Virginia Meet 2017: Mon Aug 7th - Sat Aug 12th [House FULL, hotel rooms needed]

[Ngamer]

After talking it over with Jones/Nate/Jim this aft we've decided that anything further would be overextending the Weathertons and so we're officially locking down staying-at-the-house invites at their current level.  This means everyone on the top of the sheet is okay for staying overnights at the Lakehouse (including late arrivers Woll/Lovins/Jones/Deel/Qwec) but everyone else will need to look into finding a hotel or campsite if they're interested in coming to VA and/or competing in the Kart tourney.  That includes the current "bullpen" of

Brent "wheat" Wingert
David "People's Champ" Clemens
Lark
Brian "#879" Ray
Eddie "kirbykarter" Taylor

Plus Duff and anyone else who would express interest late.

[Ngamer]

As for future-year policy I think we should say (keeping in mind that none of this will apply to 2017)...

- lock down spots for players who express interest early in the year, with seniority as a tiebreaker if we run out of positions

- however if you can't make a hard commitment as of two months before the meet starts you lose your spot, no matter who you are

- initial positions reserved for only Eliters, if you want to bring your family you need to secure a hotel or campsite (as Frankie/Liz/Hutch have done in the past).  HOWEVER if there ends up being open spots after we hit the two month warning, like what happened in 2016, then we could considering having families stay overnight

- no one is allowed to "just show up" without an invite (not that this would actually stop Duff but at least we'd have it in writing)

- anyone who doesn't make the cut is still welcome to play in the tournaments and join us during the day, we'll still find someone to give you a ride/pick you up from the airport, but you'll need to stay at a campsite or hotel overnight

[SgtRaven]

There seemed to be confusion with my earlier post so I will reword it:

At this time I will not be able to attend VA.





 

[duffjr]

For people in the bullpen, there's an Airbnb on the other side of the lake.  It's a guest house that sleeps 6(4 singles plus one queen bed) for $188/night.  Maybe people staying there could have the attendance fee offset somewhat although you'd still be paying $200-$350 for room plus attendance for the whole week if 4-6 people stayed there.  It's a 16-mile drive to the Weatherton's or a 2-mile walk plus 1-mile swim. 

There's the Lake Anna lodge(8 miles away) for $70/night(you can cram at least four people into the one king bed and one double bed. 

At the Lake Anna Campgrounds(about 13 miles away), you can rent a 20' x 25' area and pitch your tents there for $24/night.

There's a small house with 4 beds(2 queens)(27 miles away) for $50/night. 

You could also rent an SUV or van and hope the back seats go down(have two people sleep there and then have two people in the front seats try to lean back the seats as far as they could go for about $250 for the week. 

As long as you pack a sleeping bag, you'll probably be ok to find a spot in a public place or in some bushes off the road(watch out for snakes). 

The Campgrounds is probably the best official site, and maybe someone can loan their car out for the commute(about 20 minutes each way). 

But for people that don't have a spot, if you want to go, it's definitely possible. 

[deletedprofile.u]

What did I just read.

[NathanStinson]

Good information, duff

[Joshua Nash]

Good information, duff

[Jimbo]

Duff you do not have a spot on the top 30 this year, I'm sorry. Congratulations on the birth of your child, however!

[NathanStinson]

Lol Jimbo

[TheFlash]

Duff you do not have a spot on the top 30 this year, I'm sorry. Congratulations on the birth of your child, however!

It looks like he is planning on staying off site, he would still be able to attend during the day then, right?

[Jonesy]

It looks like he is planning on staying off site, he would still be able to attend during the day then, right?

Yes, but duff should communicate his intentions in advance so that the Weathertons can plan other logistics (like food) accordingly.



Also, the people who have not yet solidified or communicated their arrival plans should do so ASAP so that everyone can begin coordinating appropriately.

My assumption is that the following people will be driving and should confirm this and provide their availability for picking up/dropping off other people (time/place/# of passengers/etc.):

- JT
- Frankie

The following people have confirmed that they are driving and have already indicated their intentions to pick others up. Can these people confirm if they can pick up additional passengers?

