In my mind, I've gone to Carolina, and in May, I'll be there in person.

April 26, 2008 12:26 PM

So, I'm going to be in Raleigh, NC, May 22 to May 29. Do any MeFites in the the triangle want to have a pub night sometime that week, and if so, may I join you?
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter Gatherings at 12:26 PM (46 comments total)

I could do something the evening of the 23rd. Alternatively, I host a couple of local bar trivia events--if any MeFites want to field a team, you all could come out the night of the 26th or 27th, play the game, then we could drink afterwards.
posted by EarBucket at 12:49 PM on April 26, 2008

Aw CRAP! I'm going to be in DC at the beginning of that week (note that meetup!), but will be back in the RDU area by at the latest Tuesday. So y'all plan and hopefully I'll be in town and I'll for sure go.
posted by Stewriffic at 1:07 PM on April 26, 2008

I would love a meetup! I can do any of those days, but I will be sans vehicle over Memorial Day weekend, and since I live about a half hour away from Raleigh, that would make it tough for me to attend. Of course, my obvious suggestion is that everyone should just come to Carrboro.....
posted by msali at 2:00 PM on April 26, 2008

Are you a beer drinker? The Flying Saucer (cheesy bar, great beer selection) has a trivia night every Tuesday. There are games at 7:00 and at 9:30.
If you want to meet up for just beer, no chessiness and no trivia, there's always Horniblow's. They make and serve some the best beer you'll ever pour down your gullet. The tavern part is carved out of a warehouse office space and they brew their beer down in the warehouse itself. It's charmingly located in the middle of Raleigh's light industrial section.
posted by NoMich at 2:36 PM on April 26, 2008

C'mon msali, I go to Raleigh every. day. It's not as bad as it seems!
posted by Stewriffic at 2:37 PM on April 26, 2008

Oops, I thought that EarBucket's post was a sort of [more inside] by orange swan. Nix the Flying Saucer trivia suggestion.
EarBucket: where do you host a trivia night?
posted by NoMich at 3:42 PM on April 26, 2008

Yah, Flying Saucer has great beer selection, but the trivia (I'm really sorry if this is your place, Earbucket) is horrendous. The hostess can't pronounce the names.
posted by Stewriffic at 4:30 PM on April 26, 2008

Sounds great! What nights during that week work best for you, orange swan? Also, if you're free on the weekend and want to do a day trip, we can probably plan something cool. Vollis Simpson's whirligig field is a half hour away in Wilson, e.g., and is worth every minute of the drive, or hiking the Eno River in Durham or whatever. I work Saturday but would be down for a picnic/hike/museum hop/etc on Sunday.

my obvious suggestion is that everyone should just come to Carrboro.....

The last Triangle meetup was in Chapel Hill, right? Let's do one in Raleigh this time. :)
posted by mediareport at 6:00 PM on April 26, 2008

I had to miss the Chapel Hill one, but I'll make this one if I can. Any night but Wednesday.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:17 PM on April 26, 2008

I don't mind trivia (despite the fact that I suck at it), but I'm hesitant to commit to a night of trivia. We did it in Toronto once and I really didn't like the way it precluded actual conversation. I'd rather have the chance get to know people, it being common knowledge that you're all polymaths and the like.
posted by orange swan at 6:58 PM on April 26, 2008

I'm in, flexible, but a wednesday or thursday is preferred. Throwing the Times Bar into the watering hole suggestion hat.
posted by yoga at 7:15 PM on April 26, 2008

I don't really have a preferred night, but both Thursday nights are out. I'll be arriving on one and leaving on the other.
posted by orange swan at 7:21 PM on April 26, 2008

I do trivia Monday nights in Cary, Tuesday and Thursday nights in Raleigh. And my trivia's way better than the Flying Saucer's. Sounds like Tuesday night might be our best night--it's at Edwards Mill Bar and Grill, starting at 8, although someone would probably want to get there around 7:30 to make sure you can snag a table (or two, depending on how many people end up coming). It's free to play, prizes for the top three teams. Be fun to have the Metafilter crew represented.
posted by EarBucket at 7:39 PM on April 26, 2008

Oh, didn't see orange swan's last post. I think it's a lot more low-key and less contest-focused than a lot of bar trivia games, with more time for conversation than you get in a lot them. If we don't want to do that, it's cool, though. Just throwin' it out there.
posted by EarBucket at 7:42 PM on April 26, 2008

