I12 - we'll have to talk in secret (aka the IRC channel) now

Isn't that what Smitty said :p

Some more show and tell... show now, tell later.

(left to right): Sicilian Babe, Mr. Babe, Geoff, Becky and Mignon tearing up the dance floor:



A Mignon sandwich. (l-r) Don Cardi, Mignon, SC:

How fun!!! What nice pics. What kind of music did they play? Was there a band or what??? And was that in the hotel?


TIS

(The very lucky) DonMichaelCorleone and his future bride:



Geoff and Mr. Babe discussing a way to sneak into the pool after hours:



Geoff showing the package he got... some fish wrapped in a "vest" ... courtesy of Don Cardi. plaw (right) looks on approvingly:

TIS -

They were playing "new" music (hell, if it ain't Sinatra I can't define it). No band, tapes from a dj. These pics were mainly from the hotel's lounge. It was about 3x larger than the one in Itasca, a typical bar/lounge hotel spot.

Aw! DMC..how cute! You're a nice looking couple.

Hell, the BBers are just one hell of a good looking group no??

Keep the pics coming. I love looking at them. :p


TIS

Mignon and yours truly:



Mr. and Mrs. Sicilian Babe. The good Mr. had a few nicknames - "Tom Pagan" by his choice, and "Doctor" after telling a funny story, but for sake of identification I'll refer to him as Mr. Babe:

OMG!! Was I as drunk as I look in that photo???? Well, yes, I was.

Where to start?? My husband and I checked in and made our way down to the bar to meet Plaw, who was late because he went to the wrong hotel. JG, however, wandered in. We ordered drinks (JG swore he wouldn't have any, but we twisted his arm until he ordered some sort of sissy lite beer), Plaw arrived shortly thereafter, looking every inch the "dapper don" in his suit and hat. As everyone else drifted back from their various excursions (SC and DC actually having spent the day trying to bring back an actual dead horse's head for our Don), we all got together in the bar. My husband and I were so very impressed with how warm and wonderful everybody was.

We all went into dinner, and TIS was sweet enough to send us some wine, which we greatly appreciated since it kept us occupied for the endless hours while we waited for our food!! Actually, my surf n turf was pretty decent. My dessert, on the other hand, was served frozen. Solid. After several rather strident yells of "Scuse me!" to the waitress, she took it back to the kitchen, but never appeared with another one. Finally, when the manager came over, he offered to bring me something else, but at that point it was almost 11:00, so we decided that he was a jerk, the waiter was overwhelmed, and it was time to go to the bar.

We had a great deal of fun (I do remember that at one point, Lori and I were wearing the fish that you've seen pictured in a previous post, but I won't tell you where!), and I truly never felt so at home with people that I had never met face to face before. Although many of them had met before, my husband and I felt immediately at home with everyone.

Yes, Mig's daughter is absolutely a knock-out, and intelligent and sweet as well. The "guys" are terrific, and, as Plaw said, all of their significant others are also great.

The only comment I have is to echo a previous post, do we have to wait a whole year to do this again???

This, along with plaw's reaction to getting something totally different than what he ordered were the night's biggest laughs. There were gripes all around the table during dinner about this and that but it came to a head after our very own Sicilan Babe shouted out "CAN WE GET SOME ATTENTION HERE?" The shout, which drowned out the din of the dining room, the band playing in the banquet hall's wedding and the lounge's taped d.j. caught the attention of the food service manager who made a potentially life threatening decision of coming over to see what was wrong.

Prompted by dinners that were under/over cooked, different or missing side dishes and poor service these now frozen desserts were the rallying cry for our table. Formerly pacific souls were now ready to do battle emboldened by the group's idea that you mess with one of us you mess with all of us.

Suffice it to say no blood was spilled, but I, for one, thought of Sicilian Babe as our straw that stirs the drink in rallying us. Way to go, SB!!!

Well she sure stirred my drink! The rest of the night my wife and Don Smitty were calling Sicilian Babe, Connie, and me, her brother Sonny.