- QB (coming through RIC - 2 confirmed passengers)
- Kyle (coming through DC - 2 confirmed passengers)
- Burbank (coming through DC - confirmed passengers)
- Nash (has already said he's willing to pick people up from DC, but does not yet have any confirmed passengers)

The following people have already booked flights, will be in DC on Mon and still need rides:

- Patrik (travelling to DC from NYC - looks like he might be flexible with pickup time)
- Trent (8:40 PM IAD)

- Booth (4:12 PM IAD)
- Eise (3:05 PM IAD)

The following people still have not booked flights or communicated their travel plans:

- Alec
- Clark
- wiff/mrs wiff
- Abney
- PYL

[DanBurbank]

I am driving myself, Jake, and Zoran as already listed.  I don't think I will have any more room unfortunately as my car is small (I have a Prius C) and the luggage between the 3 of us will take up the rest of the back seat and the trunk.

[wishiwasfamous]

We are driving ourselves to the lakehouse in our own vehicle. Will probably get in late since we'll be leaving from South Bend in the early morning. Do not worry about us!

[wishiwasfamous]

ATTN: MN/WI crew.

The three of us are taking the I-80/90 route to VA, and stopping over in South Bend. If you happen to be driving by South Bend in the early morning of Monday the 7th, come find us either at our hotel room off the highway, or the next rest stop, and we will gladly take some of your duffel bags in our vehicle the rest of the way to the lakehouse. We will have space! I know how crammed it can be riding in those cars with 4 guys and a million bags. Just a favor from us to you.

[NathanStinson]

JT said he could pick me up early afternoon on arrival day if I end up flying directly instead of to MN/WI because I would likely arrive in the 1-2 range or so. I doubt he would also mind grabbing DK. That will depend on Jimbo deciding to actually drive or not and us hearing from dennison.

[wheatrich]

Thanks for the information duff.

The duff has a kid news has full stopped my brain for the entire day.  Congrats.

[duffjr]

Duff you do not have a spot on the top 30 this year, I'm sorry. Congratulations on the birth of your child, however!

It looks like he is planning on staying off site, he would still be able to attend during the day then, right?

I don't normally announce my intentions, but I was following the topic not really planning on going due to increased work, but I chimed in with information that I've looked at in years past(mainly the house across the lake on Airbnb), and now I have to make an official announcement.  My girlfriend planned to go to NY that week, so I made some arrangements to go with her as it flanks the week of the France meet having been pushed up a week early as a few people have work commitments the last week of August. 

Sometimes there are last minute cancellations, so the 31-35 people can maybe move up a couple spots, but they should plan on doing the campsite.  I have found that a giant comforter from a motel is better than a sleeping bag if you plan to sleep outside, so maybe someone can bring a couple of old comforters who is driving(up to 5 would be good).  You can just wash them at the cleaners after(have the people camping pay the cleaning fee).  Tents probably aren't needed, but you'll want to use snake repellent around the area where you're sleeping. That won't prevent spiders and insects from getting into your comforter though.  Nothing will happen to you most likely, but I just have a terrible fear of a random poisonous snake curling up next to me while I'm sleeping. 
http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/snakes_of_virginia.htm

Sprint is now offering free service for a year if you sign up through July 31 and port a phone number.  Yes, you can sign up for a free google Voice number first  if you don't want to port your real number because Sprint has the worst service and slowest 4g data of the four main carriers. 
https://slickdeals.net/f/10235008-one-year-of-free-unlimited-data-at-sprint-then-60-mo-for-line-1-40-mo-for-line-2-30-mo-line-for-lines-3-5

[Ngamer]

Everyone's raving about Duff's good advice or how he impregnated someone but honestly, I still can't get over that disgusting trick he pulled off last week in Santa Monica.

https://imgur.com/gallery/fNMZgt0

[Joshua Nash]

Everyone's raving about Duff's good advice or how he impregnated someone but honestly, I still can't get over that disgusting trick he pulled off last week in Santa Monica.

https://imgur.com/gallery/fNMZgt0

[deletedprofile.u]

- Eise (3:05 PM IAD)

The following people still have not booked flights or communicated their travel plans:

- Alec

Payment is being a royal pain in the ass to process for some reason. As soon as I get a payment through on a flight I will update the info here. I'm aiming to arrive around the same time as Eise, as we're both getting a ride from Josh.

I noticed on the Google doc that some folks are leaving SUNDAY instead of Saturday. Are MR and Mrs W okay with this? If a round trip is cheaper to take by just delaying leaving until the Sunday morning or whatnot, am I able to do that?

