ChicagoCon 2008 - Thursday, July 17
Thursday, July 17
Into Chicago III
On Thursday, we took our third trip to downtown Chicago. We had two goals for this trip: meeting with other site members at the Starmen.Net Subcon, and taking the trip to the Art Institute that we'd postponed from Tuesday.
The Fishtank is loaded and ready to go to Chicago
Driving into the city
[Photo courtesy of Stephen]
Starmen.Net Subcon
The Starmen.Net Subcon was an open invitation to any and all Starmen.Net members to meet with those of us from the convention at Millenium Park at 1:30 PM.
Waiting around for anybody who happens to show up
Shiny
Paul B takes a self-portrait
A partial view of the skyline from the park
Steve eats a hot dog
Rob eats a hot dog
Kine shows up to the minicon
Reid
We began playing "dumb baseball", playing with a tennis ball and a wiffle bat, and using the shadows from the structure over the park to denote our bases. Unfortunately, that made our bases disappear when the sun went behind a cloud.
Dumb baseball
Dumb baseball
Butts
Reid and Steve
The Art Institute of Chicago, For Real
Armed with the knowledge of the correct time that the Art Institute had free admission, we headed down the sidewalk to get there.
The Art Institute
It's a lion! Get in the car, Kevin!
Steve and Reid
Lance in front of Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
Apparently all you have to do to get your name in a museum is lend them a quarter.
Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath
Edward Hopper's Nighthawks
Trip does not approve
Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.). Being allowed to eat art from the museum was fun.
"Zero plus zero equals zero. A doughnut plus a doughnut equals two doughnuts."
A view of part of the skyline at sunset as seen from a window of the museum
We'd all agreed to meet back at the front of the museum at 8:00 PM so we could go to dinner.
Gino's, Again
Once we had everyone together, it was time to walk to Gino's.
The Sears Tower, as seen from the front steps of the Art Institute
Walking up Michigan Avenue at dusk
[Photo courtesy of Stephen]
Reid and Steve pose outside the Apple Store
We finally arrived at Gino's East, although there was a line out the door to get a table. Thus, we split ourselves into five groups of four in order to be seated sooner.
Gino's East
The crowd outside
[Photo courtesy of Stephen]
Waiting outside for a table
Paul B, Stephen, Dave, and Lance
Mallory, Camille, Rob, and Trip
Logan, Chaz, and Reid
Paul K, Jon, Sabrina, and Charles
Steve, Will, Ben, and Stephanie
Ben apparently likes his drinks sweet.
The pizza
[Photo courtesy of Mallory]
Gino's seemed to encourage drawing on any available surface. Of course, Starmen.Net had to leave its mark.
An example of the writing on the walls
The starman symbol
"EB," the starman symbol, and a fobby
Mr. Saturn
After dinner, the three drivers took a bus back down to our parking garage while the rest of the group waited at Gino's to be picked up.
Mallory and Reid after getting off the bus
Driving back up to Gino's to pick everyone up
In the Fishtank
Driving home
[Photo courtesy of Stephen]
Back at the House
Those who had not come with us to Chicago had been playing EarthBound all day.
Playing EarthBound
Playing EarthBound
A box of Nepas
People hanging out on the balcony
Trip and Reid looks down from above