Birthday Fun Saturday 10/23

[James K Whiting <whiting MIT EDU>]

It was my birthday recently. In celebration, I want to organize a dinner 
mob
and
friendly gathering for this Saturday. A suitable restaurant will be chosen 
in
the next two days. The friendly gathering will be at my new apartment near
Porter Square. We will meet for dinner at about 6:30 and then plan to get 
to my
apartment by 8:30 (in case you only want to do one).

Summary info:
date: Saturday October 23
time: 6:30pm for dinner, 8:30 for friendly gathering (ending time 
indefinite)
location: Porter Square (details below)
reason: I just turned 24

RSVP by noonish on Friday to help me estimate how large of a reservation I
should make. There will be another email later when I have determined a
restaurant, so you can reply to that one if you prefer.

Details:
I just moved to Porter Square, so I do not yet know what restaurants in the
area
are good. Please send me suggestions so that I can make a good choice. I 
expect
somewhere between 10 and 30 people to show up. I like Indian food, but 
mostly
not any other spicy food. Leaving Porter Square is possible, but I do want 
to
make sure that I can get back on time so that people don't think they are 
lost
if they get to my apartment at 8:30.

My apartment is at 7 Craigie Ter. I do not drive, so I cannot give good 
driving
directions, but it is easy to find. From Porter Square T stop, go down
Somerville Ave in the direction of Beacon St and Elm St (away from MAss 
Ave).
Go left immediately after passing Elm (this is Craigie St). Craigie St 
really
is immediately after Elm, so it is easy to miss if you are not expecting 
it.
About 150 feet up Craigie St on the left is Craigie Ter. Craigie Ter is 
only
about 100 feet long and has four houses. My house is the one on the right
immediately after the large yard. I live on the second floor (top 
doorbell).
Mapping programs on the internet should provide good driving directions if 
you
are not familiar with the Porter Square area.

The landlord has not given a clear answer on how much we can block up 
Craigie
Ter when we have parties, so I will ask our neighbors what their opinions 
are.
If you are concerned about parking, email me so I know to include you in 
any
further emails about parking.

By friendly gathering, I mean that people will sit around talking and 
possibly
playing games (my games collection consists of a deck of cards so bring 
games
if you want to play them). There will be some amount of snacks provided. 
We do
not have a television. Ringing handbells, square dancing, and other strange
activities are welcome if you can find space for them and bring proper
equipment. I will not be providing alcohol. You can bring some, but getting
drunk is frowned at. We have two caged birds

I was going to collect email addresses from social lists that I am on, but 
I
ran
into two problems: several of these lists are not publicly visible and many
people have email addresses that do not clearly indicate who they are. My
apologies if you have no idea who I am. Feel free to bring along friends 
that
know who I am (I'm sure I forgot to check for some people). SOs are welcome
too.

James