Marsden is Here

It has been confirmed via FaceBook that the date is Saturday the 13th. I plan on attending, as usual I have 3 spare seats in my car.

Exact travel days/times have yet to be sorted and may depend both on passengers & when my friends in Dndn have time to catch up :)

Petrol cost is $20/seat, that covers both directions. My accommodation is sorted, yours is your own problem but if given plenty of warning / a suitable bribe our Southern brethren have been known to organise billets.

Friday
Due to a number of delays - like going into the office on the way past where 'the boss' obviously had a different idea of what 'I have two people waiting in the car' meant to me, and one passenger leaving their wallet at home - we got out of Chch abut 11:30, 1.5 hours later than planned. Not far enough ahead of the Undy to avoid being stopped at the first checkpoint where I was breath tested twice for some reason, once at each end of the queue.

Otherwise the trip down was sunny and tiring. We were greeted with rain at the other end. Deposited passengers, napped, sorted out dinner, slept.

Saturday
Ate, whiled away the morning in my motel room. Discovered just before leaving for the BBQ that my motel now has wireless. Yay.

Had BBQ, played San Juan, got Mythbuntu off cthulhu_dream (thanks). Returned to motel for nap.

Post nap applied makeup, headed to party. Heaven & Hell party was good. Slave buying proceeded according to tradition (although I didn't purchase a Dictator this tine) - ie added to my collection of slaves with outstanding duties :) Took many photos, which will be online tomorrow.

Sunday
Checked out of motel, hung out with salahdra while processing photos, brunched with micheinnz and others, collected a couple of things left at the party venue & handed over a CD with the night's photos. Encouraged people to think about coming up here for the Gothic Vampire.

Collected passengers, had a sunny trip back to Christchurch. I was significantly more awake than I sometimes am. That is about to pass.

~~~
Prius Stats

Filled up just before leaving Chch. 3 passengers, light cargo.

4.1L/100km to Oamaru
4.3L/100km by the time we reached Dunedin
4.6L/100km upon return to Chch

Probably the most efficient trip I've made yet. Some of that can probably be attributed to the slightly more leisurely pace than usual.

There are a lot more rumble lines in place than last time I was down. I tend to hang to the left, but I'm going to have to relearn the road for a slightly righter, tighter path.

Christchurch first meeting and party

Dunedin first battle and party

x-posted kaosians, my journal

Names are fuzzy, to the point I can't remember those of several people I met again today and took dossier photos of :(

http://pics.livejournal.com/marsden_online/gallery/000z949s

101 / 132 . I left a CD of the originals with cthulhu_dream for those southerners who want to get their hands on them.

Individual sets will be going out next. Then I may get to my backlog of RSS feeds from the weekend :-/

Dunedin First Meeting & Party 2008

Bonus gallery - Dunedin Dictator's Birthday games/party 2004 (aka Operation Spartacus II for the Chch expedition).

X-posted: kaosians

I think it might be time for a nap.

Wasn't as tired this trip back as last time, funnily enough.
~~~

A sunny trip south on Friday (the weather was glorious all weekend in fact). Mild traffic, got away from the worst after Timaru. Arrived in Dunedin, deposited passengers, checked into motel, acquired dinner partied.

Turnout was a little low, but the dancefloor kept happening. My leg held up well and trashpants didn't actually have to dance for me at any stage.

Piked about 12-30, 1am.

~~~
Breakfasted, met up with salahdra for a while, turned up to photograph killing round. My leg was starting to complain so after a short while I refrained from actively following the participants.

Settled in at the House of Cards for the rest of the afternoon to burn & distribute CDs of photos from the Deviance & Decadence and Chch 48. Observed board games.

Freshened up, had dinner, stuck my shiny bits to Jade.

Partied some more. Still managed to dance despite increasing protestations from leg. Piked around midnight with a taxi run. Didn't get to sleep until much later due to some LOUD drunken idiots playing rugby in George St just along from the motel (my unit was streetside).

Did I mention that my unit was laid out very like a dungeon? All it was missing was an orc and a treasure chest. [/geek]

~~~
Helped tidy and move furniture. Played a couple of games of Settlers (won the second convincingly :) ). Burnt off a CD with the public distribution fo the weekend's photos (xenogram currently has custody of all above mentioned CDs). Acquired an extra passenger and headed northwards about 3:30pm. Traffic was light.

Prius ticked over 50,000 kms just north of Ashburton.

Delivered passengers, arrived home, fed cat, caught up on email and LJ (of which there was less than expected).

~~~
I plan to upload photos from both 48s next weekend, individual mailouts will probably happen before then :)

~~~
Something else was planned to go here, but I forgot.

http://pics.livejournal.com/marsden_online/gallery/000h1we8

A bit light on names - especially the red set.

xposted kaosians, my journal

- Today I am sacrificing my high-paying hours (and gaming) for a "full day" meeting (starting @ 11, including dinner) for BoF. I'm not optimistic - the sum total of the agenda seems to be "everybody will get together, meet each other and talk, and everything will magically fall into place".

- Has this ever worked before? I don't think so. I intend trying to ride herd and make sure -something- is achieved. As they are painfully aware, without me they are completely sunk, not just foundering. At the very least steps towards a recovery plan if I am out of the picture might be taken.

- Still, it leaves me with a few hours free this morning to keep working through the backlog*. Also there are men under my house wedging in polystyrene blocks.

*Update LJ, refresh kitty litter tray, empty kitchen scraps, read some of a weeks backlog of rss feeds.

~~~
So, Dunedin. I arrived, it snowed. Not entirely sure what all the fuss was about , but apparently it was pretty bad in the higher suburbs. The hill roads were a little treacherous although I'm not sure what was more disconcerting - remembering how to drive sideways or learning how to drive with the anti-skid-braking kicking in.

Caught up with salahdra, met her mother, read some of the asp.net guide I took down with me. Went to the Come as Somebody Else party - may have been the only person not in theme. The party was small but intense and enjoyable.

As a bonus I was invited to Sunday dinner and dodgy conversation with xenogram, trashpants, avaiaal & flat. Lovely meal, delicious pudding, good company which due earlier (unwritten) events was something I rather needed at that point.

Traditional pre-leaving breakfast - Capers is a lot quieter on a weekday morning :D Wandered around town a bit. It was snowing again as I left, however once on the other side of the hill the rest of the trip was fine and sunny. Inside the car one could ignore the cold wind.

Totted up the $cost of the weekend when I got home - came in pretty much dead on budget including one frivilous purchase.

~~~

- The hatch to under the house is in the computer room - it's emptying cold into here. I think it's time to go and do things in other parts of the house.

Well that answers that :D My next trip to Dunedin is now scheduled for the weekend of the 23rd, all going well. I plan to make this a more leisurely visit than the past few, which have seemed to be downsaturdaybattlenapdinnerpartysleepbrunchbacksunday.