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Buell Forum » Storm Fronts: Buell Groups, Clubs, & Events » 068 Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Buellers » Archives 1 » Archive through December 30, 2005

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Author Message   Slowride Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 11:49 am:        Dago, I voted! On your site under the pictures tab, Buell Convention, is there a pic of Daves or Blake in there?   Dago Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 11:53 am:        Yep! The last image on that page (http://www.forthefew.com/default.aspx?p=2005Pics&g=3) has call-outs with everyones names.   Slowride Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 12:00 pm:        HAHA! Roadthing looks like an ol friend! Dagone farmers riding Buells! It looks like he is getting a pretty good crowd for his ranchita. I have seen about 12 responders so far. I was very tempted, but that would be a heck of a round trip! Btw, who was shooting the Track Day photos? Nice addition to your header.   Dago Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 05:11 pm:        Micah, here's the guy who took the images: http://www.fasttrackimages.com/ As far as I'm aware, he's at all of the Lone Star Trackdays. Nice guy too.   Blake Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 06:01 pm:        Kevin, I think you are right; I did self-appoint myself didn't I. Stupid move eh? Dago, Now yer cookin'. May I suggest adding closing time, group seating capacity, and travel distance from Gaylord Texan hotel at... 1501 Gaylord TRL, Grapevine, 76051 to your listing? I second Kevin's suggestion in that we let all the locals suggest and debate the venue, but in the end let Dave S. choose. Looking at the offerings in your poll... Looks like there is a Shady Oaks BBQ in N. Arlington that will be about 7 miles nearer to the hotel (16 mi vs 23 mi). Looks like a good BBQ restaurant with lots of capacity and is open till 10PM. It is in the "chain store" category. Up-n-Smoke sounds like a great local (non-chain store) restauraunt 12 miles from the hotel. They normally close at 9PM on Mondays; adequate group seating *may* be an issue for what may end up being a group of 30+. Angelo's is also a great restaurant and not a chain store. It is 27 miles from the Gaylord Texan hotel. Bartley's is closed on Mondays. Dickey's chain store in Grapevine is 1.5 miles from the hotel. They normally close at 8PM on Mondays but will accommodate us to as late as 10PM. Group seating is no problem and they will accommodate our special menu/serving requests and can offer group pricing. Feedstore is closed on Mondays. Sonny Bryan's chain store in Grapevine is 3 miles from hotel, not sure about hours. It is a darn good restaurant. No info yet for Lee's BBQ other than it is 20 miles from the hotel. Based upon last year's turnout, suggest you plan on a group of 30+. If socializing is a priority, optimal group seating would be a major consideration. One of my personal frustrations at events like this is that I hardly ever get enough of a chance to meet and talk to folks. The best well-organized event like this that I've seen was the American Sport Bike Night dinner this past July in Carmel, CA during the Laguna Seca MotoGP race weekend. That event ended up with over 80 Buell enthusiasts attending. It was great! They had speakers, even *some guy* from the factory giving a presentation and answering questions. I think our tendency so far has been to treat this as a small gathering. How about we up the antee and add some organized content to it a'la American Sport Bike Night's example? This would mean that the venue we choose must be able to accommodate a sequestered group in order to accommodate a presentation or two.   Dago Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 08:20 pm:        No, Blake. I'm not cookin'. We're eatin' out.   Kevinfromwebb Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 08:38 pm:        Angela, since you seem to be familar with Up in Smoke, I've got a couple of questions:would they stay open later than 9 if there were a few of us there??? If we called in advance(which we should do anyplace we go) do you think we would have any seating problems??? Blake, what are you refering to as 'organized content'??? If you'd rather not mention it publically just pm me... Kevin   Kevinfromwebb Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 10:21 pm:        Thanks Angela...   Bretp Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 10:30 pm:        I'm in. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you.   Buellfighter Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 10:39 pm:        Sounds like fun. I'm in!!   Blake Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 01:06 am:        Kevin, Optimally, we'd have someone from the factory give us a presentation on the latest and greatest stuff happening at Buell and/or with Buell Racing. Worst case, we get Dago to stand on the table and make noises like his XB12R's engine did at the last track day. Dago, Okay, we'll go out to eat, but bring your apron just in case.   Blake Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 01:09 am:        And you might want to practice the engine noise thing too.   Dago Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 08:16 am:        Games, games, games... That was just lame.   Daves Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 03:22 pm:        If we go to Up in Smoke do we need to talk like Cheech and Chong? Let's just pick a place!   Ortegakid Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 04:39 pm:        I don't remember hearing any untoward noises last track day, even during the mock race?!! But plz let me know anyways where you all decide, we'll be there!   Kevinfromwebb Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 07:18 pm:        Daves, according to the polls it's going to be Up in Smoke, do you still have any bell bottoms??? Angela, you are full of uh oh well,ideas, beating a dead horse, and the one I"m still trying to get out of my head is the backwards thong,ewwwwwwwwwwwww... Well, how much longer should we let the poll stay open??? Kevin   Dago Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 09:07 pm:        It wasn't this difficult last year. I wonder what the difference is this year? Let's just do Up in Smoke and end this. All in favor?   