A few weekends ago I was at Ramadan buying meat and having lunch. The owner and I had a chat and I came up with the brilliant idea to host the first Lazy Lightning Meetup in several years. Instead of doing it the way we used to, through awkward WordPress plugins and/or e-mail chains, I’ve setup a Facebook event page which is open to the public. Simply signup through there (you can e-mail me if you are really and truly do not use FB but, for the sake of my sanity, I’d really prefer you just use Facebook instead.

From the Facebook event page:

Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 12:30 PM

Meet up with your favorite Lazy Lightning readers and eat some of the best Indian food in Minnesota and certainly South of the River.

For those of you interested there’s a full service meat counter in the grocery next door offering chicken, goat, lamb, and beef cut to your specifications for prices unmatched anywhere.

Cost: $8.00/person
Review: http://www.lazylightning.org/ramadan-restaurant-and-grill-burnsville-mn
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/ramadangrill

As an added bonus, thanks to the generosity of reader “dm”, we have one free buffet for one lucky attendee who also states in a comment below that they plan to attend and actually does! All you have to do is post a comment below, nothing fancy, stating your plan to attend and you’re entered. The contest will run through April 1st, 2012 giving people plenty of time to enter!

Have you ever eaten at Ramadan or bought anything from their meat market? If so what did you think? Are you excited to attend the first Lazy Lightning Meetup in several years? Who do you most want to meet and who are you planning to run and hide from? Whatever you have to say go ahead and comment on below and get your chance at a free meal courtesy of “dm”!

Just as I did in 2008, 2009, and and 2010, I am offering some website stats from the past year. These are all as of 12/30/2011 at 9:00 AM CST.

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Top 10 Crony Comments Posted in 2011:

Top 10 Posts Visited By Minnesotans:
Christmas Lights Map
Porter Creek Hardwood Grill: Burnsville, MN
Andiamo: Eagan, MN
Burger Time: Apple Valley, MN
New Restaurants in the South Metro
Minnesota State Fair Bingo Cards
Valley Tap House: Apple Valley, MN
Zest Bar and Grill: Eagan, MN
Rack Shack BBQ: Burnsville, MN

Top Ten Most Commented Posts:

Top Ten Most Well “Liked” Posts:

Other Fun Comment Stats:

1. MSPD had the most comment likes with 641.
2. Lefty had the most comment dislikes with 285.
3. There were 105 fewer posts this year than 2010 and 141 fewer than 2009.
4. 150+ more comments in 2011 than 2010 (8233+ comments penned this year).
5. On 1/12/2011 the site saw its first day with more than 100 comments (105).
6. The site averaged ~23 comments/day up 2 comments/day from 2010.
7. The site averaged ~26 comments/post up ~5 from 2010 and ~10 from 2009.
8. Mrs Marcos, Mikeh and Lefty posted their 1000th comments joining MSPD and Chad.
9. A commenter leader board was created showing the top 50 commenters.

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I want to personally thank each and every reader, commenter, friend, family member, public servant (good or bad), restaurant owner (good or bad), journalist, and especially the silly astroturfers for all they do to make this site what it is. If it weren’t for the people out there there wouldn’t be much to talk about and certainly wouldn’t be any discussion. I wish you all a happy New Year and hope you continue to spread the word about Lazy Lightning and all the fun the cronies have here.

What were your favorite posts in 2011? What did you like best about the site (comments, changes, topics, etc)? What would you like to see come in the future? We have voting on best comment of the year coming up on Sunday, do you have a favorite already? Whatever you have to say go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.