The Con Between The Cons

Alright. I'm going out on a limb and saying a year is WAY too long to go without Dragon's 11...er...4...whatever...getting together, so I think we should definitely go for some sort of mid-point meet-up somewhere.

Now, I just used my fingers to count out the months because I'm wearing socks, and February seems to be right around the 6-month mark. Our favorite Quartermaster will concur that February is usually a complete and total bastard in Pennsylvania. If memory serves me correctly, I'm pretty sure we all just ride around on annoyingly nasal, bipedal ostrich-horses that smell better on the outside until the snow starts melting. If there's any traveling that would be done then, it would most definitely be southwards. I mean, unless everyone WANTS to convene at Echo Base and hope the shield generator keeps the snow out.

Enough Star Wars references. Let's start at the beginning: How does everyone feel about SOME sort of get-together before Dragon*Con next year?

Indy wrote:Enough Star Wars references.

I beg to differ. I would have liked to see more Star Wars references. No snow in BSG so we have to lean on something...

I'm down for a get-together. I only have two weeks of vacation so I have to use it wisely. I think my mom is visiting (escaping) from Michigan in February. Moms can be kind of buzzkills so I'll have to see what time she wants to visit and coordinate accordingly.

All that said, if anyone is coming down south, I can save you big on hotel bills by offing you a guest room, couch or futon. Bonus points if you cook me something at some point.

Stoopid admin login... Agreahghrd.

What Admin said.

KaraFrakkingThrace wrote:Stoopid admin login... Agreahghrd.

What Admin said.

I smell toast...

Yeah, the vacation days are the sketchy part. And the snow. And the AT-ATs. In any case, I make a mean "Oh, you have a crock pot? What's in your fridge?". Amongst other things, including a mean stir-fry.

But yeah, the dates are adjustable. Just threw the Febtober one out there because it's somewhere close to the middle. Vacation resets at the beginning of the fiscal year, so February's going to give me a clean slate. I still have one left between now and then, too, so I'm pretty much good any time.

I'm good for whenever! Night shift does has it's pros...I can manipulate my schedule to have a good 6 days off without taking vacation. So you guys let me know what works for you, and I'll be there. And just throwing this out there, my parents place in Estero, FL has 3 bedrooms so we could all probably crash there if ya want. Or we can go crazy and find a cheap but awesome living social deal to some tropical island of some sort! I'm up for whatever!

Today I learned where Estero, Florida is. Or that it even exists.

That's a very reasonable driving distance for me. If yous guys flew into Tampa we could even road trip it down there. Peter could ditch his car at my place.

Yay mid-Con vacations!

Well, THAT was easy...

I approve of this! Road trips with good friends = fun times guaranteed! Waiting until next year to hang out with everyone is too long.

I'm a fan of cheap island trips as well, and we could even look at cruises if anyone is interested. There are a few good/cheap short cruises that can be a ton of fun. I've never been to Estero, FL, but I'm up for checking it out as well!

Side note: I have a Jeep that we could all fit in, if we need a bigger vehicle.

I agree that waiting until next year sucks. Alas, I have 1 personal day left and I'm using it for the day after Thanksgiving to go to Disney with my Niece.

Next year I'll have a clean slate - 4 personal days and 2 weeks vacation. 1 week of that vacation will obviously be Dragon*Con.

I'll be totally jelly if you guys get to meet up in PA without me but that would still be really awesome. You know I'd be there in spirit saying, "DRINK!" And Peter - you're only an hour and a half away from me. We must do a weekend thing!

Good to know you have a Jeep big enough for all, Peter. I LOVE road trips, but I'm usually taking them solo. Road tripping with a few awesome friends sounds super fun. I also love cruises because yea, floating hotel, no getting lost and no driving (or grabbing a cab and losing $22).

Yes cruises are AWESOME and there are some pretty cheap deals out there. The fours of us on a cruise? Haha I can just see it now.....there is NO line for the midnight buffet!!! Road trips are awesome too.

I think it's hilarious that of all the people we could have met at Con, you two live somewhat nearby in Florida, and Kyle and I are a little bit further but totally doable in Pennsylvania.......coincidence?

(see how I ignore your baiting Eve? )

Quartermaster wrote:I think it's hilarious that of all the people we could have met at Con, you two live somewhat nearby in Florida, and Kyle and I are a little bit further but totally doable in Pennsylvania.......coincidence?

I was reflecting on this earlier, too. I was thinking how much more of a pain in the ass it would be if we lived in 4 different corners of the US. The universe threw us a bone with that one - if we can't ALL be in the same state.

(see how I ignore your baiting Eve? )

I think you fumed a little. Just a little. In that cute, scrunchy nose way. Don't deny it.

Where the hell is the innocent emoticon when you need it? 0=)

It's strange...I've lived in Florida, Atlanta, and Pennsylvania (with a few months' stopover in Mississippi...ugh). We all met in Atlanta, two of us live in Pennsylvania, two in Florida. AND we all have connections to Florida. Calling something coincidence stops after about two degrees of happenstance.

Road trip, boat trip, plane trip, whatevs. As long as it's with good company, I'm down. Philly's only another hour, hour-and-a-half from me than Pittsburgh, so I can get there with short notice. AAA-AAAND, though I'm still stuck working in the whole "shift-work" realm, I also am the one in charge of scheduling. So yeah. Pick a day, everyone and anyone, and we'll get it rolling.

Instant envy on the Disney after Thanksgiving. I'll be up at 2 AM dealing with the Black Friday fun.