I won't be anywhere remotely in the area, but I've had the pleasure of going to the Flying Saucer in Raleigh and recommend it highly as far as beer is concerned. Trivia I don't know about, though.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:22 PM on April 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yes, the beer at the Flying Saucer is awesome. They have a wonderful selection.
posted by EarBucket at 4:50 AM on April 27, 2008

I'm up for a meetup. Trivia would be fine and I don't drink, but as long as there's something decent to eat I'm good. ;)
posted by artifarce at 10:34 AM on April 27, 2008

The Raleigh Times is a great spot, like yoga says, as is the nearby Borough - both locally owned by good people who are helping make downtown more active. The Borough has good food, too, with half-price appetizers from 4-7pm on weekdays. I'd be up for Friday or Saturday night, too, before the bar rush hits, but any day except Wednesday works for me.
posted by mediareport at 3:21 PM on April 27, 2008

I'll be out of the country. Next time ya'll.
posted by greta simone at 11:28 AM on April 28, 2008

Okay, maybe I should just pick a date. I would have thought a weekend night would be best since people don't have to worry about getting up early the next morning, but it seems you're all open to going out week nights. Here goes — let's say, Tuesday, May 27th, because that seems to work for most of the people who've posted in this thread.

Now, for the venue... never having been to Raleigh, I don't know one bar from another. All I ask is that we pick a place where we won't be playing trivia *all* night and that is quiet enough to allow for some conversation.
posted by orange swan at 8:48 PM on April 29, 2008

I'm in! We could do the Borough, since there's a parking deck close by ($1 before 7pm, free after, but maybe the Borough validates?). And we could take advantage of the 4-7pm munchies like mediareport said. I'm poor at the moment, can you tell?!)

And I've never been to the Borough either, Orange Swan, so we can lose our virginity together. :D
posted by yoga at 9:39 AM on April 30, 2008

Having never been to one of these before, any chance it'd still be going strong at 9 pm? (feel dumb for not saying anything on my first post about Tuesdays ;) ).
posted by artifarce at 2:01 PM on April 30, 2008

I can't speak for the people who will attend this particular meetup, artifarce, but I know when I go to Toronto meetups they're just getting started at 9.
posted by orange swan at 6:55 PM on April 30, 2008

Tuesday works for me (but I'd still be open to a weekend night if other folks like the idea). The Borough for pre-7pm food for the hungry poor and then Flying Saucer for its better beer selection later? They're just about a block apart.
posted by mediareport at 8:35 PM on April 30, 2008

I'll be rockin out at the X/Detroit Cobras show at the Cradle that night. Whoo!!
posted by NoMich at 7:04 AM on May 2, 2008

I'll be working that evening, but I'll come by after 10, if you all are still there.
posted by EarBucket at 8:09 AM on May 2, 2008

We could skip the early part and just meet at Flying Saucer at, say, 8:30, which gives us time to decompress after work before meeting, still be there at 10 for EarBucket and let folks who have to work early the next morning get home by 11.
posted by mediareport at 5:30 PM on May 3, 2008

Sounds good to me.
posted by artifarce at 6:45 PM on May 4, 2008

Me too. Okay, let's say the venue is the Flying Saucer, at 8:30-ish.
posted by orange swan at 7:53 PM on May 4, 2008

See y'all there!
posted by yoga at 5:06 AM on May 5, 2008

Barring emergencies, I'm in. See you there.
(P.S. How do we find each other at these things?)
posted by Pater Aletheias at 2:02 PM on May 5, 2008

Usually people make some sort of little sign to put on the table. Also there are often at least a few people who have met one another before, so that makes things easier. If you don't know anyone, just wander around looking curiously and expectantly at the various groups of people and looking for a sign. You'll see a group of wildly attractive people who are totally absorbed in each other and appear to be having an amazing time. THIS IS NOT THE MEFI CROWD. Keep looking until you see a table full of oddly assorted people who all pause to look curiously and expectantly back at you as you approach. You might see a sign or a Metafilter t-shirt, which will clinch things. If not, say, cautiously, "Metafilter?" If the group of people in question greet you enthusiastically, you have found the MeFites. Or a group of wily and opportunistic slave traffickers. Either way the odds are good that you'll wake up in an outfit consisting of leather straps, but them's the breaks.

