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[Avatrix]

Sorry to be slow in posting, been a busy last couple of days. Now, the Boston report.

Leading up to noon, I took a guess at the name of the .pdf file that would be posted, and was alternating between hitting F5 on that address and the list of cities. The .PDF popped first; I printed it and was out the door. I recognized the photos immediately, as it was Boston's downtown crossing, only a few blocks from my office. I alternated between walking hurriedly and running to get there. Normally I don't run into others on dead drops except for Waterborn, it mostly out of excitement. I got to the pole just a few seconds before viyao15 did, who spotted me looking around. We both found the pole in the picture, but no sticker, so we split up and dashed around the square. Still not finding the sticker, I returned to the pole and found the sticker hidden low, at shin level (hidden in plain sight).

Dialed the number. It rang at least eight times, and I was starting to think something was off, when I finally got an answer. I didn't even hear how the person answered, but I stated that I had a tracking number, gave them my name, phone number and the tracking number, and they said the delivery person would be by shortly. He showed up, I filled out a release form for the package, and viyao15 and I decided to wait for Waterborn and Tattooeddad.

Before they arrived, my phone rang, and it was FlynnLives, with directions to the operative. We started walking, slowly, which allowed the other two to catch up. The four of us were led to a coffee shop, where we spotted the FlynnLives operative by his shirt. We were directed to open the package, and to find the code in the book.

The back page of the book had holes cut out and a line drawn. Tattooeddad figured out to place one of the sheets we had such that numbers lined up through the holes, which produced the pass code. I entered that into the FlynnLives operative's laptop, which unlocked the node.

The operative asked me to pretend I was typing again so he could snag a photo, then gave us a t-shirt and pin. We divided the swag, congratulated each other on a thrilling event, then headed back to our respective destinations.

[nasdeks]

I was an operative in Denver and at first I didn't think I had a flying chance, since the operation started everywhere else at 9am Mountain Time, and I lived over 20 miles away--and I have no car. But when I saw that only 2 cities were done each hour, I knew I had enough time to bookit to the bus.

I had a hunch the drop would take place close to the 16th Street Mall, though my fellow Denverites thought it would take place outside the city proper, as most of the other events had. I staked myself out at a Starbucks near the Auraria Campus and the Denver Convention Center--which is just on the other side of the mall. The noon update came, the 1 update came and then finally the 2pm update came--I was certain I was going to lose my laptop's juice. Shockingly, I actually recognized the location just by the picture, though I used ye old Google Maps just be sure. Unfortunately, that meant I was on the wrong side of the city.

So I took a lightrail, shuttle and tore it 6 blocks to get there in less than 15 minutes--which was obviously 14 minutes too late. I took the bus home and went back to Flynn Lives to see what would happen next.

I actually got the pulse puzzle in less than 3 minutes (I'm good at those kind of puzzles) and the final video I thought was really cool, I loved how it looked like my lappy was freaking out.

I heard about ARGs after doing a research project for a thesis project and when I learned about this one I had to join. The swag is definitely cool and fun, and I shall be framing my Arcade Aid poster shortly, but the experience definitely was worth it and would do it again in a heartbeat. I've been lurking this forum for a while, so you guys definitely seem cool.

[Kid Atomic]