Thanks to Davonna for adding this event to the calendar.

I apologise to those of you for whom North Vancouver is a bit of a trek, but BIFF was originally intended to be a North Shore kind of a thing*, and just sorta growed, so now we have regulars coming from as far away as Coquitlam, New Westminster, and Richmond.

If you want to see what the menu choices and prices are like at the restaurant where we meet, you can see their menu on their web site.

For those of you not familiar with the North Shore, your transit options are:

From downtown:

• Take the #240 bus from Georgia, over the Lions Gate Bridge, then get off when the bus gets to Lonsdale and 15th Street. Then cross Lonsdale to the West side (by Blenz), and turn left (downhill), and walk down Lonsdale to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza to your right.
  
• Take the Seabus from Waterfront Station. At Lonsdale Quay, catch either the #229 or #230 bus up Lonsdale to 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  

From East Vancouver:

• Take the #28 bus from Joyce Station, Boundary, or Kootenay Loop over the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing to Phibbs Exchange. At Phibbs, take the #232 bus to Lonsdale and 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  
• Take the SkyTrain to Waterfront Station and change to the Seabus. At Lonsdale Quay, catch either the #229 or #230 bus up Lonsdale to 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  

From South Vancouver/Richmond:

• Take the #98 B-Line to Waterfront Station and change to the Seabus. At Lonsdale Quay, catch either the #229 or #230 bus up Lonsdale to 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  

From Burnaby:

• Take the #130 bus from Metrotown, Willingdon, or Hastings over the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing to Phibbs Exchange. At Phibbs, take the #232 bus to Lonsdale and 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  
• Take the SkyTrain to Waterfront Station and change to the Seabus. At Lonsdale Quay, catch either the #229 or #230 bus up Lonsdale to 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  

From Burnaby/Coquitlam/New Westminster/Surrey:

• Take the SkyTrain to Waterfront Station and change to the Seabus. At Lonsdale Quay, catch either the #229 or #230 bus up Lonsdale to 13th Street (by the Safeway.) After you get off the bus, cross over to the West Side of Lonsdale (by Nando's), turn right (uphill), and walk up Lonsdale to to the Civic Plaza where 14th Street should be. The Eighties is facing the Civic Plaza on the opposite side from where you come to it, diagonally to your left.
  

Greg

* My original idea was to have a whole bunch of neighbourhood groups like BIFF spring up in different parts of the lower mainland (and all over the province, for that matter), modelled on FRED, which meets in Vancouver at the Boston Pizza on Broadway about a block and a half East of Granville. However, as far as I know, nobody else has started another regional group yet. I've started a site for weekly fanmeets like FRED and BIFF, if anybody wants to start a group in Richmond or Delta or Coquitlam or wherever. (Spuzzum?)

With that fire closing the Patullo Bridge until they can replace the burned-out section, I'm thinking that anybody who's planning to come from Surrey and points South might want to get together and share a vehicle, at least as far as the SkyTrain. So I'm going to post this message both here and in the Urban Prankster message board, so you guys can coordinate your travels.

Here's this week's BIFFnews, which talks about the joint meetup (of course...)

Three Thrilled BIFFers turned out to match wits... er... skill... er... cards against one another, in the return of Gaming Night. This week, we played Colleen's Doctor Who Top Trumps card game (I lost) and my old, old, old copy of Authors (I lost.) I shared my evil plan to publish our own set of author cards, with science fiction authors, and Colleen jumped all over the idea. So when she's a gaming tycoon, I want a cut of the royalties...

This week, BIFF invites both the Vancouver chapter of the Urban Prankster Network and The Vancouver Doctor Who Meetup Group to join us. The main purpose of the meeting will be to introduce the Urban Pranksters to BIFF, but since one of the projects that the Pranksters are planning these days involves building a replica TARDIS and having some fun with it, I figured the Whovians would want a piece of that action, so they're invited, too. So far, it looks like at least 14 people are going to turn out, which will probably be the largest turnout until Battlestar Galactica is finished.

Looking ahead, we at BIFF like nothing so much as a challenge, and especially a writing challenge. For our tenth writing challenge, due at BIFF on February 20th, you must include the number 9, the letter X, and the term "black hole." Please be prepared to read out your story from the infamous "hot seat" (okay, okay, it's actually at room temperature, so just use your imagination), and give me a copy of your story on paper or by email, so I can post it to the web site.

AlternaBIFF events this week:

Ongoing: The CN IMAX Theatre at Canada Place is showing Space Station 3D. 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

Ongoing: The CN IMAX Theatre at Canada Place is showing The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience. 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

February 6th-8th: GottaCon 2009 is a gaming convention featuring around-the-clock gaming for the entire weekend. It has something for everyone, including tournaments in collectible/non-collectible miniatures, collectible trading cards, role-playing games, board games, and electronic games as well as special guests, demonstrations, contests, information sessions, workshops, a variety of vendors and sponsors. GottaCon will take place at Pearkes Recreation Centre in Victoria. (I have to say that these guys are really serious about wanting to attract visitors from off-island. There's a deal for groups who come from the Mainland and book rooms in the con hotel.)

February 7th: The Grey Havens, The Vancouver J.R.R. Tolkien Meetup Group, is currently reading through The Hobbit. At their next meeting, they will be reading Chapter V: "Riddles in the Dark." The venue is the Metrotown Chapters Bookstore, 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby. 2:00 pm.

February 9th: NerdProv, an improvisational free comedy show debuts this Monday. It's a game show in which the competitors show off their sci-fi, fantasy and video game chops. The venue is Chivana Restaurant, at 2340 West 4th Avenue in Vancouver (across from the Safeway.) 8:00 pm.

February 11th: The Grey Havens, The Vancouver J.R.R. Tolkien Meetup Group, is holding a meeting to discuss future events. The venue is the Red Robin, 4640 Kingsway (at Metrotown), Burnaby. 7:15 pm.

February 12th: On one Thursday each month, members of the British Columbia Science Fiction Association gather with other interested fans to discuss the science fiction book of the month. This month, the group is planning to discuss Lord Valentine's Castle, by Robert Silverberg. Note that the venue has changed. It is now The Grind Gallery and Coffee Shop, 4124 Main Street, Vancouver. 7:00 pm.

BIFF, or "Burrard Inlet Fan Fellowship" happens Fridays (except long weekends and VCON weekend) from 6:30 p.m. until closing time (officially 9:00) at the Eighties Restaurant, 110 West 14th Street (at Lonsdale) in North Vancouver. To keep in touch with any changes, please check the BIFF web site (which has links to more details about the events listed here.)

You can also subscribe to BIFFnews on the web site. Or, if you prefer, you can read the news through your RSS reader. Please join the discussion forum for BIFF at ROWLF. If you're on Facebook, you can join the BIFF group.

I counted thirteen heads tonight, as BIFFarinos, Whovians, and Pranksters met together for the first time. (Well, okay, not exactly the first time: since I'm in all three groups, you could say it's a joint meeting every time I talk to myself.) We talked about where we could find space to build a TARDIS, what we might make it out of, whether to make it so that it could be folded flat for storage and transport, and some of the mischief we could get up to once it's built. After all that exhausting talking, we rewarded ourselves for all that hard work by watching an episode of... now, don't tell me, I know this. It was about some guy... I can't remember his name. Who was that again? Oh well, it will come to me eventually.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that Alysha is a huge Doctor Who fan, way more knowledgable than I am. After all, it was her idea to build a TARDIS in the first place, and that's what eventually led me to plan the joint meetup.