[Jonesy]

I noticed on the Google doc that some folks are leaving SUNDAY instead of Saturday. Are MR and Mrs W okay with this? If a round trip is cheaper to take by just delaying leaving until the Sunday morning or whatnot, am I able to do that?

The people leaving Sunday are on their own for lodging Saturday evening. Everyone needs to be out of Weatherton's house sometime on Saturday - typically by the afternoon. You could try to coordinate shared lodging with the other people who plan on staying in the area until Sunday.

[deletedprofile.u]

I noticed on the Google doc that some folks are leaving SUNDAY instead of Saturday. Are MR and Mrs W okay with this? If a round trip is cheaper to take by just delaying leaving until the Sunday morning or whatnot, am I able to do that?

The people leaving Sunday are on their own for lodging Saturday evening. Everyone needs to be out of Weatherton's house sometime on Saturday - typically by the afternoon. You could try to coordinate shared lodging with the other people who plan on staying in the area until Sunday.

Ahh, gotcha. Out on Saturday it is! 

Also, we need a Smash 64 tourney and an official ping pong tourney to happen this year; especially if there's nothing going on with GoldenEye.

[NathanStinson]

I noticed on the Google doc that some folks are leaving SUNDAY instead of Saturday. Are MR and Mrs W okay with this? If a round trip is cheaper to take by just delaying leaving until the Sunday morning or whatnot, am I able to do that?

The people leaving Sunday are on their own for lodging Saturday evening. Everyone needs to be out of Weatherton's house sometime on Saturday - typically by the afternoon. You could try to coordinate shared lodging with the other people who plan on staying in the area until Sunday.

Ahh, gotcha. Out on Saturday it is! 

Also, we need a Smash 64 tourney and an official ping pong tourney to happen this year; especially if there's nothing going on with GoldenEye.

Matthias will help me with Ping Pong.
Jake wanted to organize a side smash bros event I think.


Also, Dennison is confirmed for the time off for the meet, so I would say he is confirmed now

[NathanStinson]

Spke with Brian ray. He says he is still 100% and staying off-site.

[MK64MR]

Matthias will help me with Ping Pong.

Yes, I will. Any love for tennis here? I don't remember who beside Dotman would have liked to play when we were discussing a trip to local parks/college areas. No problem if we can't arrange it, but I'd love to play my favourite sport with you guys .

[deletedprofile.u]

Matthias will help me with Ping Pong.

Yes, I will. Any love for tennis here? I don't remember who beside Dotman would have liked to play when we were discussing a trip to local parks/college areas. No problem if we can't arrange it, but I'd love to play my favourite sport with you guys .

OMG. Stinson and I were discussing this last year but only as a general thought. I'll gladly bring my racket and play if we can. It's been so long.

[NathanStinson]

I wouldn't be able to bring equipment but if someone else could bring extra, I would enjoy playing

[NathanStinson]

I went ahead and paid the fee for Booth and myself (I owed Booth from a trip many years back). I updated our "Pay" column on the sheet

[Dennison]

I'm 100% going, have the time off of work, going to pay my $150 shortly, and am working on a new independent travel plan for myself.

At what point do the Weatherton's just say "enough is enough, you've outgrown us" and decide to shut things down? Even though I would hate to see that happen, I wouldn't be terribly surprised about it. If the potential long term sustainability of this is important to you (even if it's not, there may be others who do), then this is something you need to give careful consideration to.

This is an important point, along with many of the other things Jones said. I get the feeling that in the last two or three years there was an expectation by some key folks that the Virginia meet would eventually fizzle out and come to an end. Instead, I think it's stayed strong and this year it ballooned into a larger category with even more interest. We should start to consider another location if similar or more amount of attendees express their intentions enough ahead of time. The Weatherton family has done an amazing thing here, year after year for us, and it's becoming time that we give thanks back and relieve them of our chaos, haha.

I just want to get there earlier than most so I can get a bottom bunk this year and not have Dennison con me out of it. 

This is super late omg but I didn't con you out of it! I suffered an injury from construction work last year that almost made it impossible for me to play any volleyball and climb up and down the stairs! I had to ask for the bottom bunk and I greatly appreciate you for giving it to me.

Any love for tennis here? No problem if we can't arrange it, but I'd love to play my favourite sport with you guys .

I haven't played tennis in like 7 years, but I'd be down if there's a court. I'd just need to borrow a racquet, like Stinson.