Maybe it had to do with when I told the manager " You raise your voice to my sister again, and I'll kill ya!"

But in reality it was SC who was the biggest straw that stirred the drink. While Sicilian Babe and I were making the manager an offer that he couldn't refuse, you can hear SC from the other end of the table saying : " Don Cardi, your taking this very personal, Don Cardi, don't lose that famous sicilian temper of yours, Don Cardi, you can't gun down a restaurant manager!" Egging me on and on. He finally stopped when I turned to him and said " This guy hasn't yet seen the Santino Corleone side of me."

So in truth, It was SC who was the trouble maker. He just kept riling me up until I lost that famous sicilian temper of mine! :p

In truth the whole event actually was a funny thing with everyone hysterical laughing. Except the manager of course.

Innocent SC. :rolleyes:

Don Cardi

Well that's too bad the the dinner turned out so badly, but look at it this way, you'll be looking back at it as you're doing now and see humor in something that wasn't too funny at the time. Believe it or not, you'll remember the entire experience as a "fun" time.

The good company easily makes up for lousy service.


TIS

Some of my pics...


The infamous Saturday Dinner table. Notice we were still having fun.


The Friday Night Lounge Crew


Heads of Three Families


Some Liberals from the convention next door

"Michael, who's that scary-looking guy over there?"


DC really enjoyed SC's company


JG copping a feel -- from DMC.


JG at Corleone Compound. Who says Dons can't wear shorts? :p

Like the taxi cab ride in Chicago last year, huh TIS?
I said to me wife " If TIS was here and I spoke to the manager like that in front of her, she would be laughing hysterically as she did last year in Chicago.

Ok, so I've threatened a cab driver, and now a restaurant manager. 2 for 2. Wonder who I can go after next year?


Actually the whole dinner was not a disaster. What it really came down to was that the restaurant manager did not porperly staff our table with enough servers. The poor waiter was busting his ass and I felt really bad for him. But the dinner was a lot of fun because as you said TIS, good compnay makes up for lousy service.


Don Cardi

Our last dinner .....



and this weekend.....




And they talk about DMC and Geoff!


Don Cardi

The whole time of this "argument" I'm thinking, "In a few short minutes I can finally add to the 'have you ever witnessed a mafia event' thread" lol

Ok DMC, tell them all about what really caught your undivided attention in the restaurant!

(Remember TIS's post about how young people dress?)


Don Cardi

I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I'm walking past this one table there is a girl wearing "pants" that are so low half her thong was sticking out of them.

I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I'm walking past this one table there is a girl wearing "pants" that are so low half her thong was sticking out of them. [/b][/quote]And as DMC walks by me he says " Cardi, did you see that..." and before he could finish I cut him off saying
" The style of dress that TIS posted about? Yeah, I saw it already."


Don Cardi

Hey, maybe we should hold the next one in the Hotel attached to Harold's Deli, where we ate friday night.
At least we know well get plenty of good food with good service! At least Sicilian Babe and I won't have to scare any managers there!

Honorable mention goes to Consigliere's Lady. The voice of reason. Calm, cool and collective. But ready to kick ass!!

Hey Geoff, have any tongue left? :p


Don Cardi

You can never let DC tell a story.

HERE'S the truth .........

I never said, "you can't gun down a restaurant manager". What had happened was words were getting heated between Sicilian Babe and the manager and even though SB was more than holding her own in the argument Mr. Babe was getting drawn into it. OK, fine, its understandable he's coming to his wife's defense. Suddenly, from across the table Don Cardi (ala Santino Corleone) feels his "sister" is being attacked and (loudly) enters the frey.

Now THIS is where the stories separate; I've seen DC in action a few times, and I KNOW he's hot headed (and big hearted) and "it" just has to come out.... there's no talking him out of it (until it runs its course). Now, nothing is gonna happen other than some noise so I figure why not have some fun?