Also: Regarding the Jeep idea. I call back seat, middle, feet on the hump.

Another thought; Kiersten and I have already established that we like to hike. So maybe a hiking trip one of these days?

My friend recently hiked the Appalachian solo but met a bunch of people along the way. Evidently there is this tradition of getting a "Trail Name" which someone else has to pick for you. Sounds like it could be fun.

KaraFrakkingThrace wrote:Another thought; Kiersten and I have already established that we like to hike. So maybe a hiking trip one of these days?

My friend recently hiked the Appalachian solo but met a bunch of people along the way. Evidently there is this tradition of getting a "Trail Name" which someone else has to pick for you. Sounds like it could be fun.

I'm okay with this. Did your friend go end-to-end on the trail, or just hit between a few waystations? Because...wow. That's a hike.

He started in North Georgia - Blood Mountain and got sick in West Virgina, so he had to call off the rest of the hike. He intended to hike the whole thing.

I should mention I enjoy hiking, notsomuch the camping part. I'm much more of a rent a cabin type person.

Granted this makes me think a lot of the Cabin in the Woods movie so... uhm, no one read any diaries written in Latin, okay??

I love the hiking idea, and even the camping one. I've done a lot of both, although not in the past few years, unfortunately. I have been missing it, but finding people who love to do it has been scarce for some reason!

Yay for hiking.....but um I may die trying to hike like a crazy mountain. I tap out at about 5 hours of hiking. So small mountain? lol or give me enough time to get in shape. I'm good with a cabin or camping or anywhere in between! lol

Kyle, let me know what your schedule is like...I also make my schedule so if you want to meet halfway sometime we can grab some food and watch Firefly! Or if you have a burning desire to visit Philly I always have extra space. And Peter let me know when your road trip makes it up my way!

I will be attempting to get down to Florida sometime before the new year! So Eve I will be letting you know when thats happening! Maybe we can drive up to Orlando and all go to Disney! YAY! I love Disney...

Ok time for sleep...at work....because I have no patients.

I'll be on the lookout for hiking areas and trips. Unfortunately, Florida is fairly flat... so unless you feel like hiking through a jungle and re-enacting Vietnam, there may be better places to look LOL. I'm building my road trip itinerary right now, but I will definitely keep you posted!

And hooray for you coming to Florida as well! I'm up for a Disney day, even though I've been here for a few months, I have yet to go.

KaraFrakkingThrace wrote:Granted this makes me think a lot of the Cabin in the Woods movie so... uhm, no one read any diaries written in Latin, okay??

Ha! Lucky for you I can't read. I just roll my face on the keyboard, and say the words I'm trying to convey. Apparently, it's working out, because people keep responding.

Quartermaster wrote:Kyle, let me know what your schedule is like...I also make my schedule so if you want to meet halfway sometime we can grab some food and watch Firefly! Or if you have a burning desire to visit Philly I always have extra space.

I actually have a friend going to a small medical training...uh...thing...seminar? Whatever. A friend is coming up to Philly in November, and I was thinking of making a trip out to say hey around then. Two birds, one stone?

I'll leave the Disney stuff up to the lot of you, especially since Eve's sort of short on days off til the New Year. It did drop down to the 30s here last night (yes...already), so returning to the warm, love-buggy air is getting pretty enticing, pretty fast...

Airborne wrote:I'll be on the lookout for hiking areas and trips. Unfortunately, Florida is fairly flat... so unless you feel like hiking through a jungle and re-enacting Vietnam, there may be better places to look LOL. I'm building my road trip itinerary right now, but I will definitely keep you posted!

There are some fairly decent places in Florida. Juniper Springs I hear is beautiful. It may be getting a bit cold here soon to do any kind of swimming but I've always wanted to check it out - http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ocala/recarea/?recid=34064

Indy wrote:
I actually have a friend going to a small medical training...uh...thing...seminar? Whatever. A friend is coming up to Philly in November, and I was thinking of making a trip out to say hey around then. Two birds, one stone?

I'll leave the Disney stuff up to the lot of you, especially since Eve's sort of short on days off til the New Year. It did drop down to the 30s here last night (yes...already), so returning to the warm, love-buggy air is getting pretty enticing, pretty fast...

Sounds good to me! Ooh what medical training seminar? Sorry, sidetracked...but yeah November works. It dropped into the high 40's here last night and I LOVED IT!!!! OMG YAY FALL!!!! Hehe...I really like fall. And fall weather! Pumpkin everything is barely 2 weeks away....pumpkin pie, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin chai tea, pumpkin candles, pumpkin air fresheners, pumpkin spice coffee creamer for my tea, PUMPKINS! What were we talking about???

Oh right, yes come visit whenever, lol.

Juniper Springs looks nice.....I'm also good with beach campouts....a few of my classmates did that in the keys every year. I like the beach at night....not so much during the day, unless I'm in the ocean.

Wow, I think I've met someone who loves pumpkins as much as I do.

I think I ate a whole Pumpkin Pie by myself as a kid once. I didn't understand why everyone thought this was strange at the time.

I can't tell you how psyched I am to get to decorate my house for the holidays! Last year, I decorated my cube at work because it's all I had. I even bought a very realistic looking fake rat and named him Hans for Halloween. He comes out occasionally if I need someone to protect my workstation.

Right, so, what were we talking about?

Pumpkin pie. We were talking about pumpkin pie.

Sweet, delicious, smells so awesome pumpkin pie.

With whipped cream.

Omnomnom....!

Anybody else also love sweet potato pie? MMmmmm