| FTL Related

FINALLY got the Mantis Cruiser unlocked. Not bad. I think the real ass kicker is going to be the alternate layout with the 4-person teleporter. Lack of any real weaponry is a big problem, but that's faily easy to address. Makes drones a total bitch though.

| :(

What's our minimum for "go"?

| ManCon V: Failboat

I'm leaning towards failboat on this attempt.  Only 3 confirmed and a fair number of partials, some maybes and some just say noes.

I'm looking at you, 2013.

| Rekkids

Funny you mention 7"'s because (no dick jokes) I just brought out my (no dick jokes) record player and stereo and set it up - I wanna rock out to some old school punk rekkids!  33 rpm works just fine, but 45 rpm is just a little bit slow, enough that it ruins the jam.  Its like looking at modern Homer but hearing Tracy Ulman Homer.  I tried to tweak the speed of the motor, but even where I _think_ it's as fast as I can tweak it, it's still slow - I think I need a new motor and/or player.  Me sad.

I still have delusions that Wy will look through all my crap and get excited, or think his dad was cool, so I can't sell all my old records.  But if I did, looking over that link, all my money would come from goddamn Blink CD singles and 7"'s, to the tune of like $80 bucks a pop for the Australian tour single (that I blacked out the '182' with a sharpie, d'oh) and the Dick Lips CD single!

| iEbay

So I started selling a lot of my 7" records on iEbay to various degrees of success.  I decided that since I don't have a record player anymore, and they are really taking up space, why not try and get some cash for them while I am at it?  I used to go to record stores at UCI or go down to Scooter's Records, formerly Alternative Groove and buy 7" that I thought were cool.  I never thought I would make money on the deal.

It actually started because I wanted to get rid of these three Simpsons figures that I have been carting around forever.  Again, they were taking up space.  Well, I was able to sell one of them, but I am still working on two others.  Anyway, this is what I sole so far:

• NoFx - "F*@% the Kids"7" (Went for $117.50!) - Apparently, there were only 500 versions of this on green vinyl, and I inexplicably had one.  That was shocking!

• NoFx - "So What If We're on Mystic" 7" (Went for $50!) - This record was only limited to 500 with the same cover I had, and I inexplicably had one as well.  Pretty surprised by that too!

• NoFx - "Louise and Liza" 7" (NOT Liza and Louise, went for $16!) - This was limited to 10,029 copies on purple vinyl.  Didn't really even remember I had this. 

• Fugazi - "Live in Holland" 7" (Went for $8.50) - This was some bootleg that I never listened to, but it had the song "Repeater" on it.

• The White Stripes - "The Big Three Killed My Baby" 7" (Went for $10) - I don't even LIKE the White Stripes.  I can't imagine why I got this.

• Star Wars Micro Machine Battle Pack #18 (Went for $10) - I remember getting this on one of iEric's and my many treks to Target to look at toys, when it was creepy that two adult males were hanging out in the toy asile.  I think I got back what I paid for it.

• Simpsons World of Springfield Interactive Toy - Groundskeeper Willy (Went for $8) - I got back what I paid for it.

If you are interested to see what some of your records or CDs are worth, a cool website I found was discogs.com.  It will at least give you a vague idea of what someone would pay for what you have.  It's pretty fun!  I have 10 more things listed.  Hopefully they sell!

| Newest Count

So, we're pretty much all over the place at this point.  Can anyone provide more information as to their intent to attend or not to attend?  Can anyone reach out to Blackheart and Dave Defeat?

IN: EH, AK, RM

Probably IN: AN

Maybe IN: Las Vegas Ryan

IN Partial: DT, MA

Probably Out: JL, JP

OUT: RW

Unknown: PR, DK

Ryan is not of the LV cohort. I've known him for years through gaming context (mostly online). I dunno if he can get the time off yet. I should be good to go but will reconfirm.

Hope we get enough peeps to make it happen! Intimate Man-Con 2012. Hopefully enough partials can swing a friday-sat visit. Quick, someone get engaged!

| He Didn't Die

Okay, new count:

IN: EH, AK, RM

IN Partial: DT, MA

Probably Out: JL, JP

OUT: R

Unknown: PR, DK, AN

Has absolutely nothing to do with Jons earlier post, but I think I'll abstain as well.  Between work, a kickstarter project, some vegas stuff, and a trip to Taiwan/China planned sometimes yearend, I don't know if I will actually have the time.  

Actually, sorry, I'm more of a "maybe" or a "partial visit" for now. I gotta bunch of things going on in Dec. and won't really have vacation days/sick days to spare. (I though we were talking more about early 2013 for some reason.) But it sounds like we've got good attendance regardless of me so it's all good!

| Watching the Red Bull Thing

The ascent is at 19 of 23 miles right now.  I hope I don't end up watching this dude die as he tries to break this silly record.

| Zero Votes for Friday - Monday

Just sent the email off to the rental company asking about December 6 - 9!  It's getting pretty close to being on like Donkey Kong!

News and Notes:

 - If this Ryan guy is anything like Cameron or the other LV cohorts, I'M OUT :) Otherwise, we can discuss  bringing fresh meat to the delicate ecosystem that is the Action Team Man Con Experience.  Dorian survived, though I think he was fairly bored much of the time.

 - IIRC, the Amtrak station in SLO, which used to be RIGHT BEHIND the house I lived in when I was going to college in SLO, is not very far out of the way and could be workable for a pickup.

 - I might be trading in the van for another Tundra so as far as driving a ton of people might be an issue come December.  That being said, I think we could reasonable plan on me driving 3 others, one comfortably, and two less so...

 - Headcount update:

IN, full-con: The Zar, Enron, jr0n, r00d

IN, most-con: Myke (but might be arriving on Friday vs. Thursday), Pumpkin (full-con if he happens to get conveniently ill and can drive up with the SoCal Krew), Jael (unknown if business with queer the deal, and if so, how flaming the queering will be)

OUT: RDub (unless the venue changes to Hawai'i)

Undetermined: Blackheart (but has expressed interest to the team), Dave Defeat (same interest, but not confirmation of HOW interested), Oriental Rugs (it's in the works)

| bonez

Let's do this! Book it, Grand Maester Elrock! If you gotta roll the dice to pick the final dates, roll dem d20 bones!