My recent promotion and tenure provides a once-in-a-lifetime excuse for a party. How fortuitous that, other than a date, a venue, a guest list, an agenda and a funding source, I have everything I need for the Party of Doom…
Here are the first approximations to each of the necessary items.
- Date will probably be sometime in early September; after Summer Quarter is done here, but before Fall Quarter starts. I'm thinking Friday morning through Monday morning, but should we go longer?
- Venue wants to be someplace in Oregon, preferably near Portland, where there is both big room for camping and some way of housing those who want to stay overnight without camping in reasonable comfort. This seems really hard. Ideas are welcome.
- Guest List will include all Friends Of Bart, past/present/near-future. For the most part, you know who you are. I want to make a special effort to track down old friends whom I haven't seen forever.
- Agenda will be to have plenty of food and drink, a mix of family-friendly and vaguely-family-unfriendly activities, a mix of music played by the guests and good recorded music, lots of space and inclination to loaf and shoot the breeze. It's a party—you know how those go.
- Funding will come substantially from my multifarious collection of hidden assets. These are limited, however, and no reasonable offer of resources will be rejected—just so you know…
My conclusion from this comment? I am not very good at planning parties. Anyone want to help?
Also, my wife reads my blog 
. Ultimately, she has veto power in scaling this thing down. Or up, as the case may be. 
Picked a date?
Timing seems the key item here... if you want good attendance you'd better pick a date. We just saw each other at a thing announced way in advance. Of course you'll need to answer other questions...
Wow look at me being all helpful, ha ha.
Date
Yeah, need a date soon. Need a location first, though, since that will probably constrain the date. My first try at that fell through. Suggestions greatly appreciated.
Location depends on party size
Just an idea, if its in September, thats the nicest weather in Portland. I know there have been large company picnics at Cook Park in Tigard, but probably need to do reservation. http://www.ci.tigard.or.us/community/parks/cook_park.asp
If you need something larger with camping facilities think this would be difficult in Oregon as I thought many of the places require reservations/deposits and in the summer things get booked way ahead of time. Another alternative may be bed/breakfast or nice hostels.
If its not so large I'd be happy to offer the use of my backyard and gas bbq for a party (yard is large enough that another house could be built on it).