Seattle Roast

[Shiqra]

Like blarg, my plans are now finalized, and I am also chipping in to the rental car/van.

I have plane tickets and a hotel room - see you all the 26th!!!!!!

Now if I can just sneak out of work early on Friday...

[Qwyxzl]

Flight and hotel are booked! Minivan is reserved! It says it seats seven so if we end up at 8 the back seat people will end up a little smooshed If you have not already talked to me about pitching in and would like to email, pm, yom or catch me in chat. I will let everyone know what the shares are this friday. See you all there!

[Elessa]

the clock is ticking towards saturday.

same plan as before? meet saturday at sci-fi museum at 11:00? earlier? later?

then wander off to have lunch? bbq?

then wander off to Pike's Place market? a movie? just wander like we aren't lost?

[blarg]

I'm pretty flexible with the timing and the details of the itinerary, so whatever works. I was thinking museum, food, something else, and then possibly another thing.

(I'm helpful! )

[Shiqra]

11 sounds good. lunch and something else - Pikes? sounds good. I'm pretty flexible with timing/stuff.

[Elessa]

since Q is picking up the van around 9:30 i would expect everyone to be at the museum between 10:30 and 11:00.

meet by the entrance outside? in the lobby?

[Penguin Fred]

Hope you guys had fun! I was watching this thread- but things got in the way for me to even think about driving over there this weekend.

[Shiqra]

I had a veritable BLAST! Everyone is as much fun in RL as they are in game/chat. I am SOOO glad I went!! I haven't laughed that much in awhile - it was GOOD to get out of the lab - and the desert heat - and go have fun.

The weekend was fun right up until I got to the airport; then things went downhill fast.

My flight got delayed beyond repair, so I ended up getting stranded in Seattle. Luckily the airport put me up in a hotel with the 144 other refugees from my flight. Unfortunately my flight out was earlier than the shuttle from the hotel ran, so I had to take a taxi - from a driver who took a nice long route back to the airport. Ka-ching!

Because of my stranded status, my boarding pass was last minute, and in Seattle apparently, last minute boarding passes are red flags. I get to security - "Good morning ma'am! You have been selected for Special Search Procedures!" After my pat-down and luggage search, after which they assured themselves that my neither me nor my backpack was in imminent danger of blowing up, I was able to proceed. Got coffee and a breakfast sandwich and headed to the gate. Because of the assurances of the kind people at the check-in desk, I did not bother checking in at the gate. Bad choice. They begin boarding and I get up to the ticket taker - "Oh I am sorry - your name is not on this flight". Really now. It's on the boarding pass for this flight! Apparently the planes as well as the gates had been changed in the dark of night, and when that happens and you do not have a reservation, your name disappears from the passenger list.

Luckily the flight was not full (thank the gods!) and I FINALLY arrived safely home in time to rush to school straight from the airport to run up to my advisor's office and show her the whole lotta nothing I've done for work. GAHHHH!

<EDIT> Even MORE lucky, my advisor is preparing for her 2 weeks in D.C. starting today, so she was in such a good mood she didn't care that I only had to pitiful Excel graphs to show hehehe.

[Valancy]

Yeah, from my experience if you are a last-minute ticket, or have a seat request, or something of that nature, you should definitely check in at the gate. And DEFINITELY check for updates on the Departures display, because often that changes and the gate agents don't tell you (they probably don't notice). And, one of the last flights I had, sounds like your situation. I got to the airport for my re-booked flight, only to find that someone behind the scenes had RE-rebooked me to the NEXT day.

[blarg]

Hi Folks,

Just thought I'd stop by to say how much fun I also had at the Roast. What a great group of people to hang out and spend the weekend with!

Here's a few of the pics I managed to snap.

I arrived on the Friday and took the shuttle bus to my hotel. Here's a shot of some of the downtown skyline on the drive in. No idea what the buildings are though.


I wandered around downtown a bit during the day to keep myself occupied. Later, I met up with Kendaer along with some of his friends that I know from a different game. We went and had dinner and hung out pretty late into the night.

Saturday was Roast Day! We arrived at the Science Fiction Museum around 11. It would have been a bit earlier, but we managed to get slightly lost, having missed a turn to the Seattle Center. We were also confused by the odd shape/colouring of the museum building. Calling up Kendaer to confirm where the heck it is, we parked a few blocks away from the place and walked to it.


Obligatory Space Needle shot (it was beside the museum). With a nice bright sun overhead. I may have burned a small hole in my retina.


After the museum, we decided to head downtown to the Pike Place Market. We took the Monorail to Westlake Center and walked the rest of the way. Kendaer called MightyE at this point who wished us well and to have a great Roast. Here's a view of the market from the street as we approached.


(splitting this up into a few posts because the forum is mean)