Tri-City Area?

hahah omg. We've been trying to get a meeting going for a few years now :(

Ha, I remember trying to do this last year.
I remember there were location issues.
Something that is along the 97 B-Line route is probably best because that bus runs constantly. It satisfies those who have to transit =)

2 Years. With me suggesting it, anyway. Dunno if there was anything suggested before I started coming to any sort of meetings - I didnt' pay attention then, LOL

YEah, a meeting place along that route would be great! Or one of the malls or something...

lougheed skytrain station would be ideal

I've been thinking about locations and this what I've come up with:

-Starbucks/Random Coffee Shop (if the group isn't too big)
-Mall Food Court (It's not that quiet but it's open till 9 from Wednesday to Friday)
-Library Resource Room (Coquitlam Public Library took out Legends, the coffeeshop that was in it and replaced it with a resoure room. We should see if we can use it for a few hours, only if it's free though. UPDATE: It costs money to rent the rooms *sigh*)
-IKEA (I believe I suggested this last year but I can't remember why it was vetoed.)

Any other suggestions?
And maybe this year we should compile a list of suggestions and pick the best one instead of rejecting all the suggestions and being left with nothing =)

"And maybe this year we should compile a list of suggestions and pick the best one instead of rejecting all the suggestions and being left with nothing =)"

Bah, where's the fun in that?

...

Ted?!?! Are you taking Writing this year, then?

EDIT: Also, mall food court would be somewhat distressing to me. Too close to work :\

*giggles* So we can just sit and chat on the skytrain for hours on end? That'd be cool! Though expensive for those without bus passes...

I think IKEA was vetoed because it's somewhat difficult to get to by public transportation, if I remember right (could be *very* wrong on that)

But I like the idea of a mall or something. Coffee shop works well too, so long as they don't mind if we sit in there without *everyone* buying something (there'll be some people who won't want to, I'm sure)...

Is it sad that I'm attracted to that idea?!
I can just imagine what the transit cops would think.

Oh we'd totally get pulled off *somewhere* But the idea is very much amusing, yes

"There's something fishy about this..."

*investigates*

*nothing*

"..."

That would be cool. We could just take over a Skytrain car and just sit around talking until the same transit cop sees us for the fifth time and asks us why we're never getting off.

And then we get the "nanowhatsies?" thing and they all think we're insane and then we get a free ticket to have out meeting in a mental hospital - this idea looks better and better ;P

A meeting in a mental hospital? That would be fun. I bet we could be as noisy as we want there =)
But the straightjackets might make it hard to write.

Who said anything about writing? ;P

Well, seeing as I'm living in Coquitlam now, I guess it wouldn't hurt to lend a hand.

As to a place - just do a coffee shop. It's what happens downtown and there are no issues there. What's the worst that can happen? The people who don't buy anything get asked to leave, so we look for somewhere else.

That said, so long as most of us buy something, I'm willing to bet they won't care, so long as paying customers aren't driven off by us. There's no law that says everyone in your group has to buy something to sit in a coffee shop, so the worst case scenario is that they ask us to leave. I'm willing to pay a couple of bucks for a coffee or tea to ensure we have a place to do this, aren't you?

So, a coffee shop or cafe with a fair amount of seating room would be ideal, and at a time when it's not usually busy, too, say on weeknights. I'm generally free Tuesday through Thursday evenings for this sorta stuff, and Saturdays are best for me if we try on weekends.

Haha - I remember you from the Kick off last year. Werent' you the one with the keyboard thingy that was the source of almost all my pics because I knew my bf wouldn't believe me about it unless I had pic proof (and he didn't...)? Or the one beside him..or..something. Maybe I'm going crazy.

ANYWAYS - along the same lines, what if we were to do as they're doing for this year's kick off and meet in a food court somewhere? Wait..someone suggested that already, didn't they?

Ya, I was the one beside Everett with his laser keyboard. I dunno if he's taking part this year, but maybe we can get him out here to a meetup, since we're a bit closer to Abbotsford than downtown, eh?

That said, I'm really not a fan of the foodcourt thing in general, it's really not suited to this sort of thing, and for the amount of people we'll have for a meetup around here, there's no need. A coffee shop would be fine, just like the Blenz downtown for the Nano Sundays, never had a problem there, and they have access to power outlets and wireless if people want to keep working when they meet up.

Well, this might be a stupid question, but I'm new to the area, so here goes. What cities make up the Tri-cities? It sounds like Coquitlam, which is close to where I live, New Westminster. But I really don't know my way around.

Coquitlam, Port Moody, and...I can't remember the third..PoCo or Burnaby maybe? But that kinda area. New West is close enough if you wanted to come you could :) (TEchnically *anyone* who wants to come can come, but the general idea is to have a meeting a lil closer to home ;D)

The TriCities are Coquitlam, Port Moody and PoCo.
I think the coffee shop idea is good, I just can't think of a coffee shop with ample seating. The Tri-Cities Starbucks locations I can think of are tiny. (PoMo: St Johns, Coquitlam: Como Lake, mall one)
There's a really big Starbucks in Burnaby that is frequented by SFU students because it's so close to SFU but that's Burnaby.
The only other coffeeshop I can think of that is really tolerant to people who sit for hours is Renaissance Coffee at SFU (as long as you're not there at lunch time)
Does anyone else have any better ideas than I do? (I'm hoping someone does...)

Ahhh.. Double post >.<

Blendz in the mall (Coquitlam Centre), maybe? The one we do weeklies at in Vancouver is tollerant enough of us... And if we get kicked out, we could always just go find seating elsewhere in the mall (that one *does* have it's fair share of comfy seating..)

I like the idea. It's an easily accesible location via transit and it's in the middle of the Tri-Cities. We know that coffee houses are tolerant of crazy writers and the Blendz is a good size (yes?). My favourite aspect of this location is that it has a backup plan! =)

Hee hee, plan B is always good.

I don't know about the size of it, as I've never been inside, but from what I've seen in passing, it *looks* somewhat ok..ish..maybe? Lol, I dunno - has anyone been inside?

I thought you had been inside it which was why you suggested it!

That woudl be logical, wouldn't it? But no, I haven't. Just walk past it almost every time I go to Coq Centre... I'm just going by the idea that the one we do the Vancouver meetups at is nice to us...

Well, let's try it at the Blenz in Coquitlam center then. It's a hub for transit so everyone should be able to get there.

Renaissance at SFU is also good, or heck, anywhere at SFU. The buildings are all open even on weekends, so there's plenty of places with seats that we can gather in, provided the time we choose isn't during a busy time. I work at SFU and live at the bottom of the mountain, so that obviously appeals to me ;)

Well, we'll put them all on our list and take a vote through the group - most popular wins.