Emporium! It is indeed a bar, but it's equal parts bar and arcade. However, the setting is as you would expect either to be: dark, loud, and crowded. Might not be the best place.