unforum

[joebrent]

Re: the polls close :)

[Wishi-san]

It's nowhere near certain, but like Fi, I'm voting NYC as this is the only one I have a chance of being able to get to. I'll have finished my final college exams in June, and might be able to treat myself and get over there in late July.

[Gupfee]

I think we need to settle this and move on. I am declaring last call for votes and opinions. Poll will be closed by Saturday midnight (EST).

[dmax]

But, the poll doesn't include the Bahamas, or the Ukraine, or Costa Rica interrobang

How can this be fair if we don't include every single possibility?

/me casts a write-in ballot for Bossier City, LA.

[konamouse]

/me points dmax to the purpose of this second poll (after the multiple requests and unclear winner of the first poll).

Let's do DMAX in 2006!!!!

[dmax]

Well, I think the Napa valley (wineries and beautiful scenery) would be a great place - but a little tougher geographically/airportally.

San Francisco would be a more accesible spot and the airport has direct monorail transit around the rest of the area for sightseeing. Like in NY, you don't need to have a car to enjoy SF.

I just mention this for consideration in other years. This year, it's bagsbee's turf.

[greywolf]

Originally I voted for DC. If the vote is now between NYC and Chicago, I'd have to go with NY. nothing against Chicago, I just would like to be able for more people from other countries to go and it is easier for them to fly into NY and cheaper too. I'd also like to see all of the touristy things in New York. I've spent time in the state, never in the city though.

I'm also going to vote for late July, that's the best time for me to take off from work, all of my customers are either on vacation themselves or up north at their other homes.

[Giskard]

Well, as with Wishi and Fi, NYC has my vote, mainly because it is easier and more effective for me to travel there... I'm kinda planning on doing a little USA tour next summer, so dropping by all of you guys would be a very nice addition to those plans... are we voting on when next?

[jchillerup]

/me invites to a party at his place

[aliendial]

I'm cool with NYC, but do keep in mind July in NYC can be blazingly hot.

[konamouse]

Never as hot as Las Vegas in the summer.

/me is already saving her quarters to make this trip.

[aliendial]

True kona, and since we will apparently be in bars drinkering perhaps it is not an issue at all.

(I know we have non-drinkers, and we expect you to continue not to drink, but since ARGFest is chiefly a social event tacked on to a vacation in a cool place, ending up in bars is not so surprising. We are in fact highly respectful of such matters and do not encourage underage drinkering. danman_d can attest to that, although the presence of his father also was a factor.)

Regarding organizational issues, I'll toss some experience on the pile.

The past ARGFests have not been high on organization. The Fest focus was on a couple specific social events (meet/greet Friday to start the weekend; something dinnerish Saturday). Everything else kinda happened on the spot: "Hey, let's get dinner!" "Great idea! Anyone know where the restaurants are?"

Having the meet on Friday facilitated finding out who made it to the Fest, where they were staying, what they might be interested in doing ("we're going to Universal tomorrow - meet at the gate around 10 if you are interested" and that sort of thing).

But actually several things were very spontaneous - (cellphone) "Hey, I just walked out of the Shrek exhibit at Universal, are you guys gonna come to the park today or do you want to meet for lunch somewhere?" "We just walked out of the same exhibit! That's me in the red shirt over there!" And so on.

Such spontaneity may stumble a bit in a big city like New York with so much to do, especially if a lot of people show up, but my feeling is that the unstructured-ness is appealing to this crowd. Even though we ended up doing a few things together as a group, there were no prior commitments, no sign-up sheets etc. That way you can accomplish your own vacation priorities and still meet up for the social events.

This does put the burden on the locals to scope out a couple specific locations where we can do the basic stuff, have a couple restaurants in mind to suggest if everyone decides to go to dinner together etc etc

[bagsbee]

The big "problem" with NYC (if you can call it a problem) is that there's too many things to do, especially if you're only here for 2 or 3 days. Chances are, especially if there's a large group, not everyone will want to do the same things. Some will prefer group activities, and some may want to do their own thing. I can of course make some recommendations, but different people have different ideas of what places are "must see".

One thing I would recommend is that, if you can afford it (vacation-time-wise and $$$-wise), take an extra day (or 2 or 3 or 5) and see the sights. I'm always happy to play tour guide, and joebrent and rose have also offered to be tour guides as well.

Also, depending on how organized we are, there might be some other "activities" planned, hehe.

Someone should start a thread in News and Rumors so we can start coordinating. I'll do some research on hotels and such, and post a bunch of info in the coming days.

[Pixiestix]

I might be backing out....

one: bars, i don't care who drinks in other places, but i won't go into bars. many bars don't let kids in period, drinking or not, and i have enough local problems with my dup lic being a midget....

two: spontenaity... i am not staying in NY for a weekend, i am two hours away, and not the most financially sound person. unless there is an organized "this is the meet and greet" far enough ahead of time, i won't be able to make it. I was going to drive up on saturday, but if everyone is all scattered anyway, it seems rather pointless.

these are personal descisions, and not meant to influence anyone, i just thought i owed an explination.

[bagsbee]