[NathanStinson]

This is an important point, along with many of the other things Jones said. I get the feeling that in the last two or three years there was an expectation by some key folks that the Virginia meet would eventually fizzle out and come to an end. Instead, I think it's stayed strong and this year it ballooned into a larger category with even more interest. We should start to consider another location if similar or more amount of attendees express their intentions enough ahead of time. The Weatherton family has done an amazing thing here, year after year for us, and it's becoming time that we give thanks back and relieve them of our chaos, haha.

I agree also, but I also don't think other years will be as big interest wise as this year (for various reasons). We just need to be talking to Mrs. W about all of this now

[Dennison]

I'm now 102% (yes, like DKC). Update the spreadsheet to match my arrival and departure criteria.

I've booked flights with United Airlines for these times:

Monday, August 7th
ORD ----> IAD
1:14pm ----> 4:16pm

Saturday, August 12th
IAD ----> ORD
5:23pm ----> 6:33pm

I could use a ride. And same goes for Kevin Booth, who arrives and departs from IAD at basically the same times I do.

Thanks everybody!

 

[NathanStinson]

I updated your flights on the sheet, Dennison. When you have a ride planned out and have paid, I will mark that

[Joshua Nash]

 I will be picking Eise up at 3 so we can hang around for an hour and pick up booth and dennison then hopefully Alec can get his flight to arrive around that time I'll get a van because 5 people plus luggage is a lot in one car I still might drop things off in va first unless I can find a big enough van and Ragequit will be able to help with rides to the airport on Saturday

[deletedprofile.u]

This is super late omg but I didn't con you out of it! I suffered an injury from construction work last year that almost made it impossible for me to play any volleyball and climb up and down the stairs! I had to ask for the bottom bunk and I greatly appreciate you for giving it to me.

Hahaha! I know man. I remember you telling me about the injury during volleyball last year. You still managed some play time, I think, which was good!

But yes, heavy emphasis on the " ". But I still hope I can grab a bottom bunk this year. Nearly stepping on you like 5 times through the week was too stressful. 

ALSO, yes. Booking a flight *tonight* to arrive and 100% grab a ride with Josh and co. Going to update with another post here.

[Dennison]

I will be picking Eise up at 3 so we can hang around for an hour and pick up booth and dennison then hopefully Alec can get his flight to arrive around that time I'll get a van because 5 people plus luggage is a lot in one car I still might drop things off in va first unless I can find a big enough van and Ragequit will be able to help with rides to the airport on Saturday

Thanks and so much appreciated Josh! Holy crap, this time it was far easier getting a ride, unlike from one aforementioned individual who shall remain nameless *cough its Jimbo duh cough* turns out there are responsible adults who can step up to the reigns when asked.

But yes, heavy emphasis on the " ". But I still hope I can grab a bottom bunk this year. Nearly stepping on you like 5 times through the week was too stressful. 

ALSO, yes. Booking a flight *tonight* to arrive and 100% grab a ride with Josh and co. Going to update with another post here.

You can have the bottom bunk totally on me this year, mate. I'll take top dog for ya. And best of luck to you getting your flights hooked up and everything! I can't stress enough how much I lucked out with my planes. Booth and I basically arrive and leave at the same time, I have no layovers, and the cost wasn't substantial. See what you can do! The four of us will be there at IAD before 6pm.

Cheers. 

[abney317]

riding with Kyle

[kyleb30]

In an attempt to compete with Josh for the title of "biggest convoy", I will be picking up Third, Matthias, and now Abney and Trent, and driving down in my parents minivan (ok technically it's mine atm). Team "Kyle to the 'ship" will be leaving Dulles around 9 (hopefully, probably not because that's how things work) and arriving at the house around 11 (again, hopefully).

I'm looking forward to this meet, only 3 1/2 weeks to go!

[NathanStinson]

Arrival flight purchased. Arriving in Raleigh around noon on Saturday, August 5 and staying with Liz/Hutch/JT and riding with JT to the house Monday. If DK would like a ride, we can coordinate coming by the Richmond airport around 5, which would put us to the house between 630 and 7.

[deletedprofile.u]

Flight is BOOKED.


I was completely gouged this year compared to last ($722 compared to $380), but this works best even though the return flight is god-awfully late. 

Update the doc! 

