Kerry Birthday Thread! Dec 11th - Who's with me!?

Who is going to be there, when are you arriving, where are you staying etc.?

I'll be arriving on Saturday and I'm staying with Rox.

Senator Kerry might not know it yet, but he's going to have some very happy people at his birthday party! :)

If I don't hear back from folks by Sunday, I'll just book one and see if anyone else needs a roomie for the night.

Can't wait to meet you all. And we have to meet with the Senator and Mrs. Senator too! We just have to find a way. (Working on it.)

I'll share with whoever needs someone to share with. Since cot rentals are an option, the more the merrier sharing a room would be fine with me to keep the cost down.

I say kinda because I think globalvillage has a room at either Marriott or Doubletree but I was hoping to stay at the Park Plaza Sunday night. Convenience and all that, plus I know several others are staying there. I haven't booked yet and am hoping to share with someone.

But I let my AAA lapse so I can't get the discount unless / until I go renew that.

Island Blue has the other bed in my room. But when I booked it, I specified that there might be three people sharing the room. So we can either get a rollaway cot, or there's a possibility that they might put us in a room with a sofa bed. Let me know if you're interested, because you are certainly welcome. The more, the merrier. :D

I promised first dibs to Firespirit since she asked first, but I haven't heard back from her yet. If she ends up not needing the room, I have a vacancy.

And I'd be delighted to take you up on your offer.

I have made a slight change of plans, due to (believe it or not) cheaper airfare by doing it... I will be arriving Friday night at 6:40 and leaving Monday right around lunch. All things are set, including my outfit, except for actually getting the ticket to the event, which I can do as soon as I activate my VISA (they don't take Discover).

You will be arriving in Boston before us. We don't get there until 10:30 PM - by the time we get to the hotel it might be about 11:30. Hopefully you can find some other members of the group to hook up with, and/or you can grab a drink or some food at the hotel until we get there. It's a nice place to kill time, that Park Plaza. Beautiful! I will PM you my cell phone number and all that good stuff before the trip. We'll touch base when I arrive in Boston, and we'll be ready to tear it up. So, yes, you have a room to share. I think it has a big king bed, and we can request a cot, also. This is going to be a blast. I'm glad you're staying with us!

I'll need to eat something, of course.... and definitely unpack my coat from my luggage (unless it turns out to be cold enough at my originating airport to justify my carrying it). I'm sure I'll get in touch with whometense, rox, TayTay, or another local (or semi-local :P) to let them know I'm there. I would've considered arriving later, but I have had my bags delayed on the wrong flight three times in my lifetime, and if that happened at 10:30 or so, I doubt I'd get them till the next day.

I won't lack things to do.

Perhaps I'd better pack a few things in my carry-on.

pm'd you my phone number.

Is anyone interested in the Saturday night Jimmy Tingle show? http://www.jtoffbroadway.com/popup_american2.htm

It doesn't matter to me - I can go any time. But if we all want to go we should make reservations for such a large group. We could also just go out to eat or something and not do the show. I just wanted to get a consensus on what the out-of-towners think they'd like to do on Saturday night.

And I could go see it whenever I wanted. But since we're a bunch of political junkies, I think it would be great to see it with this group. As long as others agree, of course.

Being a history buff, I'd kick myself if I didn't see the actual sites where this country began. Saturday night it'd be nice to go out for a nice dinner and some drinks. That's just my input though. Should I go ahead and pm you my phone number, whome?

that would probably be a good idea. The airport can be a confusing place, and cell phones come in very handy.

Dinner, drinks, historical tour. Mmmmm...DINNER.

It begins at the State House (The new State House, cuz it only goes back to 1798, I think. The old one is down the street. That one goes back to 1713, I think. It's kind of old.) Or maybe it should begin at the corner where Park Street Station is. (Hmmm, where the story goes, the wind and the devil were walking one day. The Devil said, wait a minute I need to go in here and entered the Park Street Church, never to return. The wind is still there waiting. Dress accordingly.)

The tour ends at either the nearest bar if it is wicked cold or at the North End and Copps' Hill, if we get there. We may get tired of history stuff and just call it a day at Faneuil Hall. (Hey, I can take pictures of yuhz on the stage. Ahm, if that's okay, all things considered.)

Bring comfy walking shoes. And gloves. And an appetite.

One Boston-Chicago story for WEL, cuz she is from the great and noble state of Illinois.

The story goes that many decades ago one young man had finished his time at Harvard Law School and applied to a firm in Chicago for employment. The Chicago firm asked for letters of recommendation from some Boston firms that the young man had worked in during his schooling. A glowing letter came back describing him as having the most excellent forebears, Cabots, Lodges, Lowells and the like. The wonderfulness of such families was extolled and extolled. The Chicago firm responded back: "Thanks for the recommendation, but we were not considering him for breeding purposes."

Hmmmmm. Just hmmmmmm.

I'm with you up until the drinks. I'm underage and cannot legally drink. :cry:

It gives me migraines. So drinks for me mean warm tea or 'iced coffee' or lemonade or something. I still refer to it as stopping for drinks. Not to worry, there is room for all.

designated driver. In case we need one. :toast: :beer:

Actually, I'm not much of a drinker either. More than two or three drinks, and I start falling asleep. :boring:

Then I really shouldn't have any problems

so we will not be taking you into anything seedy. I would be able to take my own kids into these places, so you will be safe and such.

In that case, there should be no worries. Seedy bars, hahaha. Those places are creepy...

meet up with everyone before the party, but I don't know if I'll be able to or not yet.

on whatever adventures we undertake before the par-tay. :D

And staying with whometense. Are we getting a room at the hotel on Sunday? I'll go in on that, if so. I just need a way to get to Logan by about 6 am Monday morning (early flight leaves at 7 am).

You will love Whometense. She is WONDERFUL. If you stay overnight at the Plaza Sunday, there is a shuttle from the hotel to the airport, which is only three miles away. I think TayTay is looking to get a room there Sunday, and may need roomies. She also rocks.

Count me in for the hotel, then. Hopefully they have a shuttle leaving that early.

for those of us who can't attend.

are you all going to try to get together before or after the birthday party ?

And I currently have no roomie for Sunday. I did offer Island Blue a spot via PM, since she's bunking at my place on Saturday night. And we can probably get a rollaway cot for another person, if we ask nice. So there's room for me and probably two other folks.

I noticed _dynamicdems wasn't going to the bash.

To be honest, I'd rather go by myself so I can drool over the senator without having my spouse look at me like I lost my mind. However; if there is anybody who is more of a Kerry supporter in my family than I am, it's hubby. So it would be mean to leave him at home.
We're driving down from Amesbury (if we can make it) and are also going home again that same night. Can't leave the cats and dogs alone too long :-)

for a few pops after the event? The Party is scheduled to end at 8:00, which is way too early to end the evening. There will be lots of giggly, happy women there who would be great company?

I'd like to put some faces with the names I see in the Kerry group every day!
I should know by next week or so if we can make it to the party. So I'll check back in here to see who else is going. (My goodness, I have nothing to wear for the event!)

I certainly hope you do make it.