Blake Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 12:01 am:        This is "difficult"? One difference compared to last year is that, if all comes to fruition and we are very lucky, we hope to have Erik Buell or Steve Anderson or Henry Duga or any other of the many esteemed Buell factory insiders eager to give us a presentation and subject themselves to a vigorous Q&A session. Given that, might it be worth formally verifying whether or not the desired venue(s) will accommodate 30+ even 40+ people in one sequestered area along with a mic and amp so everyone can see and hear said presentation and Q&A session? A potentially much larger group makes this effort more of a logistical challenge/concern compared to last year's event. Another difference, or lesson learned really, is that it might be nice to be allowed to hang around and socialize until 10PM. One additional consideration... might it be valuable to have some stick-on name tags for everyone as they enter the restaurant? I for one really suck at recalling names. And don't forget about your engine noise impressions. Fair's fair though; if you'll do the XB12 impression, I'll do my impression of an R6. That ain't lame. It's good wholesome entertainment. Scrutinizing Up-n-Smoke's neat 360o virtual tour video it looks like both the non-smoking and smoking dining areas will each accommodate 40+. Even their "beer garden" has seating for 30. That's a really cool restaurant. I haven't voted in the poll yet, but Up'n Smoke'll get my vote if they'll agree to let us hang out till 10PM and will give us the run of one of the dining rooms starting from 7pm or so. Dago, I sure don't want to offend anyone by butting in where I'm not wanted. I don't enjoy continuing to press the issue, but I'm getting nervous; must be the project manager in me. I hope you'll forgive my tenacity. I'd be grateful if you would either agree or decline to head up this effort; one way or the other is fine with me. I just really feel that it is imperative that we have one person who is willing to take charge and see that all the details are covered. I'm willing to help any way I can.   Blake Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 12:14 am:        Most encouraging is that we are over a week ahead of where we were on this effort last year. Heck, this is gravy, not difficult at all.   Blake Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 12:20 am:        Dave, Try not to slobber on your keyboard... Up'n Smoke Menu Which meat to get? I wonder if we can get them to do a family-style/buffet setup for us where we can sample some of each type of meat? What quantity of BBQ do you figure the average Buell enthusiast will devour for dinner? Maybe a third of a LB? A half LB? I can eat a pound of good BBQ brisket no problem. I shouldn't, but I do.   Blake Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 12:23 am:        One final comment for the evening... Might it be good to set this up as a flat-fee/pay-in-advance scenario?   Dago Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 08:37 am:        It sounds to me like it's done, Blake. I'll call the restaurant to secure the reservation and ask Angela to sweet talk them into letting us stay as late as we want. A word of advice: Life doesn't require a project manager to happen. After all, who with any sort of authority in their job isn't one? Read a Microsoft best practices manual, and you are one. You haven't offended me. But you sure can come across as one condescending fellow. Perhaps I misinterpret your general tone with too sensitive a manner. A face to face conversation can usually fix that. I'll buy you a beer and we can talk about it.   Buellfighter Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 09:53 am:        I just want to say thanks you guys and I can't wait!! As long as it's not raining I'll be riding! See ya there!   Kevinfromwebb Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 09:55 am:        Blake, just my .02 but I disagree with having something official at the dinner. My thoughts are that this is a small gathering of Buell enthusists to get together and visit. The 'official' Buell folks are down here for meetings and I'm thinking that they might be trying to get away from meetings and official events.If we want to know something about what's going on new, ask, like last year. A more informal event is what we had last year and I myself really enjoyed it... Not trying to flame but my opinions... It seems to me you have made this whole event more trouble because you have been obsessing over it... Kevin   Slowride Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 01:20 pm:        Angela, I hate to see your are having those feelings. I have generally enjoyed my time with the group. This is the first time I have experienced a fluster within the ranks. It seems the outside pressure caused some misdirected (words, thoughts or whining). I hope you change your mind. I think as Dago posted above he is counting on you to make the deal sweater. Please PM us, if we have offended you in any way. Please remember, Blake and Daves come from a different part of the country, meaning that you won't have to ride with em often HEHEHEHE! Just joking Guys! Seriously though, If you have an issue with the DFW Buellers give us a pm, we are all adults and will own up to any mistake we might have made. PS. I sent out an invite to another person for this event. Think we can clean up this mess before they show up and we get another negative feedback? Micah   Slowride Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 01:26 pm:        On another note, Chris, Kevin, Angela and Dago all anied up for the BRAG Officers right? I think this needs to be the official rank and file of the DFW Buellers. I have never experienced anything but a wrong turn with Chris and Kevin up front. I think this could be a good thing. If we are going to HOST an event we need to plan the event! If the Corp. guys don't like it they, can get over it and pony up suggestions. Dago, I like your comment! I am a PM myself. I work as a PM, I don't let my life be ran by my work. I am a total slob and unorganized at my house, but I turn out Fortune 5 projects weekly with a 100% satisfaction. Right on, Life Happens!