[wishiwasfamous]

Due to high demand for the meet this year (full cap space), and the incredible logistical burden of coming to the meet with a baby, Amanda and I will be backing out of attending VA this year. I've had plenty of fun the past 7 years, and I think our spots would be best served to help some people in the bullpen get to attend. Hopefully two lucky guys can adjust their schedule in time to make it (Lark/wheat...). See you in 2018, and I will be ready to defend my Toilet Bowl titles!

[PerfectTaste]

- Patrik (travelling to DC from NYC - looks like he might be flexible with pickup time)

Just confirmed that, like most VA meets, I'm riding with Drew.

Also, we need a Smash 64 tourney and an official ping pong tourney to happen this year; especially if there's nothing going on with GoldenEye.

The GE line-up is very strong this year - Eise, Eddie, Woll, myself, Boss, Mgay, Jim, Derek, and you. We would be mad not to have a GE tournament, even if it is a short one (8-player bracket).

Also, anyone down for some semi-serious Mario Tennis 64?

[kyleb30]

Also, anyone down for some semi-serious Mario Tennis 64?

100% yes

[abney317]

Seems like a good amount of people liked the idea of streaming the MK64 stuff to my Twitch instead of the usual elite account so we'll probably do that.
I saw David's post a couple weeks ago talking about the streaming stuff. If I could get the google doc stuff to see how that's setup that would be cool.. if it's really nice then we could just do it like that again. Otherwise I'd be able to manage the stream with other stuff without much problem.

I was wondering though if people were interested in commentary.. I know it had been discussed before and people didn't want any distractions but I could almost definitely bring some super long AV cables to split off into another room to get out of the way for it if people think that would be cool to have for the stream. Would definitely make it nicer for the viewers I think if they came in during the middle of things. Could intro the race players and stuff like that too which could be fun to have.

[NathanStinson]

Seems like a good amount of people liked the idea of streaming the MK64 stuff to my Twitch instead of the usual elite account so we'll probably do that.
I saw David's post a couple weeks ago talking about the streaming stuff. If I could get the google doc stuff to see how that's setup that would be cool.. if it's really nice then we could just do it like that again. Otherwise I'd be able to manage the stream with other stuff without much problem.

I was wondering though if people were interested in commentary.. I know it had been discussed before and people didn't want any distractions but I could almost definitely bring some super long AV cables to split off into another room to get out of the way for it if people think that would be cool to have for the stream. Would definitely make it nicer for the viewers I think if they came in during the middle of things. Could intro the race players and stuff like that too which could be fun to have.

I think if we use your twitch account, we will have many more viewers and it might be good to have commentary. The only real options for people to be are in the bunk rooms though I think? And that might make it hard to view the screen

[abney317]

I think if we use your twitch account, we will have many more viewers and it might be good to have commentary. The only real options for people to be are in the bunk rooms though I think? And that might make it hard to view the screen

That's why I was saying I can bring super long AV cables so we'd just split the signal to those to go to another room

[DanBurbank]

This would be amazing

[deletedprofile.u]

Also, anyone down for some semi-serious Mario Tennis 64?

100% yes

1000000000% hell yes! I'll bring my cart as well

[DavidK5]

The stream layout I'm planning is similar to last year but a little cleaner (I can post a screenshot later). Player names and scores are displayed on stream and are automatically updated directly from the VA google doc using a python script.

As for what account to use, I'll leave that up what the community wants. I figured more popular personal channels could just auto-host our channel and we would still get the benefit of their viewer base (especially if the event is plugged beforehand).

[Ngamer]

Some people have been asking for an update on staying at the house now that others have had to drop out, we're going to have a talk with Mrs. W tomorrow about the situation and should have an update for you in this topic tomorrow evening, so stay tuned.

[NathanStinson]

From speaking with Matthias, we have decided to block out 1-4pm on Tuesday to go on a tennis outing. We may not be gone that long, but that is how long we will allow. There appear to be open courts about a 30 minute drive from the lake house. So that would allow for 1-2 hours of playing, depending on everyone's stamina and the weather.  If you want to play tennis, be prepared to spend that much time away from the house and in the heat. Anyone is welcome to go along and play We should have several skill levels

What we need are for those that are driving to bring extra equipment who can. I am not checking a bag for my flight so I cannot bring any. I will ask JT and if anyone else has some, we would appreciate it if you could bring some. Thanks!

The schedule tab on the spreadsheet reflects this information.