Cereal...

Okay, back on task. Pre-emptive apologies for excessive bolding, but in a super-info-talky post like this one, I thought it would be helpful especially for people like me who tend to skim long posts with ADHD glee.

ND's been swamped with moving and work (and -t and Heather are swamped as well), so I offered to iron out the final details with the St. Louis Hotel [link] , our front runner for the May 2005 F2F.

Here is the information we have so far:

• $109/night double room rate

• High speed internet is available throughout the hotel at no charge (yes, I'm very psyched about this detail)

• The hospitality suite is available for $220 per night. I'm going to get specific details about how big it is, where it is located, if it is ADA accessible etc. when I call tomorrow. It doesn't sound like it would allow for enough sprawl to also double as a Prom space, which leads us to...

• At last discussion, the courtyard at the St. Louis was already booked for the Saturday night Prom time. Tomorrow, I will be calling the hotel to speak to Marvin (the contact -t and Heather mentioned) to discuss our options for Prom locations. There are several meeting rooms, but I need to find out how they are set up, how much they are shared, if we can provide our own music, etc.

• On Prom night, having a cash bar from 9PM to 2AM would cost $70 for the bartender and $90 for the cashier if we have one of each (I assume the discrepency is due to the tip factor for the bartender; it seems that we will have to have both a bartender and a cashier for this to work). Cash bar prices are fully inclusive of sales tax and gratuity and can be found here: [link] .

• Parking is normally $19/night, but we were offered at a discount of $15/night

Before I can confirm any of this and ask our final questions, however, I have a few questions I need answered from all of you.

1. We had originally discussed having the HS from Friday night until Monday morning. However, the HS is $220 per night. Would it be acceptable to reserve the HS only for Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon? That would keep that cost down to $440 and would allow us more wiggle room for other costs, especially Prom. I had thought that we cleaned out the DC HS by Sunday afternoon since most people were leaving (I have a memory of the 8 or so of us left hanging out in our own rooms). Thoughts?

2. About how many people are we expecting? Does anyone have numbers on how many attendees we had and how many hotel rooms we actually used for the past three years? I will need these figures to make final arrangements with the hotel and to make sure that the Prom space is large enough.

3. It looks like the only option the St. Louis offers besides cocktails (cash or hosted bar) is a dinner, either buffet or full. I believe we had decided to not do a formal dinner so people could make their own arrangements ahead of time. I will ask Marvin if there are any finger food options and check on those costs. If the choice is full dinner or no food, however, are we okay with going no food? There is a restaurant in the hotel, so I imagine anyone who gets hungry during Prom could still go over and get some, but I wanted to check.

4. Would the original point person who actually spoke to Marvin (-t? Heather?) please email me with your RL name so I can reference you when I call? Profile addy is good.

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Once I have the answers to those questions, I will contact the St. Louis, come back here with final details, and make sure that this is the hotel we want to go with. I want to get this booked by New Year's so we don't end up missing out on a good thing here.

Apologies for the sudden gung-ho nature of this post, but...I'm happy to help out so we can all relax and enjoy the F2F in five short months. Woot!

Just a quick reminder needed: When in May is F2F?

Third weekend in May, so Friday the 20th through Monday the 23rd.

About how many people are we expecting? Does anyone have numbers on how many attendees we had and how many hotel rooms we actually used for the past three years? I will need these figures to make final arrangements with the hotel and to make sure that the Prom space is large enough.

It seems to increase every year. This year I would say we easily had 60-70 people there at various points throughout the weekend. Of those, about 55 booked rooms. (Some were localistas who only booked for one night, others were friends-of-Buffistas, husbands/wives/girlfriends/boyfriends/fuckbuddies/some combination of the above, etc.) Over the past three years, these number have been increasing, but I'm not sure if I really expect 80 people to be there this go around. I may very well be wrong, though.

2. About how many people are we expecting? Does anyone have numbers on how many attendees we had and how many hotel rooms we actually used for the past three years?

Here are the numbers, to the best of my recollection:

Chicago: 41 attendees (37 stayed at the hotel)
L.A.: 60 attendees (43 stayed at the hotel)
D.C.: 54 attendees (~43 stayed at the hotel)

Figure an average of two people per room.

I could be wrong about this, but so far I have gotten a sense that between babies and finances and being out of the country and other general life stuff, there may be fewer people there this time.

Vegas, huh? Yeah, I could do that. Still never been, and for some reason, I think I could be talked into dressing slutty and making out with Buffistas.

Didn't make DC, but thanks to the resolution to Work Less and Have More Fun, I will do my best to make it to New Orleans.

Dude, shrift in Vegas. Can it be next year year's eve already?

I can probably make it to Vegas. Not sure about New Orleans, though.

Can it be next year year's eve already?

I can only wish. This year I have to celebrate Christmas with the crazier half of my family after I crawl home from the drunken revelry.