In the middle of the argument I noticed Don Cardi was ACROSS the table from the manager so I interrupted their "discussion" and yelled to DC, "Hey, whats the matter with you.... you can't argue across the table... you gotta go up to him and BADA BING" (pointing an imaginary gun towards my temple).....It hardly got a response (from ANYBODY). Everyone wanted to see blood in the argument. It was at this time that I thought to myself, "hey, this is my kind of group".

DC already pointed this out but its worth repeating.... the hotel is under new management and apparently they're going through changes now. They haven't heard the last from me, though.

I didn't know what the hell you were saying, except that they were all qoutes regarding scenes with Sonny from The Godfather!

Don Cardi

And he calls me " Hot Headed!"


Don Cardi

[Sappy Post Alert]

In multiple parts so I can use more than 8 smilies

I want to thank everyone for such a wonderful time! DC, for putting it all together and everyone else for attending! You guys are so special, and thank you again for the wonderful "Congrats" card (for the website's 10th Anniversary) you snuck on me!

Here are some quotes from the card:

"You'll always be our Don! Congratulations on 10 years of the best website on the net" --SC & Consigliere's Lady

"Congratulations, mang! Chu are da bess Don with da bess web site in all of cyberspace mang!" --Don Cardi

"10 long years, huh? Congrats, & all my best. Without your BB, I'd have many lonely days." --Plawrence

"Congrats on your 10 year anniversary for the GF Trilogy. Thanks for giving us such a wonderful web site. I really love talking to all the wonderful people. Love," --Mig

"Good luck and God bless. I am having a great time." --Don Smitty

"Congrats, JG. Great board, having a lot of fun there. 'Penis!'" --DMC

All that malarky. ALL YOU guys are what have always made this BB so special. Everyone I have met from here has always been a great person, those I'm honored to call friends! If it wasn't for all you guys, I surely would feel something important "missing."

TIS - Thank you again for such a generous gesture! You should find this funny; here's what the card they gave me said: "I don't drink as much wine as I used to. Have fun, I love you guys. --TIF" Maybe you should changed your name since hotel personnel and radio show producers can't get it right! You were really missed!

In fact, many were missed, and I hope next time we can get even more to come! (I think we already surpassed the attendance of the formal Chicago convention )

DC - You are too much. One of thoe most generous people I know. Please thank DC Jr. for the "Sicilian Message" You have a wonderful family, my friend, and I envy you. And thanks again so much for the Scarface wall plaque. I will hang it proudly!

DMC - It was so great to finally meet you after all those times you stood me up. :p Your fiancee is wonderful, and I wish you both a long lifetime of happiness! You deserve the title Best Rod & Balls!

Mig - I am so happy to have met you; you and your daughter are wonderful people! I think, though, that someone needs to open up a Jewish Deli in West Virginia so next time you're not so shocked! Thank you for finding the time to include The Garden State in your travels, and I surely hope you can do it again!

Sicilian Babe - It was so much fun meeting you and Mr Babe! Since now you know that we don't bite, I'm sure I speak for us all that we hope you'll attend more often now! Go Yankees!!

Apple - Finally, after all these years! Too bad you just missed the deli, but it was a lot of fun hanging out with you. Too bad Plaw wasn't there when you were, because I was looking forward to the debates! (Not as good as DMC, of course. )

SC & Lori - You know how I feel about you guys -- Even if you didn't let me sleep at all! You, too, are true friends that I cherish. Next time, warn be about the corn chowdah, ok?

I love all you guys!

[/Sappy Post]

It was at this time that I truly wished I had my camera handy. DMC and his fiancee were sitting across the table from me so I could see their expressions clearly. They both were wide eyed in wonder almost as asking if this is how the group always acted.

FWIW - The two of them make a great couple... you can see there's real love there!

Well,

My card was suppose to read from GF: "I drink more wine than I use to....:" I even contacted them a second time (although it was via e-mail, but I they were so quick to call me after the first e-mail, I assumed they'd get the message) to make sure it was correct.


"TIF" :p