Hope to see you there!
posted by orange swan at 6:29 AM on May 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Hey folks. I'll be there but I have to work in Carrboro until 10:00 or so. I reckon things'll still be going on around 10:30-10:45.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 12:18 PM on May 6, 2008

Asheville will wave at you from across the mountains...
posted by moonbird at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2008

Tomorrow at the Flying Saucer at 8:30?

Why, yes, tomorrow at the Flying Saucer at 8:30!
posted by mediareport at 5:33 AM on May 26, 2008

Looking forward to meeting you all. And I'm bringing my friend, who despite my best efforts is not a member nor even a lurker, and so we'll have to go reeaaaaal gentle on him;-)
posted by orange swan at 10:44 AM on May 27, 2008

Yay! Just rolled in from DC, and looking forward to meeting everyone!
posted by Stewriffic at 12:03 PM on May 27, 2008

Wonderful meeting you all! We were Orange Swan, Stewriffic, artifarce, Pater Aletheias (whose daughter has the best name ever), earbucket, Orange Swan's friend Tim (who made an amazing voodoo doll at my request out of paper and duct tape) and Stewriffic's friend Randall. Sorry I had to be first to leave; the conversation was great.

(earbucket, it's hilarious we'd met just a couple of weeks ago and didn't know we were MeFites. And artifarce, you don't really have to hold onto the doll, we can make a new one. :) Hope to see you all again soon. Thanks to Orange Swan for giving us an excuse to get together!
posted by mediareport at 4:31 AM on May 28, 2008

I had a great time too! My husband will attest to the fact of how nervous I was, but you were all so friendly and funny.

I'm happy to hang onto the doll and bring him next time I come IF by doing so he'll be a progressive communal voodoo project of a cathartic nature. ;) (note: it could be a she. I'd hate to pigeonhole his gender just because this is MeFi) However, I certainly can't guarantee to be at the next meetup, especially if you all go to the beach or something.

Have a great last day in NC, orangeswan!
posted by artifarce at 5:17 AM on May 28, 2008

Pictures are up, people!

I had a fantastically amazing time. I poo-poo'd the voodoo at first, but it really made for a great icebreaker! And I got to kill the boyzone. We'll see if it works--my guess is that our voodoo-fu (oh, did I really just say that??) was weak, though. We didn't have any hair, blood or pieces of underpants to make part of the doll. And frankly, I don't want to think about boyzone underpants.

So fun to meet you all! Glad I have today off, though. I'm usually an early-to-bed person.

Enjoy your day, orange swan!

(Next meetup is in Durham.)
posted by Stewriffic at 5:24 AM on May 28, 2008

Hey, mediareport, you look good with a roll of duct tape.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:40 AM on May 28, 2008

By the way, I'd like to further expound on trying to find the mefi table. When I ended up in the back, the table there asked whom I was looking for. After answering "uh, metafilter?" one of the very clever guys there responded loudly "metafucker?" I smiled stupidly, not knowing if this was some Mefi joke and someone was being cute with me. Then the waitress saved me and suggested I look outside.
posted by artifarce at 6:25 AM on May 28, 2008

Oh joy.
posted by Stewriffic at 7:03 AM on May 28, 2008

We didn't have any hair, blood or pieces of underpants to make part of the doll.

Oh, man, you missed a lot those five minutes you were away from the table.

Great to meet you all! Now I'm going to feel bad snarking at you guys. I'll have to pick five other MeFites to be double-snarked so I keep my percentages intact.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 7:08 AM on May 28, 2008

It's ok, Pater, I still have to get over snarking about Twitter while sitting across the table from a Twitterer. I think I backpedaled pretty good, though, before getting schooled. And really, what orange swan's pal Tim did with that doll was amazing. It even has claws.

Hey, mediareport, you look good with a roll of duct tape.

Funny, that's not the first time I've heard that. :)
posted by mediareport at 8:33 PM on May 28, 2008

Thanks for coming out, everyone. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with you all. Tim, on his part, was glad he could be of help in our voodoo endeavour.

And it was nice of us not to whip some Raleigh ass by playing trivia with the rest of the bar.
posted by orange swan at 3:19 AM on May 29, 2008